50K Words in 30 Days: How to Write a Novel in a Month

Prepare beforehand

Sometimes, we get an idea that supercharges our creativity, and we start writing fervently with passion and excitement. But then we crash into a brick wall and have no idea what comes next. We don't have time for writer's block when we need to write 50K words in 30 days.

Even if you're a pantser like me, taking the time to explore your story beforehand will help you avoid wasting time staring at a blank screen or notebook. About 4–2 weeks before you begin the challenge of writing a novel in a month, answer these key questions:

1. Why do you need to tell this story? What about it excites you the most?
2. What message do you hope to convey: e.g., love concurs all, cheaters never win, we’re strongest when we work together? (Your answer is your book’s theme.)
3. What genre will your book fall into? If you’re not sure, research books similar to yours, books you’d want to see yours next to in Barnes & Noble, and find out which the top 3 categories they appear in on Amazon.
4. What tense and POV will you use? Take a quick look at the best sellers in your genre. What POV and tense do they use: e.g., first person and present, or third person and past? It’s best to mirror what’s selling now because that’s proof of readers’ preferences.
5. What is the setting: a cozy hometown, another world, Middle Earth, outer space, a nameless big city, a New Jersey dinner?
6. Write a synopsis about your book, a few brief paragraphs that sum up the main characters’ (MC) biggest challenges—internally and externally. This may change as you write the book, but it’ll give you a powerful starting point and help guide you.
7. Who are your MCs? What are their full names, jobs & job titles, ages, hair color, eye color, defining physical description, favorite comfort food, and favorite childhood memory?
8. What are your MCs’ initial desires and festering wounds? What do they need (not want) by the end of the story?
9. Who are your secondary characters (SC)? What do they each want vs need, and what’s their festering wound?
10. What roles do each of your MCs and SCs play? Are they the jester, the wizard, the sage, the rebel, the hero, the explorer, the caregiver, the ruler, the artist, the innocent, the lover, or the everyman?
11. Make a list of the top 10 scenes you want to include in your story. Try to sort them chronologically. These scenes become your waypoints.
12. What are the rules for this world? Ask yourself, if this, then what else is true (or untrue). For example, if you have a magic system, then who has access to magic, and what prevents them from getting too strong? If everyone has access to magic, then who is the most powerful and why? If everyone has access to magic, then do the everyday people need money or farmers? If they don’t, then what are their daily struggles? Poke at your ideas to find the weak spots.
13. Identify your MC’s development arc. Who are they at the beginning of your story, at the middle, and at the end? How have they changed at each stage?
14. Make a list of your favorite tropes. Which would you like to include in this story? (Remember, tropes don’t force you to write stories like everyone else; they’re seeds of ideas that also help define genres and highlight readers’ interests.)
15. Daydream about / visualize an exciting twist to your story.
16. Create a rough timeline for your characters/story.
17. Daydream about / visualize the ending of your story and add notes to your scene list.

Calculate your goals

Given that most months have only 4 full weeks, divide 50K by 4. This gives you a weekly goal of 12,500 words.

Now, decide if you’re going to write 7 or 5 days a week. If you plan to write every day, you’ll have a daily goal of 1,786 words. Writing 5 days per week equates to 2,500 words. Choose which feels more doable for you.

Personally, I aim for 5 days a week so I have built-in breaks and so my schedule can accommodate other commitments. If I fall behind my weekly word-count goal, those 2 bonus days also give me a buffer to play catch up.

If your schedule has a few days at the beginning or end of the month, you can reallocate or adjust some of your daily word-count goals to include those days or save them as part of your catchup plan.

Create a visual tracker

Print out a blank monthly calendar. If possible, add 2 extra columns to the right. Keep reading to find out what those are for, or just download this monthly word-count tracker I made and use.

Fill in the dates. Next, after checking your personal calendar, cross off on the tracker any days you know you will not have time to write, like a friend’s bridal shower or a trip into the city. On the remaining days (hopefully at least 5 days per week), record your daily word-count goal (see the previous section), and leave space to record the amount you actually achieve that day.

As for those 2 extra columns, use the first to record two weekly totals: (1) each week’s total word-count goal, and (2) the total you actually achieve.

Use the second extra column to tally the weeks together so you can track your total as you progress toward that 50K sum. This way, you’ll know if you’re behind, on target, or ahead of the game.

Establish accountability

We tend to show up for others more so than for ourselves. So, find a group of people with goals similar to yours, and plan to meet a few times a week to help hold each other accountable.

Virtual writing sprints are priceless for this. In my Facebook group, the Creative Writing Collective, I host a few writing sprints per week. During these sprints, writers log into the virtual meeting when they can and share their personal goals via the chat, whether that’s 500 words or finish a scene.

Overall, the mission is simple: Write as much as we can during the allotted time. Usually, we do two 45-minute sprints. Writers can choose to leave their cameras on or off, but they must all remain muted during the sprints. When time's up, writers share their experience via the chat. Sometimes people share a sentence they've written, but there's no pressure to unmute and speak.

You can create something simple among your own friends, or join CWC and hop into our sprints.

Try these personal tips

When I completed the 50K challenge, here’s what made the difference for me:

1. I did the prep work beforehand, so I knew my story and had a good idea about what I wanted to happen.
2. I aimed to get ahead of my word count early during the first days and week. Whatever scenes I knew best, I used that to my advantage to write 3–4K in a day, and I kept up my goals for the rest of the week so that when I began to peter out toward the end, I had a buffer.
3. Before I sat down for my sprints, I daydreamed about the scene beforehand, when I was washing dishes or driving or before falling asleep. That gave me the freedom to experiment with my characters’ emotions and reactions and visualize what I wanted to happen next. Thus, when I sat down to write, I was ready to go.
4. I didn’t write chronologically. I chose the scene that excited me the most, that I’d dreamed about the most, and I dove into it headfirst.
5. I forced myself not to delete. First drafts are about getting our ideas down on paper, not about pretty sentences. This challenge helps us to get out of our own way and do just that. Deleting previous work just makes finishing the first draft 10X harder.
6. I hosted a lot of sprints with my friends, so I kept encouraging them and myself to keep showing up. Camaraderie is priceless.

At the end of the day

At the end of the day (or month), take pride in what you’ve accomplished. Writing 50K in one month isn’t easy, but it’s doable. The point is to push yourself to finish that first draft, regardless of whether you hit that 50K benchmark. And if you still wrote more than you would have beforehand, then consider that a victory.