As the leaves on the trees begin to change and the temperature starts to drop, the onset of autumn brings much to look forward to. Bonfires and long sleeves and hot drinks and the promise of a giant turkey dinner just around the corner. For thousands of people all across the country (including myself), autumn has something else to offer because November just so happens to be the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
NaNoWriMo has been going on for over fifteen years. It is an initiative to get people writing and keep them motivated. The challenge looks like this: you begin writing a novel on November 1st and complete it by November 30th. The goal is to achieve 50,000 words by the end of the month. This seemingly daunting task is taken on by thousands of writers (and non-writers!) of all ages every year. The rules are flexible, allowing for novels from all genres and styles. From this initiative, there have even been many published books that have gained some popularity (i.e. "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern).
When I was 13 years old, I heard about NaNoWriMo for the first time. At this point in my life, I had finally finished my first book, which I started writing when I was nine and completed when I was twelve. I was eager to write more, but I had spent three years on my first book, and the concept of writing a book in one month seemed absolutely impossible to me. Regardless of this, I decided to give it a shot. I spent time outlining what I wanted to write about and eagerly awaited the first of November.
I remember sitting in a corner at a post-Halloween slumber party with a notebook in my lap, waiting for the clock to strike midnight so I could begin.
What followed was a whirlwind of ideas, characters, emotions, and plot twists all piled into thirty days. As time went on and the story began to flow, I started to realize that this task that I had before me was not impossible. It was challenging. It led to a lot of late nights of furiously typing away, but ultimately it was a rush. I finished my first NaNoWriMo novel ("Eighth of Power") on November 28th, 2008. The moment I typed out “The End” on the final page, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would participate again next year. Since that first year, I have never missed a NaNoWriMo. I have written a total of eight novels with the National Novel Writing Month, with a ninth to come in a couple weeks!
My experience with the National Novel Writing Month has been almost indescribably beneficial for me. For one thing, it has given me a chance to put down imagination on paper. Several of the books that I have written for NaNoWriMo have been based on ideas that I had when I was 11 or 12 years old. At the time, I tried to write them but lacked the motivation to actually complete them. Now I get to return to these ideas of fantasy and adventure and give life to them in such a way that I hope makes 12-year-old-Tommy proud.
All that being said, there is something that I would like to make very clear about my experience with NaNoWriMo:
I am not special.
I have a love of writing, and much of that love was fostered by participating in NaNoWriMo. That is all it takes to participate. If you have a story in your head or a character or just a string of words that you feel could lead you down an interesting path, then I implore you to consider trying NaNoWriMo. You don’t need to write the next "Great American Novel" or the next "Hunger Games" or the next {insert some other iconic piece of literature here}. At some point in our lives, as part of growing up, we start to believe that if we are not “good” at something, then we should stop trying to do it. We are no longer able to play the sports we love because the skill level has exceeded us. We give up on our passions for musical instruments and art because we would never be able to be good enough to “make a living.” When I invite people to join me in participating in NaNoWriMo, they often say these words.
“I’m not a writer.”
Maybe you don’t have to be a writer to write.
There have been years that I have written the final pages of a novel, closed my laptop, and thought, “Well that wasn’t good at all,” but those moments have not been discouraging. To me, it doesn’t matter if I produce a fantastic novel or a pile of trash. For me, it is important to simple produce. Maybe you’re seeking a way to let out a little bit of that repressed genius that has been so bogged down by the realities of the world. If that’s the case, please consider joining me and thousands of other individuals this November as we attempt to piece together a story. I promise you, you won’t be sorry you give it a try.
