NaNoWriMo: Say What?

           During the month of November, if you’re friends with writers or are a writer yourself, you may hear a lot of talk about something called NaNoWriMo. No, this is not some type of obscure new technology, but a phenomenon known as National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. Each November, people from around the world participate in an internet-based goal to write their own novel in one month. By 11:59 pm on November 30^th, the novel must be complete or at least 50,000 words of it. The project was founded by a freelance writer named Chris Baty in 1999, and grows larger each year. In 2010, over 200,000 people signed up and over 2,872,682,109 words were written. As of right now, the 2013 NaNoWriMo has 259,652 novelists signed up.

            What are the rules though, you may be wondering. Well, you already know that the minimum word count is 50,000 words, and has to be completed by right before midnight on the last day of November. Other than that, the rest is up to you. Your novel can be about anything, all genres are fair game, even fan-fiction. Use some type of method to track your word count, and update your NaNoWriMo every now and then with the progress you’ve made on your novel. On November 25^th, contestants can validate their 50,000 word minimum novel to win different writer goodies and prizes and to be officially declared a NaNoWriMo winner! Many NaNoWriMo novelists have gone on to have their novel published as well, whether it’s self-published, or published by a big fancy company like Scholastic, Penguin Publishing, Harper Collins, Random House, Simon Pulse, Simon and Schuster, and more. Famous NaNoWriMo books include Water for Elephants, Cinder: Book one in the Lunar Chronicles, The Night Circus, and more. The whole idea of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing. So many people want to write a novel, but so many of them are scared of the idea. NaNoWriMo tries to get people through their first draft, no matter how bad or good the draft is, and later authors can go back and perfect their piece if they wish.

 

           If you’re interested in NaNoWriMo, or it’s your dream to write a novel, then sign up for NaNoWriMo! It may be too late by the time this edition of the Silver Scroll is published, but start getting ready for next November! NaNoWriMo’s website dedicates the whole month of October to preparing for November with author discussion forums, and more. Or just adapt the philosophy of NaNoWriMo, and set a word count for your novel for one month. NaNoWriMo is a great way for people who love to write to accomplish their dreams. For more information, visit National Novel Writing Month’s website at www.nanowrimo.org.