Rona Halsall Author

Readers' questions

How long does it take to write a book?

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Notebook and pen
I love a notebook with a stunning cover!

People often ask me how long it takes to write a book. To be honest, I’m not sure I have a definitive answer!

It all depends on what you actually include as ‘writing’.

Is daydreaming about the plot while you’re cooking or walking the dogs classed as writing? Or when you wake in the middle of the night with a solution to a plot twist? Or that moment, when you’re doing the supermarket shop and a scene starts playing out in your head?

You see the problem here? A lot of ‘writing’ happens while you’re actually doing something else!

But I’m going to have a go at working out a rough time-scale…

The writing process is divided into three distinct parts:

So let’s have a look at each of these…

Notepad, pen and coffee - the tools I needed to write my book!
Writing essentials!

Plotting

I start gathering ideas for a new book while I’m writing a new one – I suppose it’s a way to give my mind a break, or perhaps it’s just a great way to procrastinate!

Plotting, drafting and editing.

Some ideas float around for ages before they take shape, others come together much more quickly.

But if we’re trying to put a timescale on this, I probably spend a couple of months working an idea up into a detailed outline. This is usually done in the gaps between writing or editing.

Once my editor is happy with the outlien, I’ll have a couple of weeks of working on the details and breaking the story down into chapters.

I need plenty of space for plotting to allow those sparks of creativity. Although the main work on plotting is at the beginning, it will get tweaked and refined all the way through to the end.

My book journey: notepad, coffee and a pen
I use a grid notebook so I can divide the page up for chapter plans

Drafting

I find drafting both daunting and exciting – when the words go on the blank page and collect together to form a first draft.

In terms of how long it takes, I can give you a definitive answer here!

My first draft takes between 30-40 days.

I know this because I’ve kept records for each book I’ve written, keeping a daily tally of wordcount. This acts as a motivator, but also… I’m a bit of an analysis nerd! And by understanding how long each part of the process takes, it helps me plan realistic schedules for future books.

I like to blast out a first draft, to keep all the threads of the plot in my head and immerse myself in the story. Nothing else gets done when I’m drafting!

Now I have a starting point – on to the hard work…

Editing

Before I got a publishing deal I had no idea about the rigours of the editing process and how many times I would actually read through my book before it was ready to publish. It was a real eye-opener!

This is what happens…

Structural edit – My editor will give me pointers as to how the story can be improved in terms of pacing, twists, characters and their motivations. It can be quite daunting as it means unpicking your storyline and re-building.

Line edit – My editor reads my second draft and comes back with any further changes. At this stage, it’s usually smaller tweaks, so not quite as much work, but each edit is a chance to refine and improve the story and I do enjoy seeing everything develop and sharpen up.

Copyedits – A different editor reads through at a more detailed level, picking up timeline issues, repetition and inconsistencies. They are a fresh pair of eyes to test out the plot and whether it works and I find this a tricky edit. So much detail to tidy up!!!

Proofread – A proofreader goes through to check spelling and grammar, but they also pick up any inconsistencies at this late stage that might have been missed.

I have to do a final check through both the print and ebook versions once the book has been typeset,

If you add up all those processes, then editing takes me about 3 months.

So… how long does it take to write a book?

The answer is… about six months of my time.

In terms of elapsed time, because the book goes to and fro while different people edit and proofread, it’s about ten to eleven months.

Book stack - 6 books
The end result!

Story ideas – where do they come from?

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I’m asked this question a lot, and I think people expect a straightforward answer.  However, coming up with story ideas is actually quite a complex and time-consuming process! It is the creative heart of the book, after all. There is no simple answer, no right or wrong way to find a commercial idea and every author would probably tell you something different.

This is my process…

A story is made up of a hook – the key sentence that makes you want to read it – the plot, and the characters. It also has a theme – say for example, coercive control. I often have more than one theme, to give the story more depth, because life is never simple, is it? There’s always more than one thing going on at any one time.

A new idea can start from any of these elements. Often I have bits and pieces floating around in my head for a while before they gel into the beginnings of a feasible story idea. For my fist book, I had the opening scene and my main character sitting on the ferry and I kept having to ask her questions before I knew what the story was about!

Let’s look at each of the elements…

The Hook

An example of what I mean by the hook… In my second book, Love You Gone, the hook is: a woman arriving at a holiday cottage in the Lake District to meet up with her family only to find that they have vanished.

To find a hook for a new story, I usually start with the question: what if…? Then come up with scenarios. For this to be productive, you have to really let go of judgement and allow anything to pop into your head. One idea leads to another, so nothing can be counted as rubbish at this point, even if it sounds a bit far fetched and ridiculous!

I find my best ideas come to me when I’m doing something else, rather than waiting with a blank page, waiting for inspiration to come. I’m much better getting stuck into some menial task and letting my mind roam free. At this point in the creative cycle my bathroom is very clean and my dogs get lots of walks!

I have a section of my current notebook for ideas and jot down anything that comes to mind. When I have a few ideas, I’ll go through them and sort out the best two or three and then work with those.

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Dog walking is where I get my best ideas

Themes

Sometimes, I will start with a theme and then work back to a hook. My books are all based in domestic settings and I try to make people wonder what they’d do if it was them in the predicament my characters find themselves in.

I scan the news, read magazines at the hairdresser and dentist, see what’s trending on social media. Ideas can come from old photos, maybe social media posts, or even an overheard conversation in a coffee shop!

I keep up with all the latest books, so I know what themes have been covered already and always try and find a fresh spin or pick a theme that hasn’t had much, or any, attention.

I keep a folder of news stories that have caught my eye

Plot

This is my favourite part because at this stage anything can happen, I can let my imagination run wild until I find the bones of a plot that starts making sense and which I feel an emotional involvement with.

Every genre has a structure and at this stage, I’m trying to see if there’s enough substance in my idea to create an enthralling and twisty novel.

Characters

Once the skeleton of the plot is there, I can start to populate it with characters. I’ll already have names, but now I need to know exactly who these people are! What is their job, their backstory. Why do they behave in the way they do? I love this part of the process and it’s amazing how everything connects in your mind.

The real magic happens when your characters take on a life of their own and start to tell you their story. They talk to you, have conversations with each other, take on a form so it’s like watching a movie in your head. My job is to write down what’s happening in a way that will capture people’s imagination.

Outline

Once all these elements are coming together, I’ll transfer my ideas from my notebook into an outline. This is between 6-9 pages long and I write it like a short version of the story, so I know what the twists are, where they happen and how everything ends.

This is then my roadmap. Often, the outlining process will uncover new ideas, new characters, and even take the story in a different direction.

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I use a grid pattern notebook, which I find more useful that lined. Love my notebooks!

So there you have it… That’s how I come up with new ideas and work them up into enough detail to get started on a first draft.

It takes time. And it has to be done in layers – very few story ideas come fully formed, they have to be built. Sometimes you have to go back, take bits out, re-jig, or even start again.

Creativity cannot be hurried at the ideas stage. Writing psychological thrillers is essentially writing puzzles and you need to invest a lot of mental energy in getting it right – setting a puzzle people want to solve, then planting the clues to see if they can work it out.

If a reader tells me they didn’t guess the ending, then I’ve done my job!