Four Emojis: Our Weekly Accountability Thread

Saturday Accountability: Week 3

art by Mariam Chagelishvili

→ This week’s goal: Fully embrace the messy middle by leaning into tension, the promise of your premise, and the unexpected ways your protagonist is tested.

→ Word target: 35k words by the end of the week.

→ Looking for some daily accountability? Join the First Draft November Chat to post your daily word count and connect with your fellow writers.

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Greetings from the trenches of the messy middle! We’ve been writing together for 22 days, which means we’re closing in on the end of this challenge, but deep in the middle of our drafts.

Act Two is a wild place to be. You’ve written far enough that turning back isn’t an option, but you might be wondering how on earth you’re going to get to the end. (Hint: one scene at a time.)

By now, you should be hovering around 35k words, but no stress if you’re not there. The midpoint is about momentum, not math.

Now for our check-in!

Describe your novel so far using only four emojis.

Give us vibes, colors, emotions, themes, and topics—however you want to capture what your book is becoming.

Here is an example from my first draft: 🌊 🍸 💋🍽️

Drop your emojis in the comments, then scroll through and guess what other writers’ books might be about. No wrong answers, only vibes!

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First Draft November is a free-for-all, month-long challenge for writers who are ready to get that novel they’ve been dreaming of on the page. For more content like this, subscribe below.