Question How Long It Take To Write Chapter???

Anyone accurately know how long it usually takes for a chinese author to write a chapter?

 

Really depends... not all have the same length... and the quality makes a huge difference. So does the fact how much is prepared in advance.
If you write a new atg or mga chapter id say you can do it in 2-3 hours, including the proofreading. CoS would take 40% longer for the same length (while its chapters are actually double to triple length as a standard).

I can do about 3k words in 2 hours if im prepared?

 

Depends on a number of things.
-average chapter length
-point in the story (action writer can have trouble with non-action sequences and vice versa)
-motivation (obviously)

But it's safe to assume that it'll take around a day per chapter, if you factor in proof-reading and editing. And sleep.
(While I am not a chinese author, I did try my hand at writing. It took me 4-5 hours to get 4k words on paper. That's ex editing)

 

a normal chapter for me in English (2k works aprox) takes a few hours when I have motivation and inspiration.
whereas writing a thousand word compo in Chinese must take 1 hour+ during exam.
translating on the other hand...
it takes me 1 year to translate when I have no motivation

 

If you're like mad snail then a month or more

 

In my last attempt at writing a novel, it takes me 2 month to finish a chapter

 

Don't you think that writers who could write 4k+ words every day are on drugs?
Maybe a few times a week is okay, but asking for 4k on 6-7 days a week then expect a good story is too much if you ask me.

Not sure about professional writing world though, where you get paid for 8 hrs everyday to pump content

 

For me a normal chapter of about 1.8k words takes 2 to 3 hours to write. I being a relatively new english writer. It may depend on the writer, I can guess that MGA's author doesn't take much time to write a chapter.

 

I take 6-8 hours to finish a chapter. 1-2h for drafting, 2-3hrs for detailing, 1-2hrs for further additions, 1hr for editing and viola, we have a 3-3.5K word long chapter.

 

it depends

sometimes u get writers block and cant write anything for a long time
sometimes u are on a roll and take around 45mins-1hour

 

Don’t most writes have outlines on plot?

 

i'd like to see you outline a 4 million word book

 

Fair lol

 

So they just bullshit their way until the end? Still, isn't it pretty hard to do that?

 

Outlines can have varying complexity. So an author might use several outlines. The trick is to break it down into manageable pieces. So to make a 4 million word novel outline, it just needs to be broken down into smaller segments.

Outline 1(High-level). Decide on Beginning/Ending along with major plots/scenarios/locations to separate the novel into books/volumes. Also, decide on the power/leveling structure.

So for 4 million words, let's say there will be 10 volumes for the novel. Each volume will have approximately 400,000 words with a total goal of about 2000 chapters @ 2000 words per chapter.

So for a cultivation novel:
10 Volumes:
Volume 1: Home/Clan/Qi Condensation
Volume 2: Sect/School internal conflicts/Foundation Establishment
Volume 3: Competitions amongst other sects/schools/Core Formation
Volume 4: Leaving Sect to explore World/Nascent Soul
Volume 5: Transported to a foreign world and exploring there/Immortal Ascension
...
...
...
...
Volume 10 Reaching the Pinnacle of Cultivation.

Outline 2: Volume 1 high-level outline. (400,000-word goal)
Decide on:
Locations/Scenarios
Major/minor arcs
Conflicts/Resolutions
Qi Condensation growth
etc.

Outline 3: Volume 1 more in-depth outline (200 chapter goal)
Fill in more information working from Outline 2 to fill in the 200 chapters as much as possible.

Repeat Outline 2 and 3 for each volume. These don't necessarily have to all be done in once. They can be created before starting each volume.

The thing about outlines is that they are guidelines to keep a writer on track. They can and often do change as the writing progresses. The key is to reference the outlines regularly and update them as needed. If your writing isn't matching up to the outlines, then the outlines probably need to change to reflect the direction of your writing.

 

well, no. most authors already know the ending before they even start writing
for example, GoT,HP and many best selling novels all know the endings of their books before they even start writing.

i don't think u know the difference between arcs and volumes.
you obviously know little about writing books so umm yea..not going to bother entertaining you.

but just fyi, a book is usually 60-80k words while fantasy are around 120-130k words.
harry potter for example, only has a million++ words

 

My understanding is we were talking about webnovels. So my point stands. It is not impossible to outline a 4-million word Web Novel. It's simply a matter of breaking the novel down into smaller more manageable segments.

This is true for any novel. To make it easier for this discussion I broke it down initially into volumes. A segmentation format used by many web novels. So when considering outlines it makes sense to break down a 4-million web novel into various segments. For my example, I chose to call these segments volumes, and arbitrarily chose 10 volumes to make it more understandable. This would separate the web novel into ten 400,000-word segments. It could have been broken down into 20 volumes (200,000 words/segment) or even 40 volumes (100,000 words/segment) if you can't comprehend a 400,000-word segment or volume.

Each volume is comprised of various major and minor plot arcs or points which in turn can be used to segment each volume. For example, if there are ten major plot points in the volume then it can further be segmented down to 40,000 words per major plot point or arc.

When I use something like 'Volume 1: Home/Clan/Qi Condensation '
It means that Volume 1 would contain plot/arcs relating to the MC's home/clan and focus around the MC's QI condensation.

I sympathize if the concept of outlining a 4 million word novel is too intimidating to you.

 

Haha, you'll only get answers like 'depends on the author' on this one. I've seen authors pump out 5-6 chapters a day (altogether 6-7k words tho). If they have a plot outline and some chapters stocked, expect even faster releases. If they're experienced and count on tropes and use commonly used phrases, a chapter of 3k words at least a day is completely possible. Lots of them go back and edit much later. That's why in the meantime, there are plenty of plot holes, started and forgotten plot lines, etc. Especially for the authors writing without a plot outline.