WRITING & FINISHING A NOVEL #5

SET A DAILY WORD COUNT GOAL

It's a very simple formula. If you write thirty minutes a day for 365 days, you will have enough words for a full-length novel. So, how does it work? Let's reverse engineer it and get into the nitty gritty. 

Most novels are generally in the 75,000 to 100,000-word range. Anything much shorter than that and you are into the novella range. Anything much over 100,000 and you will be considered too long-winded and need to trim your novel down (science fiction and fantasy skew a bit higher). 

Let's take the upper limit, 100,000 words, and use that for our target word count. (As a side note, you'll want to edit this down, so going a little over isn't a bad thing). Also, if your life is anything like mine, there's no possible way to write every day of the year. So for the sake of example, let's say you miss twenty-five days of writing; that still leaves you with 340 days to get things done. Here's your formula for completing that first draft of your manuscript.

100,000 Words ÷ 340 Writing days = 295 Words per day

If you've never written before, 295 words may seem like a lot, but let's go back to the 30 minutes a day part. If your goal is 295 words and you have 30 minutes to write it, that comes out to less than ten words a minute, or one word every six seconds. 

Even if you are taking long sips of coffee while you write, one word every six seconds is a very manageable task. From my experience, once you start a writing routine, you will quickly notice you are overshooting you target word count on a daily basis. Bravo to you! 

Word counting may not be very glamorous, but it is another step in taking away the barriers that stop you from completing your novel.!

Click here to see Tip Number One.
Click here to see Tip Number Two.
Click here to see Tip Number Three.
Click here to see Tip Number Four.

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