How to Write a Novel
A novel is 50,000 to 120,000 words of sustained storytelling. Here is how to plan, draft, and finish one.
Know your target word count
Your genre determines your word count. Getting this right matters — a 40,000-word "novel" is really a novella, and a 200,000-word debut is nearly unpublishable.
- Romance: 50,000-80,000 words
- Mystery / Thriller: 70,000-90,000 words
- Literary fiction: 70,000-100,000 words
- Science fiction: 80,000-110,000 words
- Fantasy: 90,000-120,000 words (epic fantasy can go higher)
See the full breakdown at how many words in a novel.
Structure: the three-act framework
Most novels follow a basic structure whether the author plans it or not:
- Act 1 (first 25%): Setup. Introduce your character, their world, and the problem.
- Act 2 (middle 50%): Confrontation. Your character tries to solve the problem and things get worse.
- Act 3 (final 25%): Resolution. The climax, the payoff, and the ending.
For an 80,000-word novel, that is roughly 20,000 / 40,000 / 20,000 words per act.
Plan your chapters
Most novels have 20-30 chapters. Each chapter should be 2,000-5,000 words depending on genre and pacing. Every chapter needs a reason to exist — it should move the plot forward, reveal character, or raise the stakes. Preferably all three.
Set your daily pace
For an 80,000-word novel:
- 500 words/day: Done in ~5 months
- 1,000 words/day: Done in ~3 months
- 1,667 words/day: Done in ~7 weeks (NaNoWriMo pace)
Use your daily word count goal to find the right pace. Track it with BookBeast.
The drafting process
Write the entire first draft before revising. This is the most important rule of novel writing. Editing chapter one while chapter twenty is unwritten is the fastest way to never finish.
- Write forward, not backward
- Leave notes for yourself when you are stuck: [FIX THIS LATER]
- Skip scenes that are not working and come back
- Do not show anyone your first draft
The messy middle
Around 30-50% through your novel, you will hit a wall. The excitement of the beginning is gone. The ending feels impossibly far away. This is where most novels die.
Push through it. Write badly if you have to. The structure will emerge during revision. The only draft that matters is the one that exists.
Revision
Once the first draft is complete, let it rest for 2-4 weeks. Then read it straight through without editing. Take notes. Then revise in passes: structure first, then scenes, then line-by-line.
Most novels need 2-3 full revisions. This is normal. The first draft is the foundation. Revision is where you build the house.