How to Write a Novel in One Summer
Writing a book is like riding a bike — or easier than that if you’re like me (and can’t ride a bike very well). Consistency, practice, and repetition will lead you to a finished product. Considering that the minimum length for a novel is roughly 50,000 words, if you write 1,000 words per day for five days a week, in ten weeks you will meet the minimum word count for a novel.
And that is exactly what I did. The summer of 2020, I completed a full-length manuscript.
Before I began writing, I had a rough idea of the story I wanted to write. I had a clear vision for the middle and ending, but no particular direction for my beginning.
I forced myself to write 1,000 words every weekday. If I wrote more than 1,000 words, great. From May through August, I held myself to this standard and inevitably ended the summer with a working draft.
I wrote my story out of order in Google Docs where it was easy to edit and write comments in the margins. Taking advice from my undergraduate creative writing workshops, I let myself write freely without editing the piece until it reached some level of completion.
By no means was the complete manuscript ready for readers. Two years have passed since this initial writing, and the manuscript has been through one complete rewrite.
Unless you are Stephen King and have a team of highly skilled editors ready to pounce on your work, you shouldn’t expect to have a publishable manuscript in such a short amount of time. However, as I learned through my rigid writing schedule, it is possible to write a book in a condensed window of time.
If you’ve always wanted to write a book but never thought you could dedicate years to churning out a draft — -good news. An hour or so a day for a few months will get you to your goal.
May this be the summer you write your future best selling novel!
