Do you have a deep-seated desire to write a novel? Have you been meaning to get started on that short story for months now? What about your English grade? Could it use a boost that only writing practice can supply?
Well, I have the website for you.
NaNoWriMo is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing creativity and improving writing skills all around the world. The group started out as a few friends who challenged each other to write a 50,000 word novel in a month, back in 1999. Eventually, they moved online to reach a larger audience and National Novel Writing Month was born.
Now, every November thousands of children, teens, and adults take on the challenge themselves—writing novels from 30,000 to 50,000 words in length. NaNoWriMo is a virtual writing challenge that is completely free to participants. It works on the honor system, and there are great writing-related prizes for those who “win” by reaching the word goal.
Along the way, Nanowrimo.org supplies all sorts of motivation, inspiration, and writing advice. A set of professional writers produce emails of encouragement throughout the month to keep budding writers writing. Past “pep talkers” have included John Green, Veronica Roth, Neil Gaimon, Lemony Snicket, Garth Nix, and James Patterson. I’m super excited to hear Maggie Stiefvater’s pep talk this year. Professional writers also act as “coaches”, taking live questions on twitter and giving general advice. And if that isn’t enough, they have frequent “write ins”, or live internet streams in which members of their team from California will give writing advice, answer questions, and challenge those tuned in to do word sprints—an exercise in which you have an allotted amount of time to write as many words as you can. If you miss the write-ins, you can always check out the forums to have your questions answered or to play writing games with fellow “Wrimos.”
Nanowrimo also supports outreach into local areas. Over 900 volunteers known as Municipal Liaisons set themselves up in their communities and plan writing activities and events in libraries, cafes, and bookstores across the country. These awesome volunteers connect with Wrimos in their area to bring the virtual challenge to life. I’ve gotten to attend these events with my friends in the past, taking part in writing games and snacking on the potluck we put together as a group. I met many great people from all walks of life, all trying their hardest to tell their stories.
On the “adult site” or the original Nanowrimo.org, people over the age of 18 take on the 50,000 word challenge. That’s 1,667 words a day every day in November. Depending on the writer, that is anywhere from a half-hour to two hours of writing a day. It’s a lot to accomplish, but the Nano team is dedicated to providing support along the way.
But, you ask, this sounds like a quantity over quality type situation. I need time to write and think about what I’m writing. That’s where the challenge comes in. During National Novel Writing Month, there’s no editing. Part of the reason so many people fail to begin or finish a novel is because they can’t get past the voices in their heads telling them their work is terrible. For this challenge, your inner editor has to be shut down. Otherwise, you won’t make the goal.
Children can also get in on the action, on their own or with their schools. On ywp.nanowrimo.org, kids under 18 can sign on to write 30,000 words in November. The site also has a classroom feature, in which a teacher can set up a writing environment and invite his or her students to aim for a chosen word goal. This feature also involves a separate forum page restricted to students of this classroom in which the teacher can give writing advice and students can ask questions.
On the "off season", the NaNoWriMo site stays live and offers continued forum discussions and tips for editing and publishing. The team has dubbed January the start of "The 'What Now?' Months", and encourage the participants of the November challenge to take a pledge to revise their work.
Maybe November isn’t a good time of year for you, or 50,000 words is out of the question. That’s okay. There’s also another option. Nanowrimo sponsors two “writing camps” a year. The camps run for a single month, one month apart. For the last few years, one camp has taken place in April, and the second in July. Participants choose their own word count and still benefit from some of the same November tips, tricks, and support systems. More pep-talkers are in supply, as well as “coaches”. You can even choose to be placed inside a “cabin”, or a virtual collective of 11 other writers of your age, writing genre, writing discipline (poetry, novels, short stories, fanfiction, etc), or word count. There is a chat feature that allows all of you to discuss writing, ask for help when you hit bumps, and motivate each other to finish. I was once in a cabin with people from Germany, Britain, Oregon, West Virginia, and Canada. For more information on the camps, check out campnanowrimo.org.
Still not feeling it? That’s okay. Not everyone finds the ol’ word dance exciting. Try looking in to supporting Nanowrimo anyway (https://store.nanowrimo.org/donations). I mentioned earlier that the organization supports writing skills world-wide. That’s true. As part of their mission, they have outreach programs that supply writing tools and resources to over 2,000 classrooms all around the world. They even have a few writing books out that can be used as supplements to Common Core. As mentioned before, the Wrimo team reaches out to local communities, inviting libraries and other spaces to host write-ins and encourage creative growth in their neighborhoods as part of the “Come Write In!” initiative.
Why do all this? The founders of Nanowrimo believe that everyone has a story to tell, they just need an extra push to tell it. Part of the writing experience is learning what you are capable of when determined, increasing your confidence as a creator, and finding out how worthy you are of telling the world your story.
Nano By The Numbers
According to Nanowrimo.org, in 2015:
- Almost a half-million writers took part in the November writing challenge, including 80,000 students on the youth site.
- Over 600 regions took part in writing events in their communities hosted by over 900 Municipal Liaisons.
- Over 1,000 libraries, businesses, and other spaces took part in the “Come Write In!” initiative, and hosted future authors in their buildings.
- Nearly 60,000 writers turned out for the camps in the spring and summer.
- Over 250 novels first written during National Novel Writing Month have been published—not independently, but through traditional publishing houses. Some titles include Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.
What do these books have in common? They were born in November.
