I don't quite understand your question. Who are you in relation to the author? I also don't understand what you mean because you aren't iterating your thoughts on that. I don't know if you're thinking it's good or bad or why you think that it's either of those. I at least think that three months … Read more

"The novel took the author three months to write."

Because the time already refers to "the novel", so to say "it" would be redundant.

"to write" is an infinitive and takes the simple form of the verb.

To + verb = infinitive.

In this case, the infinitive "to write" is used as a noun.

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/infinitive.htm