Write Your Novel in 2026: Week 1: Find Your Story and Set Your Goal
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Week 1: Find Your Story and Set Your Goal
Everybody says they want to write a novel. Fewer people finish one. Not because they lack talent, imagination, or something meaningful to say, but because they never build a system that can survive real life.
This is not a quick challenge or a burst of inspiration content. This is a year-long writing system, broken into four focused twelve-week phases, designed to take you from idea to finished book to publication.
Week 1 is intentionally simple. Your only job this week is to choose the story you are committing to and set a writing goal that is realistic, measurable, and sustainable when motivation disappears.
If you do Week 1 well, everything that follows becomes easier. If you skip it or rush through it, you will spend the rest of the year rewriting the beginning and wondering why the book never moves forward.
Let’s start at the beginning.
The Lie That Kills Most Novels
Here is the lie most unfinished books are built on:
“Once I have time, I will write.”
Time does not arrive on its own. It does not show up with fewer responsibilities or perfect conditions. You build time the same way you build a book, through small, repeatable choices.
Week 1 is about making those choices on purpose.
Step 1: Choose Your One-Sentence Story
Before you outline chapters, build character arcs, or polish an opening line, you need the backbone of your book. That backbone is a single sentence that explains what your story is really about.
Use This Formula
A type of person wants a specific goal, but an obstacle stands in the way, so they must take action or face clear consequences.
Examples
- A burned-out librarian wants to save her neighborhood library, but a developer is buying up the block, so she must rally the community or lose the last safe space they have.
- A teenage hustler wants to keep her sisters together, but family trauma and poverty keep closing in, so she must outsmart the streets or watch her family fall apart.
- A witch wants to claim her crown, but rival queens and ancient laws threaten her rise, so she must secure her power before war begins.
This sentence is not permanent. You are not carving it into stone. You are creating a compass to guide your decisions when the story starts to wander.
Your Task This Week
- Write three versions of your one-sentence story
- Choose the version that feels the clearest and most honest
Step 2: Decide What This Book Is Really About
Every novel has a plot. The novels that stay with readers also have something deeper. They are driven by a central idea or question.
Ask Yourself
- What do I want readers to feel when they finish this book?
- What belief about life am I challenging or defending?
- What wound, fear, desire, or injustice sits at the center of this story?
You are not looking for something clever. You are looking for something true.
Examples of Themes
- Survival costs something
- Love does not save you, but it can change you
- Power always demands payment
- Family can be a blessing and a battlefield
- Healing is messy, but it is possible
Your Task This Week
- Choose one theme
- Write three sentences about why this theme matters to you
If you cannot explain why you care, this book will be the first thing you drop when life gets difficult.
Step 3: Pick Your Finish Line
Many writers say their goal is to “write a novel this year.” That is a wish, not a plan. A plan has a number.
Choose a Target Draft Length
- Short novel: 50,000 words
- Standard novel: 70,000 to 90,000 words
- Epic or genre-heavy novel: 100,000 words or more
Pick one. You can adjust later. Right now, you need a finish line you can see.
Your Task This Week
- Write down your target word count
- Keep it somewhere visible
Step 4: Create a Weekly Writing Goal That Can Survive Your Life
Your writing goal should not impress anyone. It should be repeatable.
A strong goal is not the biggest number. It is the number you can hit consistently.
Choose One Option
- Three days per week, thirty minutes per day
- Five days per week, twenty minutes per day
- Two days per week, one hour per day
- Daily writing of three hundred to five hundred words
If you are unsure where to start, start here:
Five hundred words, four days a week.
That is two thousand words a week. Over a year, that is more than one book.
Messy words count. Especially messy words.
Your Task This Week
- Choose a weekly writing schedule you can realistically maintain for the next thirty days
Step 5: Set a Non-Negotiable Writing Window
You do not need more motivation. You need fewer decisions.
Choose a Consistent Time
- Before work
- During lunch
- After dinner
- After the kids are asleep
- In the car using voice notes
- A weekend morning block
Then write this sentence and fill in the blanks:
My writing window is ______ on ______.
Example:
My writing window is 7:00 to 7:30 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
If your schedule feels chaotic, your writing window should be smaller and more flexible, not nonexistent.
Week 1 Challenge: Start the Ugly Draft
This week is not about perfection. It is about proof.
Complete these tasks by next Wednesday:
- Write your one-sentence story and choose the final version
- Choose your theme and write it in one clear sentence
- Set your weekly writing goal and your writing window
Optional Bonus
Write three hundred words of your opening scene with no editing.
What’s Coming Next Week
Week 2: Characters that feel real, flawed, and under pressure, and how to stop rewriting them every time you get bored.
Your Turn
What is your one-sentence story, and what is your weekly writing goal for 2026?
This is where the work begins.
Want the Full Write Your Novel in 2026 System?
This article is part of a year-long writing system designed to take you from idea to finished book to publication.
If you want the complete 48-week roadmap plus printable weekly worksheets to help you actually do the work, join our Substack.
Subscribers receive:
- The full Write Your Novel in 2026 syllabus
- Weekly printable writing workbooks
- Guided accountability as the series continues
Join the Substack here and start Week 1 with the printable workbook. Intellectual Ink Magazine | Substack
