National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo)

[mouser]

This is a great idea; vrgirl on our forum actually wrote her first novel during the Nanowrimo event in 2003.

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and -- when the thing is done -- the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2004, we had over 42,000 participants. Nearly 6000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from your novel at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Sign-ups begin October 1, 2005. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

[nudone]

cool idea, and successfull too by the looks of it.

is 50,000 words like a short story or a 200 page novel?

[JavaJones]

Wow, 42,000 participants with 6000 actually completing? That's way more than I would have thought! Too many aspiring novel writers.

- Oshyan

[pao]

I'm a finisher in 2003, though I posted a DNF in '04 and an effective DNS in '05.  I'm planning on trying again this year.  It's one heck of a difficult month, but it's pretty fun, even if you know you've created little of value.  Lots of local groups give the effort a pretty good support structure for the authors.

[nudone]

how about doing a donationcoder.com related novel - a combined effort from as many authors as would care to post a few hundred words.

this probably isn't really in the spirit of the project. just thought it might be worth suggesting to 'kick start' a few people into having a go - and hopefully go onto writing solo.

[pao]

You could start a collaborative writing thread just for the heck of it, nudone, though as you say it isn't exactly in the spirit of NaNo, where the focus is on personal achievement of a seemingly impossible goal.  That, and sleep deprivation.  It might still attract a crowd, but of course there's only one way to find out for sure.

[mouser]

just a bump - this starts tomorrow, so now is your time to sign up!

[Dell[a]]

I tried this a little while ago to start a DC "story" just for fun. But it didn't really  take. Though I think with all the users we have it would make a very interesting story.