November: National Novel Writing Month

November is a very special month in the writing community, particularly for those of us who enjoy writing long-form prose. November is National Novel Writing Month, where writers challenge themselves and each other to write 50,000 words of a novel. 

This challenge began in July 1999, with freelance writer Chris Baty and 21 other writers. The following year, the challenge was moved to November to make good use of the bad weather in this dark autumn month. The movement grew and grew in popularity, having well over 100,000 participants in recent years. 

The premise of this challenge is simple: generate 50,000 words of a new novel. It may be a complete story or a 50,000-word portion of a novel that the writer intends to complete later. The writer may plan their novel before November; they may have as many notes and as detailed an outline as they’d like, but they cannot start drafting until midnight on the first of the month, and they must finish by 11:59pm on November 30th. To accomplish this, writers must write 1,667 words (or at least an amount averaging that number) each day. 

Of course, there are no NaNoWriMo-police, and writers may take inspiration from this official challenge to complete their own writing goals. Some have decided not to write true novels but 50,000 words of creative nonfiction, or of fanfiction, or of formal academic writing, or of scripts, or whatever other creative word-based projects they’d like. Others might decide they’re too busy with other aspects of life to write the full 50,000 words, and set goals that accommodate their circumstances or the specific project they’re working on. 

Three years ago, I decided to use the NaNoWriMo challenge to write the last 50,000 words of a novel. I started November first with 30,000 words of a draft and spent the month adding another 50,000, with the end goal of 80,000 words. That was my third time completing NaNoWriMo. This event has always been special to me, as it was what inspired me to write in the first place. I have always had an interest in story-telling, and I’d always had vague dreams to write a novel, but I’d never been able to finish any project I started. I seemed to get stuck in a whirlpool in the beginning, never being able to progress towards a middle and a distant end. But when I committed to writing so many words in such a short time, I couldn’t fall into the whirlpool of editing as I wrote, and I was able to complete my project. 

This delightful — if exhausting — event is something I’d recommend to anyone. While the official NaNoWriMo organization was dissolved earlier this year due to controversy over the use of AI and funding problems, that doesn’t mean writers can’t still celebrate their own National Novel Writing Month. Or their own special writing weeks or days, or whatever length of time or event they would like. This whole tradition was created by a group of writers with ambition and a desire for community, and we can continue to build community and share creativity.