Day 58: Plotting a series (the raw numbers)
I wanted to see how long it’s been taking me to brainstorm and plot this series. I went back through my Toggl time entries, which are not entirely accurate because sometimes I was too lazy to record when I was working on my projects.
I started working on the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series in mid-2016, and from there until the end of May 2020, I added everything up to 634 hours. This is only a minimum estimate of the time I took to brainstorm and do characterization for the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series, which includes a little bit of characterization for the serial novel.
I also had changed my mind about the series format in early 2019, turning it into its current 10-volume non-stand-alone format around April or May of 2019, so some of the plot ideas I had before that ended up being scrapped, but the general ideas about the characters remained the same.
Also, there are lots of gaps of time in those 4 years because I suffered from several bouts of writer’s block during those years, and when I wasn’t working on my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series, I was sometimes jumping from project to project to try to find a way to beat the writer’s block.
In 2019, I took 66 hours to outline volume 1 in the series, and then 224 hours to write it. I was with my parents for about 2 months in late 2019 and I finished writing volume 1 while I was there. I was writing 1500-2000 words an hour, but I only had an hour to write each day, and sometimes not even that.
According to my Toggl timesheet, from the end of May this year until early July, it took me 139 hours (spread out over 32-33 days) to outline volumes 2 through 10 in the main Lady Wynwood series. I had already done quite a bit of characterization when I wrote volume 1 in the series last year, so outlining the other books went quickly. The main series has 2 main romantic arcs (2 couples) and also 3 minor romantic arcs (3 other couples).
I’m almost done outlining the serial novel, which has a whopping 294 mini-scenes. I hadn’t done as much characterization for the serial novel, so in June and July, 41 hours (9 days) were spent on characterization. Then outlining the book has taken me 56 hours spread out over 11 days so far, and I’m guessing that to finish will take another day or two, so it will probably be about 22 days total for the serial novel.
I don’t actually know how long the serial novel will be, but I’m guessing it will be at least 150k words, and it might be as long as 350k words, which is about 3 or 4 full books. It might even be longer than that, I just don’t know. The serial novel has 3 main romantic arcs (3 couples).
So, to sum up:
— 675 hours over 4 years to brainstorm and do characterization for the series, which includes the serial novel
— 205 hours to outline volumes 1-10 (volume 1 took 66 hours, but volumes 2-10 took only 139)
— 224 hours to write volume 1
— So far, 56 hours to outline the serial novel
The 634 hours to brainstorm the main series was just way too long, but since I was suffering from writer’s block, there wasn’t much I could do to speed things up until I moved past the block. Some people can move past personal issues really quickly, but I had a hard time and it took a while.
My outlining has increased in speed. Even the outlining for the serial novel, which is almost like another entirely different series, is going to take the same amount or even less time than the outlining took for volume 1 alone, and the serial novel will be a longer book.
I think my outlining is faster because I’ve been spinning (wool on my spinning wheel) when I get stuck, and ideas usually come to me. I read in the book Endless Ideas that this is the process of quieting the mind so that the brain’s default mode network can work and come up with a solution to the problem.
I also think my outlining is faster because recently, I remembered a tip about making a list to brainstorm ideas, no matter how ridiculous, because list making requires a different sort of concentration than free writing. (List making is also mentioned in Endless Ideas, but I had read it somewhere else years ago, and I found the note I had made for myself.)
My characterization for the serial novel was also rather fast. I think it’s because in the last couple years, I’ve tweaked my characterization process to make it more efficient—I use 45 Master Characters and a visualization exercise.
My writing speed for volume 1 was very slow for the first half of the book, but picked up in the latter half and especially in the last 1/4 of the book, where I was writing 1500-2000 words per hour. However, it averaged out to about 500 words per hour for the entire book, which is dismal.
My writing process sped up quite a bit in 2020, because I started writing volume 2 (which isn’t included in these numbers, since I’ll have to rewrite it anyway), and I got up to almost 3000 words per hour. I also was only writing a couple hours a day, and I hope to write more than that when I start writing the rough draft of the series again.
The burning question is if I can increase my writing hours and my writing speed once I start work on the rough drafts. I know my writing speed increased lately, so I’m hopeful. I’ve also increased my writing stamina over the past two months so I’m hopeful I’ll be able to write longer hours a day than I did before.
***
Anyway, I did some blogging this morning, and now I’m continuing doing the spiritual and romantic arcs for my characters in the serial novel. I did 2 out of 6 yesterday.
***
I’m not sure why, but my IBS today is bad. I think I’m going to call it quits even though I’ve barely worked at all today.
Time spent writing: 1 hour, 8 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 47 minutes
My takeaway for today: It was interesting to see an estimate of my total hours worked on this series, and also heartening to see that my outlining and writing speed seems to have improved, but I’m curious if I’ll be able to increase my writing hours for the rough draft phase.
