NaNoWriMo for Beginners

I've seen a lot of activity on Social Media surrounding NaNoWriMo over the last month.

While I've done my best to answer those questions, I do have to eat, sleep and go to work, so I have no doubt that there are several that I've missed. So, I've put together a basic guide to National Novel Writing Month, so I can just copy-paste a URL, instead of a more lengthly reply. I am all for supporting newbies to the joy that is NaNoWriMo, but I only have so many hours in a day.

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month, shortened to "NaNoWriMo", (or even just "NaNo" if you're Australian and succumb to our pathologial need to shorten everything, including things that are already abbreviations) is a US-based Non-Profit organisation that promotes creative writing around the world.

Founded in San Francisco in 1999 with just 140 participants in the flagship year, it has since grown to a world-wide event with participants in the hundreds of thousands.

NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words, the minimum word count for a Novel, in a single month.

That sounds like a horrifying prospect until you realise that it translates to 1667 words per day, which is a far more achievable goal, particularly if you spread it out over multiple platforms, like Vocal, Medium, Quora, School/University Assignments and your main project.

NaNoWriMo also encompasses the Young Writers Program, which aims to encourage the teenage and pre-teen population to follow their passions. In 2004, this led to Camp NaNoWriMo, a bi-annual event occurring in April and July, where participants are encouraged to write daily and can earn the same 'badges' and awards, but can set their own word goals, rather than adhering to the hard 50,000 word goal.

Originally located on different websites, the two merged in 2020.

The Young Writers Program also hosted 'write-ins' at local councils, libraries and community centers, where school-age would-be writers could come to write, and even be mentored by older members.

How is NaNoWriMo set up?

Other than the website and assorted Facebook and Discord groups, NaNoWriMo was run like a social meet-up. While in-person events were suspended in 2020 and 2021, due to the global Pandemic still affecting large parts of the world, regional groups run by Municipal Liaison (MLs) volunteers met frequently.

My group had monthly meet-ups at Starbucks and Max Brenner, which translated to meeting up every fortnight. There was no obligation to attend, and people could come and go as they liked, but it was a good way to catch up with acquaintances and brainstorm. During April, July and November, these meet-ups took place weekly, along with other daytime or weekend meet-ups, because not everyone works 9-5.

We also had a long list of social events, where we met up, then sat around with notebooks and computers, either ignoring each other while writing, or socialised and brainstormed. The following list is incomplete and ongoing,

• NaNo Prep Picnic: Takes place the 4th weekend of October. Everyone brings a dish, and meets up at a park location to socialise and talk about plans for the coming NaNoWriMo.
• Sydney Coffee Crawl: Meeting at or near Central Station, this was a day-long wander around the city, spending about an hour in each coffee shop, and posting on social media so latecomers knew where to find us.
• The Great Train Write-In: Meeting at Central Station, NaNoWriMo participants jumped on a country-link train, took over a carriage, and wrote in sprints betweeen alternate station stops. Upon reaching the end of the train trip in a country town roughly two hours later (the Sydney region tends to alternate between Wyong on the Central Coast, Kiama near Woolongong, Bowral in the Southern Highlands, and Katoomba in the Blue Mountains), we would scatter for lunch, and meet up again for the trainride home.

• NaNoWriMo Lock-In: For the truly dedicated, this was a meet-up running overnight, from 7:00pm to 7:00am. Participants would show up at the host's house, order pizza, and write through the night. (Theoretically. In practice, Cards Against Humanity and it's variants tended to make an appearence, and there would be at least one room set aside for anyone who needed to sleep.)
• Starbucks Thursdays: A weekly gathering at Haymarket Starbucks, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm or when the staff kicked us out. On non-NaNoWriMo months, this was a monthly occurrence.
• Max Brenner Tuesdays: A weekly gathering at Parramatta, for those in the Outer Suburbs who didn't feel like making the trek into the city on Thursday. We met up at the Max Brenner Chocolate shop and tried not to be too loud.
• Assorted write-ins: arranged by non-ML individuals, this was an open invitation to meet up at libraries or cafes, mostly done for the benefit of those who couldn't make the night-time or all-day meet-ups.

(psst, you can still meet up with your NaNoWriMo friends this year, just make sure your MLs don't know about it and don't post on any official forums...)

In-Person meet-ups are officially back on in 2022, but if you have cold or flu symptoms, be considerate and join in from Zoom instead. Even if it isn't COVID, just hay-fever (Southern Hemisphere) or allergies or the flu, you should still err on the side of caution, for the sake of your fellow writers.

How can you participate?

1. First, sign up at nanowrimo.org, and follow the steps to create an account and set up your project. This doesn't have to be a single novel; I know several people who write short stories, or assorted fanfictions during NaNoWriMo. The goal is the word count, not necessarily a finished book.
2. Next jump on Facebook, Discord and all your other Social Media platforms, and join the assorted NaNoWriMo groups.
3. Start writing, and have fun. Try to write at least a few words each day. Some people write 50 words per day during the work week, then pound out a few thousand on their days off.
4. If you don't think you're ready for the full 50,000, then wait until April and try it out during one of the Camp NaNoWriMo events.

Why should I bother?

Having a dedicated goal, and people and systems to support you to that goal, is always a good thing.

If you're serious about being a writer, at some point deadlines and wordcounts are going to be a thing that exist for you, and NaNoWriMo is a good, less-stressful, way to practice.

As writers, we aren't always the most social of people. Having the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals and form casual friendships with them can only be a good thing.

It's fun, and you get to try a new activity. It won't hurt, and your family will get off your back for 30 days while you go and spend time with actual humans.

Like your parents always said, try it once, and if you don't like it, you don't have to continue.

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