How to write a first novel: 10 Do's and Don'ts | Now Novel

Plan and structure your book and your time Writing a book is a mid- to long-term project (unless you are one of those rare authors who can churn a book out in a week or two). If you don't want writing your novel to drag on, planning is essential. Planning also makes sense because an underlying plan will help to avert writer's block. To begin planning your book, set a deadline for completing your first draft. From here you can work out how many words you need to write per day on average. If, for example, you give yourself a year to finish, your necessary word count per day will be (length of your novel)/365. If you want to write a standard length novel (80 000 to 100 000 words), your word count will be 220 to 280 words per day approximately. When you look at it this way, it's entirely possible to write your book in a year (or a much shorter period if you have more time to write).