And I'm a slow writer: five, six hundred words is a good day. That's the reason it took me 20 years to write those million and a half words of the Civil War.
I'm remembering one book that I wrote, 'Fourth Grade Rats,' that took a month to write, but most of them, full-length novels, I would say about a year.
'Library of Souls' is longer than 'Hollow City' by a considerable margin, but this time I was on the right track from the beginning, so I never had to start over. It took about 15 months, all told.
Normally, I spend a week on the outline and take two weeks to write the book.
'Goon Squad' took about three years to write and that's the short end. My second novel, 'Look at Me,' took six years.
When I sit down I write very fast... if I haven't finished a book in two or three months then I think it's not going well.
I work only in the morning from 10 to noon. I still write by hand. I interrupt my writing when I feel that I've discovered something beautiful or, on the contrary, when I feel discontent.
It took us nine months to write 'The East'; we didn't start writing it on the computer until seven and a half months into it.
Do you know how long it took me to write 'For a Few Dollars More'? Nine days.
All my books take a long time to research. I spend several months researching before I start writing, and in the middle of writing I often have to stop and look up stuff. At my local library, I am one of the best customers! The research takes several months.
It usually takes about a year to write each book. I don't plan it that way. I don't set deadlines. If a book wants to take longer, it can.
It takes me two to three years to write a novel. A screenplay is 100 pages and takes five years.
