National Novel Writing Month on Iwaku

MiharuAya · Nov 1, 2023

Welcome Writers!

National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo is an annual, international creative writing event in which participants attempt to write a 50,000-word novel during November. It is hosted by a United States-based nonprofit to promote creative writing worldwide. Their website offers participants, called "Wrimos," pep talks from well-known authors, tips for writer's block, information on where local participants are meeting, and an online community of support,

NaNoWriMo was started in July 1999 by Chris Baty in San Fransisco, with just 21 participants. The following year, it was moved to November to "take advantage of the miserable weather." The website was created, and 140 participants signed up, including some from other countries, though only 29 would complete the event. This was also the year that Baty set the event's basic ground rules: the novel must be new, cannot be co-authored, and must be submitted in time to be verified.

In 2002, there were many improvements to the website and increased publicity from radio stations and the nightly news. This saw the number of participants inflate to 14,000. The following year, NaNo implemented programs where volunteers could act as moderators in the forums and send out the first set of pep talk emails. They also created Municipal Liaisons who acted as leaders for certain regions under their jurisdiction, and they would organize fundraisers and meetings for NaNoWriMo participants living in their area.

By 2005 NaNoWriMo was registered to become a non-profit. Then, by 2011, the NaNoWriMo website was redone and given a new layout and forums. During the first month after launch, the new website supported over 1,000,000 visitors and more than 39,000,000 page views

Baty retired in 2012, and Grant Faulkner took his position as executive director. By 2015, 431,626 people participated in NaNoWriMo. Of those participants, more than 40,000 won.

How to Sign-Up?
Those who wish to participate can register through the project's website here. Once you create your account, you can add information about yourself in your profile to help connect with other writers and information about your novels, such as synopses and excerpts.

Rules:

Writing starts at 12:00: a.m. on November 1 and ends 11:59:59 p.m. on November 30, local time.
No one is allowed to start early, and the challenge finishes precisely 30 days from that start point.
Novels must reach a minimum of 50,000 words before the end of November to win. These words can either be a complete novel of 50,000 or the first 50,000 words of a novel to be completed later.
Planning and extensive notes are permitted, but no material written before the November 1 start date can go into the body of the novel.
Participants' novels can be on any theme, fiction genre, and language. Everything from fanfiction, which uses trademarked characters, to novels in poem format and metafiction is allowed; according to the website's FAQ, "If you believe you're writing a novel, we believe you're writing a novel too."

Are you going to be participating in NaNo this year? If you are, what is your novel about? If you feel comfortable, link your NaNo profile below so we can follow and support each other. ^^