So, what you have to do here is… sit down and write.
Okay, that’s obvious, right? That’s how writing happens: the idea occurs, you pop open the word processor, wiggle your fingers, and then the words appear. So easy!
(I can hear every single writer out there groaning and rolling their eyes right now.)
The magic “1,667 words” is not an arbitrary number. It’s actually the daily target in order to make the 50,000-word goal for National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. The completely-a-personal-challenge-and-not-in-any-way-an-actual-competition event happens every year in November (since it hath 30 days), and while you are more than welcome to set your personal goals at above or below 50K, the classic format is the mid-range novella length.
But, how do you do that?
Again, you write.
What if you can’t? What if you have writer’s block?
Open a document and type something. Type anything. Copy something out of a phone book. (Wow, I just totally dated myself…) Write out a grocery list. Do something to break the perfect, flawless page staring out of the screen at you.
Because writing is literally all about making flaws.
Our characters are flawed because that’s what makes a personality. And we as writers are flawed because if we were perfect, we’d be boring.
And boring is the worst sin a writer can commit.
Write absolute rubbish. Start with a ridiculous cliche – it was a dark and stormy night – and then make up what happens next. It doesn’t matter if you have an outline or a detailed world or a death-defying addiction to free-typing. Break the page. Write a diary entry. Describe a completely mundane grocery trip. Visualize whirled peas.
When you do this, an idea will start to form. It may or may not have anything to do with what you thought you were going to write – but, let’s face it, if what you were going to write was meant to come out, you wouldn’t have resorted to transcribing Spice Girls lyrics. At this point, it will keep growing, it will spin into something maybe unexpected, or perhaps slightly familiar. It will happen, bit by bit, until the Magic Word Count is achieved.
Here’s a secret: You have to write 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, but there is no requirement for them to be good words.
(Don’t forget to save, by the way.)
How long does it actually take to write 1,667 words? Depending on how fast you type, it might be an hour or two.
How long is 1,667 words? Figure that each double-spaced, 1-inch-margin, 12-point-font page has around 350 words (give or take), you’ll end up with around five pages.
Are you going to answer any other questions about word counts here? Sure, if someone asks me.
DG is presenting at the 2023 Roanoke Writers Conference on the topic of “Planning versus Pantsing.” Don’t miss it!