My friend Kevin Burke once entered a write-a-novel-in-two-weeks contest. The result did not suck (it was an eco-thriller, and the real hero was a sasquatch who could evade detection like a big, hairy ninja, a bit like Wolfen and Swamp THing combined). Thing is, it takes time to go back and really smooth out all the details and texture. You can see the difference; Isaac Asimov, for example, didn’t do enough rewriting (this being Kevin’s view) so his novels are of the read-it-in-a-weekend variety (his science tomes are a different matter!) At the other end of the scale you find very detailed works like Tolkien and Joyce which simply can’t be digested in one reading. Note also that you can count all Tolkien’s and Joyce’s books on your fingers whereas Asimov wrote more than 470 titles (incuding books of ribald limericks and the immortal “the sensuous dirty old man”).