I just hit 20k words for NaNoWriMo, and yet, I have barely made a dent in my whole story, with the most “wordy” part I have planned coming up soon.
I wonder, is this a bad thing?
50,000 words seems like it’s a huge amount, but realistically, I think we should look to see how long a novel really is. I am writing fantasy, so I looked into that.
Science fiction and fantasy novels typically have a word count between 90,000 to 125,000 words. The sweet spot, according to Donald Maas, is 100,000 to 115,000 words.
from “The Write Practice“
So, keep that in mind if you are writing for NaNoWriMo, your 50,000 words over a month may make only a tiny dent in an actual novel you have thought of.
I would say, if you can make it 1/4 of the way through your novel outline, you are doing more than great, you are doing amazing! When you revise, you’ll be chopping bits off left and right, so if 50,000 words gets you to your first main “uptick” in your plot outline, you’ve done quite well.
Don’t be discouraged if your story, like mine, isn’t going anywhere. It doesn’t need to, you just need to write.