Hourly

How many hours do I need to spend on my first draft?

Good question. Also a difficult to answer question, because it depends on how long your first draft is. That being the case, I'm going to go at the question from a different angle.

Hourly 

1. Spend an hour a day on your writing

This should be the least amount of time you spend on your writing in a day, if you're really serious about it. If you want to get your story done, if you want to see this book finished and see it reach it's fullest potential, write an hour a day at least.

And don't worry, you are of course allowed to take days off.

But you might not want to, once you get going. ;-)

2. Two hours a day

This is my personal minimum. I try to write two or more hours a day, five days a week. Usually, it means that I write two chapters in a week, which means I finish a draft of a novel in under three months. 

3. Three or more hours

If you have the time, if you can sacrifice enough to put toward your writing, do it. Write three or more hours every day. Get the words on the page. Write the story you want to be writing.

By doing this, you'll not only finish your first draft quickly, but you'll have written it quickly enough that it's less likely for large plot holes to have appeared, and you'll ensure that you know a large amount about your story, without going back and rereading.


I hope this answered your question! Don't forget, if you have questions you'd like me to answer next week, leave them in the comments or send me a message on Facebook.

[love]

{Rani Divine}