Someone just wrote me, for instance, and said they want to write a novel

Someone just wrote me, for instance, and said they want to write a novel (they have the idea) but don’t know how. The answer is really simple: first practice staring at a blank screen for 20 minutes a day. Then start writing 500 words a day. A novel is 60,000 words.

500 words a day is 180,000 words in one year (and that assumes breaks for 5 holidays). 500 words is only 2-3 paragraphs. So you can write 3 novels in one year. Or one good,  highly edited novel. And that’s if you limit yourself to 500 words. With practice you’ll go up to 1,000 words, 2,000 words, etc. Any small improvement (staring at a blank screen to get used to the idea of writing) will add up to success beyond belief (who would think you can do 3 novels in a year so easily?)  

Walter Mosely (one of my favorite mystery writers) has written that if you just write 500 words a day (three paragraphs) then in 100 days you have 50,000 words. Which is  roughly the length of a small but publishable novel. So you can write 3.5 novels a year. Or write one really good one that you’ve rewritten quite a bit. Try it. 

Faq Me by James Altucher