Drafting My Fantasy Series: The Power of 200 Words a Night

Dear readers, writers, friends: I’ve officially started drafting my fantasy book series! *Huge smile*

Beginning to draft in October 2025 was not planned. I did not enter the month thinking this would be the time I stepped forward from only prewriting into the next stage of drafting. So, how did that happen? Great question.

For three nights straight, I struggled to get to sleep and stay asleep. During the day I was tired, but come night my mind wouldn’t stop racing long enough to sleep. Or raced while I slept, awaking me. Maybe you’ve been there too.

It was taking a toll on me, and I really wanted it to stop.

One of the topics bouncing about my brain was my fantasy book series project, Sacred Wolves. In an attempt to get better sleep the coming night, I decided to draft 200 words of the project. Maybe it could tire out my brain, or at least focus my thoughts on one topic instead of ten. Bedtime came and I still struggled to sleep, but less so.

I wrote again for the next night, and I slept a little better. I thanked God and planned to draft another 200 words the next night.

Now, while I conducted this “sleep experiment,” I realized I was having fun. For a long time I’ve been fearful of the prospect of drafting this first fantasy book. Could I possibly write another novel? Would it be any good? What if I’d lost all my writing skills? Every irrational thought.

I learned, however, that beginning this draft in such small increments helps me through my fear. I only need to know what’s going to happen in the next 200 words when I sit down to write, and 200 words is really such a small amount—but it adds up!

Fun Fact: Did you know that if you write 200 words every day that you will finish a 73,000 word manuscript in a year?

For the remainder of this post, I’m going to share . . .

• The tools I use to keep me on a writing schedule
• My 20,000-word drafting goal, and why I’m not planning to draft the whole novel just yet
• How I map out a scene or chapter before I begin writing

There are affiliate links in this blog post. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This costs you nothing, but it helps keep my blog running.

Tracking My Writing Goals

So I like to make drafting a little fun, and I learned from another writer about a website that allows you to track your word count and project goals in a customizable fashion.

You can input your grand word count goal, specify your daily word count goal, select what days you will be writing on, and then the program will automatically do all the math for you, telling you the exact day you will finish your project. The platform even recalculates your end date and daily word count goals if you wrote more or less than your daily target word count.

No math needed on my part, which is EXACTLY what I like!

One of my favorite aspects is when you log your word count for the day, the screen rains confetti to participate in your well-earned celebration! 

The website is www.pacemaker.press. There is a free and paid version. I am using the free version for now to test it out. 

The First 20,000 Words 

I wrote about my drafting fears in the intro of this post. Taking on this book in 200-word increments helps soothe my fears of failure, but doesn’t erase them. For another layer of fear-provoked paralysis prevention, I’ve set my overall drafting goal at 20,000 words. 

The full manuscript will be drastically longer than 20,000 words, so why am I stopping there? 

Well, I read a book. Revision and Self-Editing for Publication, Second Edition (Amazon affiliate link) by James Scott Bell. In this book, Bell pitches the drafting process of writing 20,000 words and then stopping. He suggests taking a day or so off, and then rereading all you’ve written so far. At this point, he says the writer will know more about the direction of the book and the personalities and quirks of the characters. Here they can add, cut, or redirect the narrative according to what the writer has learned. After this editing stint, the writer can then resume drafting the entire novel with a solid foundation. 

I haven’t tried this writing process before, but I love the concept for myself. No matter how much characterization I do in prewriting, I usually can’t get my characters’ voices right until I’ve drafted a substantial amount. My characters need to interact in the narrative for me to really get the feel for their quirks and dialogue habits. 

So I’m going to test this out. 

Scene Mapping Charts

When I was rewriting the first draft of my thriller novel, The New Dawn, I would jot down some notes on a scene card before drafting. I’d spend a little time thinking about what the characters in the scene wanted, what was in their way, and a quick summary of the scene. Writing down these elements helped me map a scene that contributed value to my manuscript as a whole. If a scene doesn’t add enough value to the book, it must be cut. 

That system worked pretty well for me, so I’m using it again, but also expanding it. Before each scene or chapter, I’m filling out this table of information:

Setting:
Characters:
Date/Time:
Action or Reaction Scene?
What Each Character Wants:
Each Character’s Obstacle:
Plot Arc Point:
Character Arc Point:
External, Internal, and Interpersonal Conflict:
Short Summary:
First Paragraphs:
Last Paragraphs:

The last two lines of this table, the first and last paragraphs, was an idea from the James Scott Bell book (Amazon affiliate link) that I’m going to test out. It helps you understand the flow of your book, and assists you in writing great scene beginnings and endings. I’m interested to learn if I like doing this. 

Stay Updated on My Drafting Journey

I’m cautiously optimistic that these first 20,000 words will create a boost of confidence that will carry me to the very end of book one’s draft. Either way, I will write this project and update you on what is working and what isn’t. 

The encouragement you’ve given me by reading this post, subscribing to my fantasy email updates, or emailing me directly has already boosted my spirits. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I’d love to know—

What writing tools do you use daily to keep you on track in fiction writing, nonfiction, or business projects? Scroll down to comment.

You can always keep updated on the Sacred Wolves project on my book page here. 

Like thrillers? You’ll love The New Dawn! Check out my thriller’s book page here.