Every November, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world sit down to write an entire novel in a month. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is a nonprofit organization that holds a month-long writing boot camp every November, according to their website.
Participants sign up online, with the goal of writing 1,667 words every day for 30 days. At the end of the month, winners are those participants who have a 50,000-word novel to their name. But, even unsuccessful participants don’t leave empty-handed, having gained valuable experience, and the chance to try again next year.
Helena Verdier, a third-year linguistics and discourse studies student at Carleton, is a municipal liaison for NaNoWriMo Ottawa. She and the other municipal liaisons organize the kickoff party, weekly write-ins, the halfway party, and the TGIO (Thank God It’s Over) party at the end of the month. This November will be her 10th year participating in the event. She has won NaNoWriMo five times, and is hoping to win again this November.
“I usually stick to fantasy most of the time,” she said. “The first time I finished a novel was an incredible feeling.”
Verdier said the best part of doing NaNoWriMo is the community aspect, and added that many of her friends in Ottawa are people she has met through the event. The Ottawa region averages around 600 participants per year, and about 50 people who regularly attend social events throughout the month of November.
“When I moved to Ottawa, I didn’t know many people in the city, so that’s pretty much how I met most of my friends, they’re all ‘WriMo’s’, like me,” Verdier said. “The people are definitely the best part.”
University students who participate in NaNoWriMo have an especially difficult task over the course of the month. Along with writing 1,667 words each day, they also have to keep up with all of their course readings, do their assignments, and attend class.
“I’m lucky that a lot of my schoolwork is assignments, I don’t have a lot of midterms,” Verdier, when asked how she manages the workload. “I find that time management is key. I also count my assignments towards my word count for the day, because I’m still writing, even if it’s not my novel.”
According to the press release on the website, this year’s event marks the 19th anniversary of NaNoWriMo, and they expect over 400,000 people to participate. Last year, 384,126 people participated. Of those, over 34,000 people won, or about 9 per cent.
Along with marathon novel writing, NaNoWriMo also runs the Young Writers Program, where they partner with educators to encourage kindergarten to Grade 12 students to write their own novels.
For anyone interested in giving NaNoWriMo a try this year, the Ottawa region municipal liaisons are holding a Newcomers Night at Black Squirrel Books, on Oct. 28 from 6-9 p.m. The kickoff party is at the Ottawa Public Library on Metcalfe Street on Oct. 29.
Photo by Meagan Casalino
