
How to Write a Novel in a Year
Katja Kaine is an award wining novelist and the creator of The Novel Factory. Her debut novel, Blood of Gods and Girls, will be published in early 2026 by Penguin Random House.
In this article she breaks down her process of writing a novel into manageable steps, with a suggested amount of time to spend on each task. By following this novel writing plan, you can complete your novel over the course of a year.
This is a simplified version of our popular Novel Writing Roadmap, so if you’d like to learn more about any of these steps in a great deal more depth, be sure to check that out.
Step 1: Premise
Suggested time: 1 week
I like to start all my novels by pinning down the core elements to make sure I have all the necessary parts of the story. One option for this is to use the Query Shark’s premise questions:
- Who is the main character?
- What do they want?
- What is keeping them from getting what they want?
- What’s at stake?
Personally, I tend to use the SCOOD method, which asks you to define the following:
- Who is the main character
- What situation do they find themselves in?
- What do they want?
- What or who is stopping them getting what they want?
- What disaster will happen if they fail?
You should pick the method that resonates most for you, and take one week to come up with one or two sentences which define the heart of your story based on those questions.
Ideally these sentences will also work a bit like a pitch, in that they will make a reader intrigued and excited to know more.
Alternative option: If this feels too restrictive for you at this point, then instead of pinning down the key story elements, you can keep things looser by simply using a ‘what if’ question to guide you. For example, ‘What if children ruled the world?’ Or, ‘What if gravity suddenly stopped?’

If you’re using the Novel Factory writing software, you can enter all your premise info in the Premise and Synopses section
Step 2: Plot outline
Suggested time: 2 weeks
The next layer I create is the plot outline. This is a very loose outline, which notes down the key beats of the story to ensure it has a structure that will resonate with readers’ subconscious psyches, and that will keep the stakes and pace increasing.
There are a range of plot templates you can use as a guide, but in my experience, most good plot templates contain most of the same elements, just with different names.
Below are the key beats I have found most helpful to guide the structure of my recent novels. These beats are lifted from The Hero’s Journey, The Character Driven Hero’s journey and Save the Cat.
- The status quo – what is the initial situation your main character is in? This should be their everyday life, but the main character is not happy. There is something missing from their lives, even though they might not even be aware of it.
- The inciting incident – something happens which jolts the main character out of their everyday life. This is often an invitation or a threat. The main character may try to ignore it at first, but it soon becomes evident that that is not going to work. What is your inciting incident?
- The New World – the main character finds themselves in a new, unfamiliar situation. They will face tests (relevant to the genre you are writing in). They will make friends and enemies. Who are these friends and enemies, what will the tests be?
- Fun and games – here is where you should deliver on your premise / genre, according to Blake Snyder, who created the Save the Cat framework. So if you’re writing a romance, there should be lots of romantic tension, and if you’re writing a spy novel, you’ll probably want a lot of sneaking around. How are you going to satisfy the readers who picked up your book with certain expectations?
- Mid point – the mid point of the book should be a strong tent pole to raise it up and help you avoid the ‘saggy middle’. What major event creates a turning point around the middle of the book? Something should happen which is a major reveal, and which raises the stakes and changes the course of the story. It is often where the main character fully commits to doing whatever they need to to achieve the main goal, even (especially) if it means finally letting go of limiting beliefs which they have been holding onto up until now.
- Bad guys close in – at this point everything should be going wrong for your main character. Allies are falling out or turning into betrayers. The opposition are closing in and becoming ever more powerful. Things don’t look good. How will this manifest in your story?
- All is lost – this should be the lowest point of the story. The main character hits rock bottom and it seems like there is no possible way they can triumph. And yet, just as they are ready to admit defeat, they have a realisation which changes everything. What can you do to bring your main character to their knees? And what will they realise which gives them a final push of motivation?
- Final battle – the main character has regrouped and faced their inner demons and is ready to defeat the main enemy. How this happens depends greatly on the type of book you’re writing. If it’s a fantasy epic, then there will probably be a big battle. But if it’s a romance, it will be more focussed on individual trust and vulnerability.
Take two weeks to pin down the major beats of your plot outline. You can use the beats I’ve provided above, or use an alternative plot template. You can find a selection here.

The Novel Factory contains a drag and drop Plot Manager with virtual index cards.
Step 3: Character basics
Suggested time: 2 weeks
Characters are the life blood of your story, and creating them is one of the most fun parts of being a writer.
During the next two weeks, you will start to get to know your main characters.
For each of your main characters, note down the following:
- Name
- Occupation
- External motivation (what do they think they want – something like an award, the perfect wedding, to defeat the other tribe)
- Internal motivation (what they really need in order to be fulfilled – usually things like finding their courage or compassion)
- Positive traits
- Negative traits
- Fears and phobias

