You Don't Need to Write a Book. Write Three Chapters

 Writing a book sounds impossible.

A good thriller is about 90,000 words. If you write 500 words a day—every single day—that's six months of work. Before you even start typing, there's weeks of brainstorming. Character development. Plot structure. World-building.

Then comes the rewriting. The editing. The fixing.

No wonder most people never start.

I stared at that number for months. 90,000 words. It felt like trying to eat an entire elephant in one sitting.

The Problem Isn't Your Discipline

You've probably heard the advice: "Just write a little bit every day!"

Great. Thanks. Super helpful.

The problem isn't that you can't show up. The problem is you're trying to write a book when you should be writing a short story.

Start With Three Chapters

Here's what I wish someone had told me:

Don't write thirty chapters. Write three.

Beginning. Middle. End.

That's it. That's a complete story.

Your beginning introduces the world and the problem. Your middle tests your character. Your end resolves something (even if it's just one thing).

Three chapters might be 6,000 words. Maybe 10,000 if you get rolling. You could write that in two weeks.

Two weeks vs. six months? Totally different psychological game.

What Happens Next

Here's the thing nobody tells you: those three chapters have room to grow.

Once you finish your Beginning-Middle-End, you'll know your character. You'll understand the story's shape. And you'll probably see where it wants to expand.

Maybe your beginning needs a setup chapter before it. Maybe your middle has two parts instead of one. Your ending might split into a climax and resolution.

Three chapters become five. Five becomes eight. Eight becomes a book.

But you didn't set out to write thirty chapters. You just kept adding what the story needed.

This Is How Stories Actually Work

I used to think professional writers outlined thirty chapters before they started.

Some do. Many don't.

They write until they have something complete, even if it's small. Then they see what it wants to become.

Your three-chapter story might stay a short story. That's fine. Short stories are great.

Or it might keep growing. That's fine too.

Either way, you finished something. That's more than most people who say they want to write a book.

Try This Today

Open a blank document.

Write these three headers:

Chapter 1: Beginning
Chapter 2: Middle
Chapter 3: End

Under each one, write a single sentence describing what happens in that chapter.

That's it. You're done for today.

Tomorrow, pick one chapter. Write 500 words. It doesn't matter if they're good words. Just fill in one piece of your story.

You're not writing a book. You're writing three chapters.

Start there. Watch what grows.