A Busy Person’s Guide to Writing A Novel in a Month

There are lots of writing challenges, but none quite so confronting as the idea of writing an entire first draft of a novel in a month. It forces us to sit down and finally work on that book we’ve had in our heads, dying to get out. But one thing all writing events require is the privilege of time, and that’s not something that everyone has. So how can busy people get the hang of writing a novel in a month?

Too busy? No problem!

A lot of writers, especially those with busy schedules, burn out over the course of challenging writing events. The pressures of dedicating yourself to the astronomical daily word counts needed to write a novel in a month are tough on even the most seasoned writers.

Sure, the first draft you produce doesn’t have to be brilliant, but writing to a word count doesn’t always produce the best results.

The trick is to set goals that are achievable. If the plan is a novel in a month, then of course you’ll need to push yourself, but if daily counts aren’t useful, then just set a monthly one. 50,000 words too much? Lower the count! It’s a first draft, so it’s as much about telling yourself the story as it is about length. You can start with a shorter goal for your first draft and then use it as a foundation to build on in revisions.

So what can you do?

For busy people, the most effective way to create a writing habit is to set your own intentions. No one is a better judge of what time you have available than you.

Whether your goal is a word count, a narrative target, a daily free write, or a word sprint, so long as you fix that target and reach that goal, you’re a winner. You’re one step closer to a finished project than you were the day before.

Last year, I knew I was too busy to sit down and be uniquely creative for a big daily word count. Instead, I set myself the goal of getting through the whole Couch to 80k course by Tim Clare.

I set myself the goal of two units a day, and by the end of it, I had a whole story idea drafted without ever once staring at a blank page. Overall, I ended up writing more than my potential daily target, but I did it in less time than if I’d just stuck to the proposed word count.

Set your own goals for a better chance at success

There are lots of ways to structure your own goal of writing a novel in a month. I’ve had people in my writing groups set weekly targets rather than daily ones, set lower word counts they feel are more achievable, hit research targets instead of writing ones, and use the month for detailed outlining rather than actually writing prose.

The nature of any novel in a month challenge is not about having a publisher-ready manuscript by the end of it. So tackling the challenge in a way that sets your novel up with a good foundation can actually be much more useful than simply going for word count.

The people in my writing groups who set their own targets had a much higher success rate in any writing event I’ve ever done than those who didn’t. Not only did they feel good about reaching their intended goals, but it actively stopped them from feeling like failures if they simply couldn’t find the time to reach potentially impossible targets.

A novel in a month is definitely a great goal to work toward, but if you’re a busy person or someone with a lot of commitments, it can feel disheartening to know that you might never get over the finish line. It doesn’t have to be. You get to decide what winning looks like for you. And in my experience, working in service of your project, rather than your word count, is always going to get you better results.

Join a writing community

Even if you set your own challenge goals, surrounding yourself with a community of likeminded writers is one of the best things you can do to keep up morale. You can take advantage of the encouragement of your fellow writers, share helpful resources with each other, and just generally enjoy the feeling of knowing you’re not alone.

Being able to declare your project to other writers puts your idea out into the world. And you’ll find that so many of your fellow writers are going through the same things that you are. We’re all busy, but so many of love a challenge. Being around others offers a great push, and keeps you accountable to your own goals.

In Novlr’s community Discord server, we’ll be running a November event where we declare our goals and track our collective progress. We run both regular and impromptu writing sprints, and share lots of encouragement and feedback. You can also set your word count goal directly in Novlr to track your progress! So, if you want to write a novel in a month, set your goals, choose a word count as big or as small as you want, or choose a foundational writing task that will get you ready to tackle that novel over time. Participate in your own way.

As long as we get words on the page, everyone is a winner.