The Novel Factory has dedicated spaces for all the key areas of novel planning, including characters.
Step 4: Short synopsis
Suggested time: 1 week
Writing a short synopsis is something most writers hate, but I have come to believe it is one of the most useful exercises you can do. If you find it impossible to distil your entire story into a single page, then it’s possible you don’t know what the heart of your story is, and if that’s the case then you risk the story feeling muddy or incoherent to the reader.
So step four is to take one week and to write a single page (about 500 words) which tells your story from beginning to end (including spoilers). You will need to leave out a lot – knowing what you can leave out and what you can’t is a great skill which you will benefit greatly from practising.
Step 5: Extended synopsis
Suggested time: 2 weeks
Okay, after the torture of trying to distil your whole story into a single page, now comes the joyous relief of letting the floodgates open and freeing all those ideas that have hopefully been bubbling up inside you as you’ve explored the premise, plot and characters.
Take two weeks and expand your short synopsis as much as you’d like. You could end up with four pages, or ten – or even more. Let your imagination run free and explore your story without the worry of writing good dialogue or perfect prose – it’s the story itself that you’re revealing.
Use the plot outline you created to make sure it retains a rough structure, but otherwise don’t worry about any technical details – only about enjoying yourself and exploring your imagination.
Step 6: Goal to decision cycle
Suggested time: 1 week
Since I’ve written over a dozen novels now, I usually subconsciously complete this task as I am writing my extended synopsis. However, in the early days I found applying the goal to decision cycle in a systematic way hugely helped my understanding of pace and flow of a story.
The goal to decision cycle has two ‘phases’ which go like this:
First phase
- The character has a goal, which they pursue.
- But there is conflict – something which stops them easily achieving their goal.
- As they try to deal with the conflict, things get worse (often directly due to their actions), ending in disaster.
This ends the first phase.
Second Phase
- The character has a reaction to the disaster. They may be devastated, angry, feel hopeless.
- Once they get over their initial emotional reaction to the disaster, they have a chance to think about what they should do next. This is their dilemma, and they may have to choose between two bad options.
- Finally they make their decision. This becomes their new goal, and the cycle returns to the beginning of phase one.
Not every part of your novel has to follow this cycle religiously, but if you can master the goal to decision cycle, your readers are more likely to find your stories natural and flowing. If you don’t follow this cycle, then its possible your characters will feel like they leap to decisions and goals out of nowhere, which can be jarring.
Go through your extended synopsis and apply the goal to decision cycle to strengthen the mid-level structure of your story.
Step 7: Character development
Suggested time: 6 weeks
Now our story is starting to really get into shape, it’s time to go in-depth with our characters.
For each of your major characters, do whichever of the following tasks feel right for you:
- Find/create a couple of images to represent them – one for their face and one for their whole body.
- Consider their personality type – you can use established personality type theory or just come up with rough descriptions that resonate with you. For example, is this character a life of the party, all smiles type? Or are they depressive, finding the worst in everything? Are they practical and resourceful? Or are they frivolous or flighty?
- Consider their backstory – again, go into as much or as little depth as feels right for you. At minimum I think it’s worth considering what sort of childhood they had (what was their house like? Was their family filled with love – or not? Did they have everything they needed, or was life difficult?) and imagining a few key experiences they had which impacted on who they are today and how they view the world. For example, if their father threw them into a swimming pool when they were little in a misguided attempt to ‘help’ them learn how to swim, do they now have a fear and hatred of water? Or perhaps it drove them to try to master the water in order to conquer their fear. Did it leave them with a distrust of authority? Or a fearful respect for it?
- Experiment with character questionnaires – these can be useful in prompting your imagination to consider aspects of your character that you might not have thought of otherwise. If you’re not sure what aspect of your character to explore next, it might be worth checking out a character questionnaire to give you ideas.
Spend the next six weeks getting under the skin of your major characters.
Step 8: Scene blocking
Suggested time: 4 weeks
During the next four weeks, you will take your extended synopsis and break it up into scenes.
If you’re not sure where scenes should begin and end, then refer to your goal to decision cycle, and have one scene for each cycle. So each scene begins with the character having a goal, and ends with then having a new goal.
Alternatively, you may wish to have one scene for each phase of the goal to decision cycle, so one scene for the goal to disaster, and one scene for the reaction to decision. Either of these ways works, it really depends on how much detail you’ve put into each part.
If you’re not sure, don’t agonise over it – just make a decision one way or another. You can always change it later once you’ve completed your first draft.
For each of the scenes, write a rough outline of a few paragraphs of what is going to happen in that scene. Many of these will already be complete based on your extended synopsis, but you will likely find there are plenty of places where you need to fill in the gaps.
Step 9: First draft
Suggested time: 4 weeks
This is one of my favourite parts. Over the next four weeks, you will complete your first draft.
I find it very helpful to give myself a one month deadline for writing the first draft, because it helps imbue me with the energy and momentum to really let the first draft flow out, and get completed.
I recommend steaming forward without looking backwards as much as possible – don’t worry about editing, and certainly don’t focus on perfection. One of the most common pitfalls I’ve seen newer writers get into is that they get stuck trying to write the perfect first chapters, and never get any further than that.
In my experience, you don’t fully know how your book should open until you’ve written the end, so time spent on the first chapters before you’ve written the final chapter often ends up being wasted.
As you write your first draft, if you come across something that you realise you need to look up or spend more time developing, don’t worry about it and try to avoid getting sidetracked – just make a note that it’s something you need to come back to once the first draft is complete.

