How many hours to write?

Overview

I work full-time from home running two online businesses: wood-burning stoves and raincoats. Very seasonal. Winter is flat-out; summer is calmer. In the busy months I write evenings and weekends (sometimes fuelled by drinks), and in quieter spells I can steal 1–3 hours a day during “work time” for writing.

Timeline

~2010—In a house in North Wales I spotted the phrase Chip Stealing Bastards stitched neatly under an embroidered seagull (see The Evolution of an Idea (and title)). I thought, “One day, I’ll do something with that.”

17 February 2024—That day arrives. I’ve been trying to write novels for four years—two abandoned attempts not involving seagulls. Ninety thousand words felt like walking to China in flip-flops. So I decide to “take a break” and write a novella instead: 25–35k words. Working title: Chip Stealing Bastards. Three acts. A seagull in St Ives who steals from tourists and has a big fear to overcome. I live in Cornwall by the sea—plenty of inspiration. If it’s any good, maybe it’ll sell. How hard can it be?

18 March 2025—I officially become a planner. Four weeks of brainstorming now completed. Thirty-six scenes mapped, each with a one-paragraph summary. Plan: 500 words per day, 60 days, 30,000 words. Beginning, middle, end; highs, lows, midpoint, inciting incident, antagonist, protagonist, darkest hour. Easy, right?
Feeling: Compared to a full novel, this will be a doddle.

Latest Update

As of 19 Dec 2025: week 39, about 900 hours logged (not counting thinking time, which is surely another half again). I expect the finish line somewhere around 1,200–1,500 hours.

I thought I could write 50 scenes, 500 words each, over 60 days. And I did. Then I thought I’d “polish a bit” and be done. Now I’m realising how much one can improve a line, a beat, a moment—foreshadowing, micro-tension, theme, rhythm, metaphor. Major characters need developing, each to have their own dialogue style, motivations and arc. That's before thinking about fine detail editing for mistakes, repetitions, inconsistencies etc. Six months has become nine.  Plan was to be printed within a year. Now I see that end date approaching fast. There’s always something to improve. It’s exhilarating sometimes, exhausting often.

Closing Thought

A novella is a shortcut, at least in word count. But not in the work. The craft doesn’t shrink just because the word count does. You still wrestle with structure, theme, tension, character arcs, pacing, rhythm, and voice… only in a tighter space, with nowhere to hide.

Early thoughts are that I’d recommend it to any aspiring novelist. It’s like a concentrated apprenticeship. A way to practice building a new world: beginning, middle, end—without needing to walk to China in funny footwear first.