by nissa_amas_katoj

Created on: January 06, 2007   Last Updated: August 27, 2011

National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo, is a global creative writing event in which people from all walks of life and varying levels of writing ability attempt to write a 50000 word novel in one month. It takes place in November of each year.

The project was started by Chris Baty in July 1999 with 21 participants in the San Francisco Bay area. In 2000, NaNoWriMo had its own website, a Yahoo group, and 140 people participated. By 2007, the event had grown to over 100,000 participants from around the world.

The rules of NaNoWriMo are this: Any genre of fiction is allowed, even fan fiction, which, because it uses characters belonging to other writers, is not publishable. Any language in which the writer cares to write is also allowed. Writing begins at midnight on the first of November and ends on the 30th of November. No previously written material or already started novels are allowed, but extensive note-taking and outlining before the event are permitted.

NaNoWriMo emphasises quantity of writing over quality- getting your word count for the day done is more important than coming up with the absolutely perfect word for that tricky scene. Anyone who completes the word count goal for the month is declared a winner.

NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty has written a guide to month-long noveling, 'No Plot? No Problem!' in which he guides the beginner through the whole process on a week by week basis. He helps you through the expected highs and lows and gives hints specific to each week of the event. He also emphasises how important it is to leave your 'Internal Editor' behind when you begin the event, to free up your imagination and give yourself permission to try new, sometimes crazy things in your writing.

The forums on the official NaNoWriMo web site offer the participating writer a chance at finding a virtual writing community. There are boards for the various genres of fiction, and regional boards for writers around the world. One can find help for writing one's novel, or things to do to avoid working on the novel.

While most of the novels finished by the NaNoWriMo participants are not ever going to be published, a small but growing number of them have found publishers, and a list of them may be found in the FAQ section of the official web site.

The popularity of NaNoWriMo has led to a number of other, similar events, often just involving the use of a different month of the year. There is also the National Novel Publishing Year, which aims at both writing a novel and getting it published. Perhaps the newest edition is Gothic Novel Writing Month, which takes place in October and aims at writing novels in the Gothic style, or at least writing a work with horror or supernatural elements.

Reference:

Baty, Chris No Plot? No Problem
Wikipedia National Novel Writing Month http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month -official web site http://www.nanowrimo.org/

National Novel Publishing Year official web site http://www.nanopubye.org/

Gothic Novel Writing Month official web site: http://gothnowrimo.proboards104.com/index.cgi

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