Write Now

September 26, 2019

Constance Gibbs

WORD COUNT Students use NaNoWriMo’s website to track how many words they’ve written. KELLY SULLIVAN

Want to know something special about Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen, by Donna Gephart? The book’s first draft was written inside 30 days, during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

NaNoWriMo is a writing challenge. It takes place each year in November. Writers around the world take part. Their goal? To write a 50,000-word novel in a month. Kids can participate too. NaNoWriMo has a Young Writers Program. The idea is the same, but kids can set a shorter word count.

Marya Brennan runs the Young Writers Program. She says about 100,000 young people and educators join the challenge each year. “In school, you read books, you do a lot of consuming,” she told TIME for Kids. NaNoWriMo gives kids an opportunity to create. And they get to do it on their own terms, without parents or teachers telling them what to write.

Sophia Eftychiou is 14. She took part in NaNoWriMo in 2017. “I’ve always had stories on my mind,” she told TFK. “NaNoWriMo, for me, was an open opportunity to channel channel ERIK ISAKSON—TETRA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES to direct or guide (verb) Freddy channels his aggression into football practice. my stories onto paper.”

To the Finish Line

STORIES MATTER Students at Alameda High School, in California, celebrate after participating in NaNoWriMo.

KELLY SULLIVAN

NaNoWriMo began in 1999. That’s when founder Chris Baty woke up one day with the desire to write a novel. He had friends who also wanted to write novels. For a month, they challenged one another to reach their goal.

Grant Faulkner is NaNoWriMo’s executive director. He told TFK that the program “is a way to learn writing by having fun.” He says it’s not about creating a perfect novel. It’s about telling your story.

According to Sophia, NaNoWriMo helps writers overcome their fears. “What I realized along the way is that it’s okay to not quite make it. Or to feel afraid,” she says. “It’s getting your unique story out in a beautiful, messy flurry flurry SKYNESHER—GETTY IMAGES a quick burst (noun) When the bell rang, there was a flurry of activity in the hallway. of words that counts.”