In The Novel Factory you can write your first draft with all your notes to hand.
Step 10: Locations
Suggested time: 2 weeks
Now you’ve completed your first draft, you might want to have a little breather. This is an ideal time to paint some more detail into your locations.
Make a list of all the major locations in your novel and spend some time imagining each of them. It can be helpful to think about how each location affects each of the senses – when you are standing in this location, what can you see, hear, smell, taste and feel?
It can also be helpful to look at the location through the lens of the atmosphere and stakes of the story. If your character is supposed to be feeling nervous while they are at that location, can you draw out elements of the place which raise the tension and sense of anxiety? If they are feeling confident and relaxed, how can that be reflected in the location?
If they are real locations which it’s practical to visit in person, do that, and take notes about as many details as you can.
If they are fantasy locations then you still might be able to use real world locations as a basis for your inspiration, and then spend some time using your imagination to develop the various fantastical elements.
Step 11: Subplots
Suggested time: 4 weeks
Now you need to get into the engine of your novel and make sure all the different parts are working together to drive it forward.
Dealing with subplots means thinking about all the threads which are not the main thrust of the story. This might be the relationships between the main characters or the character arc of a supporting character. It may be that there is an item which recurs through the story, and when you look at it in isolation, you can make sure the item is foreshadowed, then there is setup and payoff.
There may be elements of exposition or setup that you need to weave into early chapters of the story in order for later ones to have maximum impact, or you may want to present backstory of some of the characters to justify their behaviour and actions.
Take four weeks to draw out each of your subplots and make sure each of them have setup, development and payoff.

The Subplot Manager in The Novel Factory is specifically designed to help you keep track of all those pesky intertwined plot threads!
Step 12: Character viewpoints
Suggested time: 3 weeks
Over the next three weeks, you will take each of your major characters and follow the whole story from their point of view.
Consider what they were doing while the events in each of the scenes was happening. If they were present, what were they thinking and doing? If they were not present, where were they and what were they doing there? You can do this quite briefly, with just a page or so of summary for each character, or you can go into quite a lot of depth.
Seeing the story from the points of view of characters other than the main character has multiple benefits. It helps the story world feel more consistent, real, layered and three dimensional. It often inspires new details and subplots which you may not have thought of while in the head of the main character. And it adds great depth to each of the characters you do it for.
Again, The Novel Factory contains a tool specifically for this. You can learn more about it here.
Step 13: Redraft and edit
Suggested time: 12 weeks
This part requires a lot of commitment, stamina and trust in the process and in yourself.
You need to redraft and edit, until all of the elements we’ve explored, researched and developed weave together into a coherent whole.
If you have your own method for doing this, then do that. If you’d like more guidance, you can try the method I use:
- Print out the whole novel and makes notes on the pages where relevant, and in a separate notebook where they are more detailed, referencing what they refer to, including chapter and page numbers.
- Write down anything which you notice needs foreshadowing, callbacks, further research or development.
- Note down any plot holes or plot inconsistencies.
- Spend time doing any research you need to, or exploring in-depth plot or character elements.
- Make a bullet point list of all of the things that need to be done (apart from word or line edits, which you can do straight from your notes).
- Go through the list, bullet by bullet.
Step 14: Final polishing and feedback
Suggested time: 8 weeks
It is unlikely that you will get to a point where you are sure your novel is ready, because people rarely feel confident that a novel is ready – there can always be improvements.
However, once you’ve done as much as you think you can during the redrafting stage (or used up the whole twelve weeks) then I highly recommend getting feedback.
Ideally you will find a handful of beta readers who are willing to read through your whole novel and give you positive and constructive feedback. It’s much better if these people can be writers themselves, rather than well meaning family members, as their feedback is more likely to be constructive and specific.
You can usually find these sorts of beta readers in writing communities, both in person and online.
Once you have your feedback, you can apply what you think will improve it, and of course you’re welcome to ignore any feedback you get as well – stories are extremely subjective.
Then you can spend the final weeks polishing the novel until it shines – tweaking sentences, dialogue, descriptions and every word, until you can proudly call the manuscript complete.
Congratulations!
I hope you found this guide useful. If you have used it to write a novel, I’d love to hear from you!
Of course it should go without saying, but all writing advice is ‘tools not rules’. You need to find what works for you, because what one writer swears by would be crippling to another. I have offered all this advice because it has helped me on my journey, but it is only one of many thousands of different ways to write a novel.
The most important thing is to find your own way, by writing, experimenting, learning, trusting your instincts and developing your style.
And most of all – enjoy the journey!
If you found this article useful, then please do consider checking out some of our other resources, and also joining our Facebook community.

Want to make the process even easier?
The Novel Factory gives you dedicated spaces and innovative tools to help you with all of the steps above – and you can try it completely FREE for 30 days (no credit card required!). Click below to get started.