No, dear writer, we are not unhinged. We believe it’s perfectly possible to write a book in a month. More than that – we know it’s possible. Because this year, 100,000 writers will be signing up to Novel November to do exactly that: write a novel in 30 days.

Come on, admit it – the idea is pretty thrilling. A novel in a month! Instead of spending tortured years tinkering away, getting nowhere, you could have a draft done and dusted before December. Appealing, right? That’s why we’ve put together this handy Novel November guide to talk you through exactly how to write a book in a month. Read on for tips, tricks and all the info on an exciting bonus prize draw…

Novel November is a free writing challenge run by ProWritingAid, with sponsors including PageOne, Spotify for Authors, Bookouture and Scrivener. Each year, writers all over the world sign up to write 50,000 words of a novel in just 30 days. It’s the spiritual successor to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which held its final writing sprint in 2024.

This annual writing event provides a fantastic opportunity for you to focus on your novel alongside a thriving global community of likeminded writers. In 2025, more than 69,000 writers signed up to the 30-day writing challenge. This year, there will be over 100,000 participating writers worldwide! 

There will also be more than 70 free events to help spur you on, including daily writing sprints and author-led workshops from the likes of Jessica Brody (Save the Cat! Writes a Novel) and International Booker Prize judge Troy Onyango, as well as PageOne Head of Content Natalie Butlin and  Bookouture publisher Ellen Gleeson (editor of The Housemaid series).

Novel November is all about motivating writers to put pen to paper – or fingertips to keyboard – and hammer out that first draft. The event also spans October (Preptober) for planning your writing, and December for editing.

The short answer – yes! Truly, it is. Not only do thousands of writers achieve this every November, but plenty of commercial authors write books this quickly too, even around day jobs and family. Some write even faster! The King of Horror himself, Stephen King, sets himself a target of writing 2,000 words a day – including holidays. That’s 60,000 words a month! 

So, how do you write a book in a month? To make that 50k target achievable, you’re going to want to break it down into smaller writing goals. Let’s look at the maths: to write 50,000 words in 30 days, you need to write 1,667 words per day. It might be that some days are busier than others – that’s life. You might find you need to plan in a little more writing time on the weekend to make up for writing a little bit less during the week. But it’s honestly doable – as long as you have a plan.

At PageOne, we truly believe that writing quickly is a huge advantage for authors. Superstar author Freida McFadden is currently writing and publishing bestselling books at a rate of 3-4 per year – alongside her medical day job as a doctor who treats brain disorders! And prolific author Alexander McCall Smith writes 3,000 – 4,000 words a day and has had over 100 books published during his career.

It’s simple maths: the faster you write, the faster you finish your book. And the faster you finish your book, the sooner you can get on to writing the next one! 

But writing quickly can improve quality as well as quantity. By writing fast, you are more likely to achieve a flow state. This allows you to hold all the threads of your story in your mind as you write, making your plot less holey and more cohesive. Writing quickly also improves the consistency of your narrative voice, making your book read smoothly. It helps you maintain momentum, so you can quickly and easily slip back into ‘writing mode’ each day, without having to spend ages working out where on earth you’d got to, or what you were going to write next.

Writing speedily also makes you less precious about your work. You are much more likely to act on feedback about a chapter you dashed off in an evening, than one you spent months carefully composing! And that is a massive advantage. Writers who can flex and adapt to feedback are far more likely to end up with a finished, marketable novel.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it till we’re blue in the face – it’s all about the planning! To give yourself the best chance of a smooth and successful Novel November, you’re going to want to use October to prep.

Of course, how much detail you plan out in advance is up to you, but we would strongly recommend beginning with a Five-Point Story Arc. From there, you can expand out to a synopsis and chapter plan. This will ensure your story idea can hold water before you fully dive in to your 30-day writing challenge. Trust us on this – a little planning makes a lot of difference.

Your individual writing speed will dictate how long it’ll take you to hit that daily target of 1,667 words. Some writers manage 500 words per hour – others can write 1,000 or more. If you don’t already know your writing speed, time yourself. Use the results to calculate how much writing time you’ll need to set aside each day to smash that final 50,000 word count.

For this month only, you might have to say no to the post-work pint or the PTA social. And for the love of all that is alphabet-based, you may even have to ignore the siren call of the laundry pile. 

If you have to miss a day for some reason, plan in how you’re going to catch up. Use ProWritingAid’s daily sprint sessions to regain momentum, and lean on the Novel November community for accountability. 

Resist the temptation to sneak back and revise your work. Editing can happen in December – a task for future-you! November is all about forging ahead. Keep in mind that at this stage your goal is progress, not perfection.