The Big Write: Your Draft Done for the Holidays

Writing together: a novel in ninety days

Writers infamously love a deadline. We now know this to be true. We saw it in full technicolor glory on the last day of our 3-month submission window for The Next Big Story prize when we had 8,102 entries in one day!

Many of us need a deadline to get our butts in the seat to write at all—myself included. Back in 2017, I decided that if I were going to write my next novel at all, I needed two things I hadn’t had before in my 17 years of writing fiction: a deadline and a community. Let’s face it, writing can be a lonely business. Writing alone for years after I published my four novels was an absolute killer. I was so lonely that I just couldn’t get myself motivated to write at all. So, I put out a cry for help via The Bookseller, asking if any writers wanted to join me and write a novel in ninety days, and I was stunned when I had 200 applicants. Thus, The Novelry was born!

Suddenly, I had community! A glorious, enthusiastic group of writers, all ready to cheer one another on. The first thing I needed to do was organize all of us and find a way we could stay in touch as we wrote. I wanted to offer my writing companions encouragement on a daily basis, plus share some of my hard-earned tips. I had all this experience from my life spent in the writing trenches, and I was eager to pass it on in the hopes that it might make someone else’s writing journey a little easier. So I rolled up my sleeves, threw together a website, and started recording my writing process.

It turned out that writing together was a blast! Not only were my fellow writers great company, they were great fun. We celebrated the end of the ninety days in fine style, toasting our achievement with cocktails from the top floor of the Waterstones bookshop in London. Happy days. Some of those first writers are still with The Novelry and have written more than a few novels since then. And many more have joined and made their dreams come true. Like Allie Gardner, who secured representation just last week with Jane Rotrosen Agency for her upmarket historical mystery, The Widow Maker’s Daughter:

I joined The Novelry with a rough draft and a dream. Writing a novel can be a daunting solo endeavor, but The Novelry offered me community and taught me to trust the process—that the ups and downs and the doubts and challenges I was experiencing are shared by authors everywhere...
—Allie Gardner‍

Eight years on, we’re still writing, sharing, and supporting one another. The thrill of writing still stirs me. I have the same urge to hunker down at the desk, writing like a demon in short bursts of inspiration and exhilaration, and knowing you’re not alone is so consoling. Every writer loves a moan (as much as they love a deadline!). Writing together can be fun and highly motivating.

If any of this resonates with you, consider joining us at The Novelry for The Big Write.

The Big Write: your novel, drafted by Christmas

What if you could put your feet up over the holidays, knowing you’ve got a complete draft of your novel in hand? That’s what The Big Write is about—a bold, thrilling, and completely doable writing adventure to finish a draft of a novel before you get to trimming the tree. You could see out the year knowing you’ve achieved your big ambition and ticked ‘writing a book’ off your bucket list.

The challenge launches on Monday, September 8, and we will start writing together on October 3 with a live session in our online community featuring our famous author coaches (who’ll be taking the challenge too). This is where we all gather at the starting line—limbering up together for The Ninety Day Novel Class. This isn’t just your challenge. It’s our challenge. We’re in it with you.

What to expect

Forget muddling through alone. We’ll handle the heavy lifting of plotting and planning, walking you through story prep step-by-step until your structure is watertight. You’ll get personal feedback from the author coach of your choice, who’ll sign off your storyline as good to go. Then it’s full steam ahead—writing daily, building stamina and word count week by week, and hitting that magical finish line.

Here’s what you’ll have along the way:

• ‍Live daily writing sessions to keep you on track.
• Small group classes for motivation and camaraderie.
• Six one-to-one coaching sessions with bestselling authors.
• A dedicated challenge group to help you keep pace, with live daily updates from a community of 2,000 writers!

The finish line? Up to 80,000 words by December 16, 2025—plus a writing habit for life.

The all-star author lineup 

You won’t just be writing with us—you’ll be writing alongside some of the famous authors, all on deadline to finish their own drafts by the holidays. They’ll share updates, breakthroughs, and tips from their desks as the challenge unfolds.

Will they make it all the way home for the holidays?

Here’s the lineup, folks:

