These Read Letters

WRITE A NOVEL IN 365 DAYS 2023

January 1, 2023, is either here are just about here depending on when you catch this post. And no matter which side of the date you fall on, Welcome to 2023!

This is a new year for resolutions, clean slates, and fresh journals, which leads us to the 365-day novel writing challenge.

This challenge was inspired by a quote I came across on Facebook several years back, by Brad Paisley. I’m certain what he said was not meant to be taken literally but I figured, hey, why not?

Tomorrow is the first blank page of 365-page book. Write a good one. ~Brad Paisley

When I read the quote, I thought, what would it really take to write a book in 365 days besides sitting down and writing one?

Then I saw another shareable moment that read:

12 new chapters. 365 new chances. ~Unknown

Within the span of twenty minutes this challenge was born, one that I am giving to myself and offering to you as well.

SO WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WRITE A NOVEL IN 365 DAYS?:

A novel (Young Adult, New Adult, General Adult) will contain roughly 50,000 for YA, 70,000 to 90,000 words for Adult, depending on the genre. Genres like thrillers and science fiction run around 90,000 to 120,000 words and even upwards of 150,000-plus words, while middle-grade manuscripts require a lesser tome of roughly 20,000.

To get a bit more information about word count you can check out the blog, “Ask the Agent” by clicking the link.

Putting things down to daily requirements for word count within the 365-day challenge is all it takes to give you a picture of how easy it is to start the first draft of your novel and finish it within a year’s time.

Here it goes:

• 20k Novel: 54 words PER DAY
• 50k Novel: 137 words PER DAY
• 70k-90k Novel: 192 to 245 words PER DAY
• 90k-120k Novel: 245 to 329 words PER DAY
• 120k-150k novel: 329 to 411 words PER DAY

And if you just want to try your hand at something like a Novella, you will need between 20,000 and 40,000 words. That is 55 to 110 words PER DAY. With a novella, you can go up to 49,999 words before being considered a novel.

Not very many words, huh? But this is a challenge after all, and I want to give you a little something to work with.

First, let me give you the rules or guidelines.

365-DAY CHALLENGE RULES:

1. Choose a Genre and Demographic you’d like to write your novel for.
2. Decide which bracket of word count you are in.
3. THE RANDOM WORD OF THE DAY-Using a word each day chosen from the random. word list, fulfill your word count requirement by weaving the direction of your narrative around the given word. ( A list of words is at the bottom of this post. You can also do a Google search for random word engines and create your own list of 365 words.)
4. How to create Chapters: 52 chapters or 12 chapters in all:
   • EXAMPLE for a book with 80k words-  You will have roughly 1,600 words a week, the length of a chapter. Create 52 chapters (one for each week)
5. Write for 365 days!

And that is it in a nutshell … mostly. This challenge is about having fun but there are going to be days this year when you just don’t have even five minutes to set aside for fun. Life does happen. Here are some things to keep in mind should you decide to take this challenge:

• For days that you can’t write, double up on the days that you can. Grab the words assigned for the given day and write. For example, double up words on Monday and Friday of each week and leave yourself time to rest over the weekends.
• Feel free to follow your creativity: If you are feeling like you have more than 250 words for the day, GIVE MORE! Again, double or even triple up your writing goal for the days when the juices are flowing.
• Have fun!

LIST OF RANDOM WORDS:

Happy Writing!

*Revised from January 2017 I came for the soup, by Candice Coates