I am not sure how many of you are familiar with NaNoWriMo, or whether or not you know what it stands for. So let me break it down for you.
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it's a write-a-thon that takes place each and every year on November. Its a type of challenge if we can call it that way, where writers from all around the world attempt to write 50,000 words between the 1st and the 30th of November, creating this way the first rough draft of their manuscript.
Now lets us talk a bit about how it all started shall we?
NaNoWriMo was accidentally founded by Chris Baty in 1999 and its a nonprofit organization with a goal and ethos "to help people find their voice, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds - on and off the page" as its states on their page. From its 21 participants in the first year NaNoWriMo grown to 427,653 participants in 2021.
What are the reasons someone to do NaNoWriMo ?
There are many positive reasons someone to get himself into a writing bootcamp / challenge or even NaNoWriMo itself. Below I have listed 8 reasons why.
It helps you learn what you can achieve
Prepare for writing your next book
Stay accountable with targets
Build a writing habit worth keeping
Make actual writing progress
Improve your story craft with practice
Gain perspective on writing process
Nurture connections with other writers
What are the benefits and drawbacks of NaNoWriMo?
A lot of people are having various opinions when it comes to NaNoWriMo
For example Grimes says something very true about the payoff of the gradual gratification:
"It's like this shining beacon that promises all of the good stuff now. But here's something that I guess someone ought to tell you: You might finish your first draft this November, but it takes a lot longer than that to produce a work of fiction that's fit for public consumption" Shaunta Grimes 'Why I Don't NaNoWriMo Anymore' Medium, May 22 2019
On the other hand there are also the opposite opinion about it:
"Doing it was magical for me, because once I knew I could write a novel, I knew I could learn to write one well." Said again by Shaunta Grimes
Where I stand is actually in the middle, I do agree with both statements, having tried myself in many writing projects, I know from first hand that trying to create something that you will eventually put it out in the market is not easy, but also trying something new most of the time its challenging too, because there are many situations that will make you want to quit. Thus in this case NaNoWriMo is a very good opportunity to put yourself into work and get yourself with a first rough draft of your novel.
I have participated in this year as well and we still have a long way to go but its still the beginning of the month so lets keep up the hard work and bit NaNoWriMo.
I definitely suggest my fellow writers and non-writers to give a try to this challenge. In the end of the day its an amazing chance to test yourself.
Laura Melkonian
That's All She Wrote
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