1. ‍Dhonielle Clayton—New York Times bestselling author of 15 novels and the board chair of We Need Diverse Books.
2. Melanie Conklin—award-winning author of children’s middle-grade fiction, notably Counting Thyme, winner of the International Literacy Association Teacher’s Choice Award and the Nerdy Book Award.
3. Tara Conklin—New York Times bestselling literary fiction author of The House Girl and The Last Romantics, selected by the Today Show Book Club.
4. Kate Davies—Polari Prize-winning author of In at the Deep End and Nuclear Family, The Times book of the year. Kate writes contemporary fiction and children’s fiction.
5. Kate Dylan—Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction novels for both YA and adult, including Mindwalker, one of Kirkus’s best YA books of the year, and Until We Shatter.
6. Emylia Hall—Top Ten bestselling author of cozy crime, notably the Shell House Detectives series, and women’s fiction including The Book of Summers, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick.
7. Lesley Kara—Sunday Times Top Ten and Amazon No.1 internationally bestselling author of psychological thrillers, including The Rumor.
8. Alice Kuipers—Carnegie Medal nominee and winner of the Grand Prix de Viarmes, and author of YA, children’s fiction, and memoir, including Life on the Refrigerator Door, a New York Times Book for Teens.
9. L.R. Lam—Sunday Times and USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of fantasy and science fiction, notably Seven Devils and Dragonfall, a Barnes & Noble monthly pick.
10. Clare Mackintosh—New York Times and Sunday Times number 1 bestselling crime author, notably of I Let You Go, selling more than 3m copies.
11. Ella McLeod—Branford Boase-nominated author of YA fiction and romantasy, including Guardian Best Books Pick, The Map That Led to You.
12. Colleen Oakley—USA Today bestselling author of six novels, including The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise, translated into 21 languages, and Georgia Author of the Year.
13. Amanda Reynolds—number 1 bestselling author of suspense novels including Close To Me, adapted for television by Channel 4.
14. Kate Riordan—Sunday Times bestselling author of contemporary thrillers published by Penguin, including The Heatwave, an Apple Fiction Chart No.1 fiction bestseller and Richard and Judy Book Club pick.
15. Piers Torday—bestselling author of multiple middle-grade books for children, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize winner, The Dark Wild.
16. Evie Wyld—prize-winning literary fiction author, winner of the Miles Franklin Award, the Stella Prize for Fiction, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and the Betty Trask Award.

And yes—some of them have written whole novels in ninety days before. (Take Emylia Hall, who has written six of her novels in ninety days. She’ll be sharing her expert insights with you before you start writing.) Others haven’t. You’ll get to watch them race against the clock right alongside you.

Hosting the team sessions will be Gina Sorell—‍New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and acclaimed contemporary fiction author of The Wise Women, a Good Morning America Buzz Pick book. Gina is also on a deadline to get her next book drafted by the holidays!

Pacing your write

We’ve partnered with Pacemaker Planner—your novel’s GPS—to help your word count stay on track and reach your writing goals, breaking down the big ‘finish by the holidays 2025’ challenge into smaller, manageable daily or weekly milestones. With a free account, you can create custom writing plans based on your word count goals and deadlines, track your progress with tables, calendars, or graphs, and choose pacing styles that fit your lifestyle: steady progress, light/skip weekends, or a big final push in December!

The Novelry has a group account, and our members can access that and join the challenge for free at The Big Write. But if you’d like to set up your own premium account for your writing life, we have an exciting discount code for you. Try Pacemaker Premium Pro today with coupon code THEBIGWRITE for 20% off your monthly or yearly subscription until December 31, 2025. (Members of The Novelry are eligible for a 25% discount for life, available via our community at The Novelry Live.)

Thousands of writers worldwide use Pacemaker to move from draft to done—and The Big Write is the perfect opportunity to see what’s possible when inspiration meets strategy!

How to join

Ready to cross the finish line with us? Just sign up for The Ninety Day Novel Class (or any of our flagship courses that include it), ideally before September 7, to secure your place in The Big Write.

👉 Take our Course Finder Quiz to see which course is right for you.

{{blog-banner-2="/blog-banners"}}

Here’s how The Big Write works

The Inspiration and Preparation Phase
September 8–September 18‍

• Lessons 1–10 (10 days or at your own speed)‍

The Construction Phase
September 18–October 17‍

• Lessons 1–15 (15 days): Pre-writing preparation
• ‍BEGIN WRITING October 3‍
• Lessons 16–18 (3 days): 250 words/day
• Lessons 19–23 (5 days): 500/day
• Lessons 24–30 (7 days): 750/day‍

The Swim Phase
October 18–November 1‍

• Lessons 31–33 (3 days): 750/day
• Lessons 34–45 (12 days): 850/day‍

The Heat Phase
November 2–November 16‍

• Lessons 46–52 (7 days): 1,000/day
• Lessons 53–60 (8 days): 1,250/day‍

The Enlightenment Phase
November 17–December 1‍

• Lessons 61–67 (7 days): 1,250/day
• Lessons 68–75 (8 days): 1,350/day‍

The Home Phase
December 2–December 16‍

• Lessons 76–90 (15 days): 1,500/day 🚀

🏁 80,000 words by December 16, 2025 🎄

Dive into the detail to find out more about the phases of our famous Ninety Day Novel Class.

We can’t wait to see you at the start line, and we’ll be cheering you on all the way to write those two words every writer loves:

‘The End.’