A Novel Idea

    Writing a novel seems like a daunting task, yet over 300,000 people manage to achieve this goal every year. Formerly known as the Office of Letters and Lights, the National Novel Writing Month office is located in Berkeley, California. Classrooms, coffee shops, and libraries will be filled with authors as this non-profit organization encourages aspiring writers of all ages and from all over the world to step up to the challenge and write 50,000 words in the month of November.  

    There are no rules, except to finish the novel before 11:59 PM on November 30th. Starting November 25th, all participants who have reached the 50,000 word goal can submit their work on the site, and the novel will be evaluated to make sure it is not just random words. Their website, www.nanowrimo.org, helps the author keep track of word count, with a bar graph indicating the progress. This organization gives all writers the chance to finally write the novel they had always dreamed of writing, but had never found the time to complete.

    NaNoWriMo’s popularity has grown since it was founded in 1999. It has gone from 21 participants and six winners to 341,375 participants and 38,438 winners in 2012. A “winner” is someone who manages to finish the novel and enter it before the deadline. Over 250 novels written for NaNoWriMo have even been published, including Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl. Many stories are still unwritten as their authors keep putting the task aside, waiting until they will have enough time. NaNoWriMo stimulates the writers and helps them put their stories on paper, calling all authors to action with their slogan, “The world needs your novel.”