I started working on the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series in mid-2016, and from there until the end of May 2020, I added everything up to 634 hours. This is only a minimum estimate of the time I took to brainstorm and do characterization for the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series, which includes a little bit of characterization for the serial novel.
I also had changed my mind about the series format in early 2019, turning it into its current 10-volume non-stand-alone format around April or May of 2019, so some of the plot ideas I had before that ended up being scrapped, but the general ideas about the characters remained the same.
Also, there are lots of gaps of time in those 4 years because I suffered from several bouts of writer’s block during those years, and when I wasn’t working on my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series, I was sometimes jumping from project to project to try to find a way to beat the writer’s block.
In 2019, I took 66 hours to outline volume 1 in the series, and then 224 hours to write it. I was with my parents for about 2 months in late 2019 and I finished writing volume 1 while I was there. I was writing 1500-2000 words an hour, but I only had an hour to write each day, and sometimes not even that.
According to my Toggl timesheet, from the end of May this year until early July, it took me 139 hours (spread out over 32-33 days) to outline volumes 2 through 10 in the main Lady Wynwood series. I had already done quite a bit of characterization when I wrote volume 1 in the series last year, so outlining the other books went quickly. The main series has 2 main romantic arcs (2 couples) and also 3 minor romantic arcs (3 other couples).
I’m almost done outlining the serial novel, which has a whopping 294 mini-scenes. I hadn’t done as much characterization for the serial novel, so in June and July, 41 hours (9 days) were spent on characterization. Then outlining the book has taken me 56 hours spread out over 11 days so far, and I’m guessing that to finish will take another day or two, so it will probably be about 22 days total for the serial novel.
I don’t actually know how long the serial novel will be, but I’m guessing it will be at least 150k words, and it might be as long as 350k words, which is about 3 or 4 full books. It might even be longer than that, I just don’t know. The serial novel has 3 main romantic arcs (3 couples).
So, to sum up:
— 675 hours over 4 years to brainstorm and do characterization for the series, which includes the serial novel
— 205 hours to outline volumes 1-10 (volume 1 took 66 hours, but volumes 2-10 took only 139)
— 224 hours to write volume 1
— So far, 56 hours to outline the serial novel
The 634 hours to brainstorm the main series was just way too long, but since I was suffering from writer’s block, there wasn’t much I could do to speed things up until I moved past the block. Some people can move past personal issues really quickly, but I had a hard time and it took a while.
My outlining has increased in speed. Even the outlining for the serial novel, which is almost like another entirely different series, is going to take the same amount or even less time than the outlining took for volume 1 alone, and the serial novel will be a longer book.
I think my outlining is faster because I’ve been spinning (wool on my spinning wheel) when I get stuck, and ideas usually come to me. I read in the book Endless Ideas that this is the process of quieting the mind so that the brain’s default mode network can work and come up with a solution to the problem.
I also think my outlining is faster because recently, I remembered a tip about making a list to brainstorm ideas, no matter how ridiculous, because list making requires a different sort of concentration than free writing. (List making is also mentioned in Endless Ideas, but I had read it somewhere else years ago, and I found the note I had made for myself.)
My characterization for the serial novel was also rather fast. I think it’s because in the last couple years, I’ve tweaked my characterization process to make it more efficient—I use 45 Master Characters and a visualization exercise.
My writing speed for volume 1 was very slow for the first half of the book, but picked up in the latter half and especially in the last 1/4 of the book, where I was writing 1500-2000 words per hour. However, it averaged out to about 500 words per hour for the entire book, which is dismal.
My writing process sped up quite a bit in 2020, because I started writing volume 2 (which isn’t included in these numbers, since I’ll have to rewrite it anyway), and I got up to almost 3000 words per hour. I also was only writing a couple hours a day, and I hope to write more than that when I start writing the rough draft of the series again.
The burning question is if I can increase my writing hours and my writing speed once I start work on the rough drafts. I know my writing speed increased lately, so I’m hopeful. I’ve also increased my writing stamina over the past two months so I’m hopeful I’ll be able to write longer hours a day than I did before.
***
Anyway, I did some blogging this morning, and now I’m continuing doing the spiritual and romantic arcs for my characters in the serial novel. I did 2 out of 6 yesterday.
***
I’m not sure why, but my IBS today is bad. I think I’m going to call it quits even though I’ve barely worked at all today.
Time spent writing: 1 hour, 8 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 47 minutes
My takeaway for today: It was interesting to see an estimate of my total hours worked on this series, and also heartening to see that my outlining and writing speed seems to have improved, but I’m curious if I’ll be able to increase my writing hours for the rough draft phase.
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