Setting a Daily Word Count

Here’s some advice for first time writers on setting a daily word count.

Consistency is the key. Set a writing goal. Can you write 750 to 1000 words a day? If you can do that, you will have a first draft in around 90 days. Do you have a rough sense of how long you want your book or screenplay to be? Is it War and Peace or Old Man and the Sea? When you sit down to write it, you want to have a sense of proportion. If your first act is 100 pages, then you probably want the book to come in around 350 to 400 pages.

Learn more about marrying the wildness of your imagination to the rigor of structure in The 90-Day Novel, The 90-Day Memoir, or The 90-Day Screenplay workshops.