National Novel Writing Month Starts 10th Year
Thousands of Writers Attempt to Finish a Novel During November
Nov 10, 2008
More than 100,000 writers all over the world are currently in the throes of attempting to write a full novel in just 30 days as part of National Novel Writing Month. Now, in its 10th year, the annual celebration of "literary abandon" continues to surprise and inspire its creator, Chris Baty, who says he had no idea the event would grow to be so large.
"I didn't think we'd get to a second annual one," Baty said. "It just seemed like one of those crazy and somewhat stupid ideas a group of friends can come up with. But the process ended up being so much fun, and the books we wrote were surprisingly unhorrible, so we thought anyone can do this."
National Novel Writing Month, or Nano Wrimo, as it's commonly referred to, has steadily grown in participants every year. It started in 1999 with 21 participants, and now more than 115,000 adults and more than 20,000 kids have signed up to participate this year. Baty says he believes a combination of factors are at work in making the event so popular, the first of which being it's cost.
No-Cost Writing
"Free is always a good price," says Baty. "Most writing classes and workshops can cost a fair amount of money. We're kind of like a self-taught writing class that doesn't cost anything."
The community support is another factor Baty thinks people find attractive. The Nano Wrimo website allows all participants to create profiles where they can update their word count and novel information daily, as well as participate in forums and keep track of their friends' word counts.
"Typically, novel writing is a solitary experience," says Baty. "Most of our participants have found that they're much more productive by writing with other people."
Many of the event's participants go to "write-ins" or locally sponsored events open to all writers to get together in one place write. Baty says these write-ins happen in hundreds of cities all around the world.
Finally, Baty says he thinks the purposeful unpretentious nature of the program is another draw.
Writing for Fun
"We're kind of like an anti-contest contest," he says. "Our prizes are deeply mediocre, and there's a sense of whimsy about the whole thing. That makes it seem more like a fun, crazy adventure than a daunting task to be undertaken with so much pressure."
Although the goal of the program is write 50,000 words during the 30 days of November, Baty also says people shouldn't get discouraged if they're unable to reach that goal for whatever reason.
"It's still an exhilarating ride," he says. "And it's not too late to sign up. We have tons of people sign-up mid-month every year and hit the goal."
To sign up or learn more about National Novel Writing Month, visit their site at http://www.nanowrimo.org.
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