Stack of Books | Photo by Suzy Hazlewood | Pexels.com
Every year in November, hundreds of thousands of people attempt to write a 50,000-word novel by the end of the month in an annual online event called NaNoWriMo -- short for National Novel Writing Month. Participators from every age can try this and sign up is free at nanowrimo.org. And with the year we all had, it will be nice to escape into a fictional world of your creation.
Admittedly, 50,000 words is pretty daunting. Broken down, it’s about 1,667 words per day, but if you skip a day or two, catching up can be difficult--but not impossible!
Students, educators and writers around the world use NaNo to write that novel that’s always been in the back of their mind. The point of it is not to write the next Great American Novel--though you should not keep yourself from trying! --but to simply get the words onto the page. You can worry about editing later--now is the time to just write!
Sophomore English major Calvin Cusack thinks that NaNoWriMo is an excellent writing exercise.
“I like that NaNoWriMo is accessible. The main goal of the project is simply to get people writing, and anyone can get involved. It only takes a little bit of time to start your own project,” said Cusack.
Cusack completed it during his first attempt last year, hitting 50,000 words the day before the deadline. His current project is about a butler working for a rich family, who discovers one day that the people he works for are harboring a terrifying, gruesome secret.
If you need extra motivation, here are some books that were written during NaNoWriMo: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen and Wool by Hugh Howey.
Cusack and others are currently participating in this month-long event. If you are interested in participating in NaNoWriMo with the WSU English Club, contact Carolyn Stoermer, the club’s faculty advisor, for more information.
