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Fiction writing

Drafting target planner

Divides the words remaining by the rate you really write at, then adds the weeks you already know you will lose — which is the term every published schedule leaves out.

The question this answers: “I want to finish a draft. At the rate I actually write, and with the weeks I am actually going to lose, how long is that?”

Most adult novels run 70,000–120,000, varying by genre.

Days you actually write, not days you intend to.

Your real average, including the bad days.

Holidays, work, illness, the fortnight you cannot predict.

Result

Weeks to a finished draft
46
About 10.6 months. 40 weeks of writing plus 6 you expect to lose.
Sessions remaining
120
At 750 words each. 90000 words still to write.
Progress
0%
0 of 90000 words.
Weekly rate
2250 words
3 sessions × 750 words.

Worth knowing about this answer

  • This is the drafting time only. Revision routinely takes as long again or longer, and a first draft is not a finished book — nothing here should be read as a publication date.
Show the working
  1. Words remaining90000 − 090000 words
  2. Words per week3 × 7502250 words
  3. Weeks of writing90000 ÷ 225040 weeks
  4. Plus the weeks you will lose40 + 646 weeks

Weeks to a finished draft: 46. Sessions remaining: 120. Progress: 0%. Weekly rate: 2250 words

How it works

Words remaining divided by words per week, plus the weeks you expect to lose. Months are weeks divided by 4.345.

What it assumes

  • The session figure is your real average including the bad days, not your best day. A rate taken from a good week is the commonest reason these plans fail.
  • Lost weeks are an input rather than a hidden contingency multiplier, because a multiplier is a judgement about your life made on your behalf and concealed.

Where it stops being reliable

  • It plans the drafting only. Revision routinely takes as long again or longer, and a first draft is not a finished book — nothing here is a publication date.
  • Writing rate is not constant across a project. Middles are slower than beginnings for most people, and the tool models a flat rate because modelling the curve would be inventing one.
  • It says nothing about whether the draft will be any good, which is the actual question and not one arithmetic can reach.

Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere. Last reviewed 2026-08-14. More on Fiction writing.