NaNoWriMo Turns Ten
By Llewellyn McEllis
What started out ten years ago as an attempt for Chris Baty and his twenty-one friends to turn themselves into hot, date-able novelists has expanded today into an annual competition celebrated by over 100,000 ambitious writers. Not sure what I’m talking about? Does the word NaNoWriMo ring a bell? For those of you who are still not sure what that babblesome word is supposed to me, let me spell it out for you: National Novel Writing Month.
Every year in the month of November writers gather from all over the country to participate in the largest novel writing competition on the net. The rules are simple. Beginning at 12:01 AM on November first, all participants have thirty days to start from scratch and complete a fifty-thousand word novel. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s because you’re thinking about it all wrong. The novel writing process for many authors tends to be somewhat perfectionist in that it requires constant editing and polishing along the way, which interferes with the imaginative process. The idea behind NaNoWriMo is meant to push writers beyond the editorial craziness and into the creative zone by encouraging them finish first and edit later.
Celebrating their ten year anniversary in 2008, the evolution of NaNoWriMo has unfurled rather creatively, much like a fast-paced action novel, if you will. The twenty-two friends who gathered in year one decided to try their luck again the next year, and this time they had someone who wanted to build a website for them. Armed with an arsenal of strict rules, the website managed to attract about 140 participants—five times as many as the original undertaking. Born were many of the rules that still govern the competition to this day. For example, all novel projects must be started from scratch, and you can’t buddy up with another writer to achieve the 50,000 words goal.
When year three rolled around, Chris Baty and his team weren’t expecting a higher turnout of participants than they’d had the year before, but by November first, an astounding 5000 people had signed up for that year's competition. The media was suddenly all over NaNoWriMo, and year four necessitated a professionally run site and fundraising to maintain the awakening monster. 14,000 people participated in year four, which nearly doubled again in 2003 to 25,000 participants. Year six saw 42,000 writers and more publicity from writers who were starting to see their NaNoWriMo novels published. The man behind the barreling NaNoWriMo bus, Baty, had partnered up with the Room to Read charity and encouraged NaNo writers to donate to the Cambodian Libraries project. Numbers steadily continued to increase, allowing NaNoWriMo to branch off to sponsor a program for youth writers called the Young Writers Program.
In 2006, NaNoWriMo became The Office of Letters and Light, an official not-for-profit charity recognized by the IRS. Today there are over 500 NaNoWriMo chapters nationwide, and a number of authors have successfully published their NaNoWriMo novel projects. What started out as a simple novel writing project for twenty-two twenty-somethings eight years earlier had reached out into the world and inspired copy-cat programs like JulNoWriMo, which takes place in July. 2007, year nine, saw 101,510 writers sign up and 15,333 winners complete the requirements.
As their tenth year in play approaches, and writers begin to enthusiastically bog down the forums in anticipation of the thirty day novelfest, 2008 looks as though it will be another banner year for Chris Baty and The Office of Letters and Light.
For more information about NaNoWriMo, please visit their website: http://www.nanowrimo.org
To make a tax-deductible donation, visit the Office of Letters and Light http://store.lettersandlight.org/home.php?cat=2&sort=price&sort_direction=0
Facts and Information gathered from: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/mediakit
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