Like many people all over the world I started writing my first novel during National
Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org) last November and ended up with 25,000
words and, most importantly, a beginning, middle and end. Now I am past the target
50,000 words I was supposed to have written in a month and expect to finish an
average length novel (about 75K) before next November. I was surprised how
little time it takes, considering the busy four months I’ve had starting this
year. Realistically though, the answer to the question How long does it take to write a novel? is probably fifty years in
my case. Certainly my story is derived from experiences I have had over the
last thirty years.
Probably a more interesting question is Why does a story suddenly have to be written? I’m a cell biologist,
not a novelist. I think the reason why most people get through life without
writing a novel is because they never found an urgent need to. There has to be a driving force
to make it happen.
As well as the words I have written so far, I
now have a synopsis and a design for the front cover with the help of Adobe
Illustrator. The novel is based largely on a remote Scottish Island, something
I’ve struggled to draw convincingly so I used a puffin in the fore-ground
instead which was much more fun.
