Starting to write a novel is quite a daunting task, but what’s even more difficult is finishing a novel. So much time, energy, and even money is dedicated to writing and completing novels, but how exactly are you supposed to meet your novel writing goals? Thankfully, The Word Counter has many resources to help you along your novel writing journey, and we are here to share six ways to meet your novel writing goals. Keep reading to learn how to finish your novel.
1. Understand Your “Why”
Unless you understand your purpose for writing a novel – or your “why” – then meeting your novel writing goals is no more than typing words on a screen. You need to understand the reason for your desire to finish this novel. Do you want to become a bestselling author? Do you want to connect with and help people through your novel? Maybe it’s as simple as you want to finally complete something and be proud of it, no matter who reads it. Make sure you have a good understanding of your purpose for writing a novel, and you’ll feel the motivation to push through when you hit writing blocks.
2. Set Specific Writing Goals
You can write as much as you want, but unless your goals are specific, you won’t know how to meet them. Make your writing goals as specific as possible. In other words, your goal shouldn’t be “I want to finish my novel.” Instead, you can say something like, “I want to write 1,000 words per day” or “I want to finish my novel before the end of the year.” Writing goals need to be as specific as possible, or else you’ll just be writing aimlessly without a specific goal to look forward to.
3. Break Down Big Goals Into Small Goals
Let’s say you do have specific goals. If so, good for you! Now you’ve got to ask yourself the question, “How big are these goals?” It is substantially easier to reach goals that are smaller than those that are bigger. We don’t mean to lower your standard or your goals at all, but instead, we mean that it’s a good idea to break down your big goals into multiple smaller goals. For example, let’s say your goal is to finish your novel by the year’s end. You need to have small goals that are more manageable and easy to achieve to help you along the way to your big goal. Instead of the giant goal of finishing your entire novel by the end of the year, calculate approximately how many words you need to write per month, then per week, and then per day. Having the goal of writing 1,000 words per day is much more manageable. You’ll find yourself motivated to continue strong each time you reach a small goal.
4. Fill Your Life With Writing
To write a novel, you have to write a lot. We all have our normal schedules to abide by, such as going to work, running errands, spending time with friends and family, and other things, so how are we supposed to fit writing a whole novel into our lives with everything else going on? The answer is to fill your entire life with writing. It may sound daunting, but it’s not as difficult as it may sound. All you have to do is cut back on other unnecessary things. Instead of watching TV for two hours at night, write your novel. When you are on the bus to work, pull out your laptop and write. If you look for them, you’ll find that there are opportunities to write scattered throughout your daily routine. As long as you commit to writing as much as possible, you’ll have no problems meeting your writing goals.
5. Look for Inspiration
Unfortunately for writers, hitting writer’s block is quite a common occurrence when writing a novel. When this happens, it’s important to immediately look for inspiration. The Word Counter is a great resource for this. On The Word Counter website, you can find a random letter generator and a random word generator. If you feel like you’ve hit writer’s block, head over to the random word generator, see what word it generates, and then think about how you can incorporate it into your next sentence or into your plot as a whole. The Word Counter website also has other great resources to refer to when you need a bit of inspiration.
6. Commit Just One Minute
One method that is extremely effective for many writers is saying you’ll write for just one minute, no matter how you’re feeling. Whether you have writer’s block or are just stressed from your normal routine, sometimes you may not want to write. When this is the case, sit down at your laptop or with your pen and paper and tell yourself to write for just one minute. Chances are, once the minute is over, you’ll have found inspiration just from the small amount you wrote and will want to continue writing. Even if you don’t find inspiration in that minute, at least you sat down and wrote, and even that is progress towards finishing your novel.
Conclusion
We hope today’s article was helpful in showing you some of the best ways to meet your novel writing goals. By following these tips, you just might be the next bestselling author, and we can’t wait to read your amazing novel you worked so hard for.
