How to Write Your Novel in 2025

The key to success.

Writing a novel is hard. It gets easier once you practice it, but writing your first book is challenging. There’s no easy way out. There aren’t any shortcuts or cheats to write a book faster or easier. AI exists, sure. But that’s not writing a book. That’s asking a computer to write a book for you, and then it turns out super generic, bland, and lacking in artistic style. It’s a bad idea all around. The only way to really, truly, genuinely write a book is to put in the work.

Photo by Chris Leggat on Unsplash

I am a sci-fi author. I’ve published two novels and two novellas and completed the first draft of a third novel. I have practice and experience. I know a few things about writing novels. My first-ever novel was over 70,000 words (259 pages) and took me about six months to write. One of the novels I’m currently writing is sitting at a word count of just over 100,000 words (~400 pages), and I finished that draft in 2 1/2 months. Yes, the length it took to edit my first novel is included in those six months, and I haven’t completed the bigger novel. But the new novel will be done in about the same amount of time it took to complete my first novel while being 30,000 words longer. I learned how to write faster. Most importantly, I learned how to write more consistently.

I’ve found this is the most important thing to learn about writing. You can learn all the techniques. You can learn story structures. You can learn what makes a good character. But none of it matters if you don’t finish your book.

Start small. Work with short stories. Maybe write a novella or two. Finish projects to get that momentum started. Once it’s begun, then work on your novel. But don’t just work on it. Write every day. Start with 500 words every day. That takes me about 15 minutes. If you work on your novel for only 15 minutes daily, you’ll have a full 50,000-page manuscript in about three months. Granted, you’ll still need to edit, but that’s still an entire novel. If you write for 30 minutes, you’ll probably get to around 1,000 words. That’s a novel in 50 days.

If you don’t reach those word counts in precisely that amount of time, that’s fine. It took me a while to get to the pace I’m at, and I still don’t technically write “fast.” There are a lot of authors who write significantly faster than I do. But the more I practice, the faster I’ll write. The same goes for you.

The important thing is taking that first step. Wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, and get your writing in for the day. It’s only a tiny part of your day you're taking to write. You won’t miss anything by only doing a little bit every day. Stay consistent, make that progress, and watch your word count increase daily until you have a completed first draft.

Then it’s time to edit.

This is the part about writing I hate the most. I’ve already told myself the story. Why do I need to reread it?

Because it doesn’t read well to those who haven’t been told the story.

I don’t like to rewrite my work. That takes too much time, and the story is usually fine as it is. If there are any plot holes or inconsistencies, I’ll go back and change some things to fill in the gaps. Sometimes, when writing the first draft, I’ll intentionally leave scenes out that I know I will go back to after learning what happens later in the story. These are usually scenes that include a lot of foreshadowing, but there could be other things, too. Maybe there’s a tool the characters need to acquire in the scene, but I don’t know what the tool is yet. Perhaps the character needs to learn a skill, but I’m not sure which skill. I’ll skip over those scenes, write a short note about what will happen, and go back to them once the rest of the draft is completed.

The rest is mostly style choices and ensuring your writing is coherent and easily understood. It’s best to have someone else read over your work and tell you where they got lost, sentences they didn’t like, and unclear things. My Aunt, Wanda Bush, a phenomenal author herself, reads over all of my works and points out things I wouldn’t have noticed. If it weren’t for her, my novels would be far worse. Find a friend or family member you trust to give you honest criticism and ask them to review your work. They don’t have to be a writer, but it would be better if they were. As long as another pair of eyes goes over your work, you should be good.

Publishing is the easy part. Book covers can be expensive, but many artists on Fiverr will do the work for a relatively cheap price. But be careful. Many like to use AI and pass it off as their own work. Keep a close eye on your artist of choice and ensure they’re giving you the real deal.

After that, all you have to do is format your manuscript (I’d recommend using Reedsy’s free online book editor), fill out all the details on KDP, Kobo, Nook, or whatever other self-publishing service you’re using, send it off onto the interweb, and you’re done.

Traditional publishing is another beast I don’t know enough about to discuss. All I know is that you shouldn’t get your own book cover or format your novel if you’re going that route. There’s a specific formatting you need, which you should google if you plan on sending your manuscript to an agent, but the interior design and book cover are all done by whichever publisher picks up your work.

If writing novels is something you want to do professionally and you want to grow your hobby into a business, then only writing 500 or 1,000 words a day isn’t going to cut it. To survive in this market, you must write a lot of books. First, focus on writing your first novel. This is where you write 500/1,000 words a day. You focus on building habits, writing an entertaining story, and learning the fundamentals of writing books. Do that a couple of times, then you’re ready to get into the real action.

I write an absolute minimum of 2,000 words daily, which is about an hour of work. However, I’ve recently started writing longer sessions, which have grown to an hour and a half (roughly 3,000 words). With this plan in place, if I reach my minimum of 2,000 words daily, including weekends, I’d have a 50,000-word novel drafted in less than a month. That’s pretty fast, I think.

Granted, my novels aren’t typically (if ever) going to be 50,000 words. They’re usually a bit longer. Even so, I wrote a 100,000-word draft in 2 1/2 months, writing 2,000 words every weekday (with some breaks sprinkled here and there). I’d say that’s pretty good.

If you want to write novels as a hobby, don’t worry about speed. Focus on consistency, and you’ll be good to go. However, if you want to write commercially, focus on consistency first, then work on speed as you go. It’ll come naturally as you begin to practice more and more.

That’s my advice for writing your novel this year. Stay consistent. Write a little bit every day. Soon enough, you’ll find yourself holding a complete first draft of your dream novel. It sounds too simple to be true, but that’s all there is to it.

With all that said, make sure you do at least some research into the craft of fiction before diving headfirst into it. I firmly believe there are no rules for writing fiction, but guidelines are invaluable when starting out. I wouldn’t be where I am today in my writing journey if I hadn’t studied story structures before working on my novels. Have some knowledge of the craft. Maybe try basing your story on a structure you learn to focus on the experience of writing your book.

The most important thing to remember when writing your novel is to have fun. Get rid of any expectations, big or small, and enjoy weaving a narrative. Spend time with your characters. Watch them interact with one another. Get to know them a little more. Explore your story world. Get lost in the dark alleys, the sprawling jungles, the alien worlds, and the haunted woods. Writing is supposed to be fun. It’s not supposed to feel like a chore. Relax, don’t expect anything from your story, and have a great time.

Good luck with your goals this year! I know you can do it. The world is counting on you to add more great books to its library! When you finish your book this year, DM me the link. I’d love to check it out!