Welcome to First Draft November. Let’s Write a Novel Together
How this challenge works, its guiding principle, and your roadmap to 50k words
Hi friends,
Welcome to First Draft November! I’m so glad you’re here. For the next month, we’re diving into the wild, messy, exhilarating process of writing a first draft—together.
Writing a novel can feel overwhelming, to say the least. You sit down with a blank page, and suddenly the story that lived so vividly in your head seems impossible to get onto paper. That’s why I firmly believe in the power of moving quickly through a first draft. No overthinking, no revising. Just full speed ahead as the images and the words come to mind.
From personal experience, I know that getting stuck in internal editor mode is the quickest way to stifle creativity, especially in the tender stage of a first novel draft. But when I shifted to moving quickly, approaching my novel from a place of curiosity, I was finally able to finish my first draft (and my second and third, for that matter).
As Alan Watt says in The 90 Day Novel, “We have been trained to second-guess ourselves, to be more interested in the result than the process. We are not encouraged to be curious, so it’s difficult to really get quiet and inquire. The decision to be creative is so often met with concern, suspicion, and even outright scorn.”
And so that is why, dear friends, this is a challenge. Or maybe, even a rebellious act: To spend the month of November together, holding it all loosely, embracing our creative intuition, and writing our damn novels in a messy, maybe even unhinged manner. One day at a time. I hope that feels freeing to you!
Just like the November novel writing challenges before us, we will guide you through writing a little over 1,000 words a day (1,667 if we want to be exact) for the entire month. By the end of it, you’ll have about 50,000 words—roughly 75% of a novel—that you can shape, revise, and build on. No small feat!
How it works
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I’ll send you a guiding question. Instead of vague prompts or rigid assignments, you’ll get one deep, story-shaping question designed to inspire new scenes and help you understand your story better. As much as we aim to approach this draft with curiosity, a loose structure can be helpful. These questions will double as both fuel for your word count and mini-lessons on story structure, and by the end of November, you’ll not only have pages written but also a clearer sense of your novel’s foundation.
The guiding principle
Here’s what I have learned from many writers, especially my dear friend Shelby Hinte: All novels start with a question. Sometimes, it’s as big as “What does it mean to be free?” Sometimes, it’s as simple as “What if two unlikely people fell in love?”
At its core, a novel gives us the freedom to explore What if? What if a character made a different choice? What if they took their desires, flaws, or fears all the way to the extreme? What if the very thing they’ve been avoiding is the one thing they have to face? What if the world itself bent in a new direction, forcing them to navigate the unknown?
There’s so much possibility.
A draft is the space where we can test those questions, push our characters into unfamiliar situations, and discover outcomes we couldn’t have predicted. That’s the beauty of novel writing!
Inspired by this, we’ll let questions guide us all the way through our first drafts. Each day you’ll get a question that helps you push your characters further, test their choices, and see what happens when they’re taken to the edge. My goal is that these questions will guide not just your scenes, but also your understanding of your story.
The roadmap
We’ll move through the month using the three-act structure as our compass:
Setting the foundation:
Act One (November 3–8)
We’ll set the stage, introduce your protagonist, and bring in the forces that stand in their way. By the end of this section, you’ll reach the Inciting Incident and Debate: the disruptive moment that shatters your character’s ordinary world and begins to push them toward an irreversible choice.
Breaking into the world of Act Two (November 10–15)
This week, your protagonist makes that choice: the Doorway of No Return. From here, there’s no turning back. You’ll cross the threshold into Act Two, exploring false victories and defeats, meeting new relationships that shift perspective, and raising the stakes as the world of your story expands.
Entering the “Messy Middle” (November 17–22)
This is where drafting gets hard (and fun!). We’ll lean into the promise of your premise, revisit the images and vibes that first inspired you, and push your protagonist toward the beliefs and choices that are about to be challenged.
Midpoint madness and a 50k celebration (November 24–29)
We’ll hit the midpoint twist that changes everything, reconnect with your protagonist’s deepest motivations, and escalate the pressure as antagonistic forces close in. By the end of this week, you’ll have 50,000 messy, beautiful words—the bulk of a first draft—and the clarity to keep going.
Your milestones:
12k words → Reach the Inciting Incident and Debate
23k words → Cross the Doorway of No Return
35k words → Deep in the Messy Middle
50k words → Celebrate! You’ve broken past the midpoint and drafted the bulk of your novel
Remember: 50k words won’t complete your book. But it will carry you more than halfway through a draft. You’ll break past the midpoint, power through the messiest section, and prove you can sustain the momentum to tackle the bulk of the work. From there, finishing becomes far less daunting because the hardest part is already behind you!
Imperfection is the point
The most important thing I can tell you is this: This draft will be messy. And that’s exactly what we want. Don’t polish. Don’t overthink. Don’t look back. This draft is about discovery and curiosity. It’s about being playful (this can be fun, you know!). These guiding questions are meant to inspire, not to make you feel like you need to know everything to proceed.
Every scene you write is progress, every word is momentum. By the end of November, you’ll have something real on the page. Something with a beginning, middle, and end that you can mold and shape and revise.
A few more things
→ Writing live on Substack? If you plan to draft your novel publicly during First Draft November, please let us know, and we will recommend your Substack page so others in the community can follow along.
→ Daily accountability: Each day, there will be a dedicated space in the Substack chat where you can drop your word count, share a win, or vent about the messy draft process.
→ Saturday check-ins: Every Saturday, I’ll post an accountability thread where I’ll check in on your progress and you can share how it’s going. Think of it as a group huddle and word count tracker!
→ Amy Shearn’s Novel Writing Workshop is a fantastic companion piece to First Draft November. And thanks to the folks at The Forever Workshop, it’s free to access all month long! No code or subscription needed, just go here and enjoy.
So grab your laptop, clear a little space in your day, and get ready to draft with curiosity, courage, and speed. I’ll meet you back here on October 28 with your Starter Kit so you’re ready to dive in.
I’m so excited to guide you on this journey.
Let’s WRITE YOUR NOVEL!
Kailey
can't wait for this! finally excited to push past my short story word limits as a chronically minimalist writer
lowkey excited and nervous at the same time to participate in this challenge, never done anything like this but definitely looking forward to it🤞🏼