While many are partaking in “No Shave November,” writers will be participating in a month-long writing initiative.
“National Novel Writing Month” — a global writing initiative — begins today and runs through the end of November. The goal of writers here in Chapel Hill and those participating around the world is to finish a 50,000 word novel by midnight of Nov. 30.
NaNoWriMo, as the initiative has come to be known, was started in 1999 by the San Francisco Bay area freelance writer Chris Baty, as a local project to encourage people to write.
Participants are not permitted to simply continue previously created works but must produce a novel from scratch during the month. On the organization’s website, authors can track their progress and find meeting times for their local chapter.
Mason Jenkins, the municipal liaison for NaNoWriMo in Chapel Hill, said the group has regular write-ins throughout the month where writers can meet up for writing sessions.
Jenkins said NaNoWriMo is a great opportunity for people who have always wanted to write but have never had the time or support to do so.
“It gives writers a great structure and a great time frame,” Jenkins said.
The organization behind NaNoWriMo provides an incentive for writers to complete the challenge by giving them the opportunity to self-publish their work through CreateSpace, a company that helps authors self-publish their work.
Wendy Lu, a psychology and journalism double major at UNC and a NaNoWriMo participant since 2006, said she won the challenge in her junior year of high school in 2008 and used CreateSpace to publish the first part of her novel.
As a college junior this year, she hopes to be able to finish the second part.
“The reason I decided to participate is because I love to write,” Lu said.
“I’ve been writing ever since I learned the alphabet.”
Lu said her favorite part about participating in the challenge is the satisfaction of being able to complete such a massive undertaking in such a short amount of time.
In order to be successful writers must average 1,667 words a day.
“How many people can say that they have written a novel in a month?” Lu said.
Lu said she enjoys the fact that NaNoWriMo forces writers to focus on putting words on paper and finishing a work — rather than concerning themselves over getting every word perfect.
Ailsa Floyd, a classics major at UNC, said she will be participating in NaNoWriMo for the sixth time this year.
Flyod said she decided to participate because she saw NaNoWriMo as a great initiative to provide her with motivation to write, which is something she said she struggles with. Floyd said the community atmosphere of the write-ins will be a nice support system.
“It’s nice to have other people who are experiencing the same ups and downs,” she said.
Brett Kessler, who worked with Jenkins to plan this year’s write-ins, said anyone can participate in the NaNoWriMo challenge and no writing experience required.
Lu said NaNoWriMo has its challenges and that writers who commit to the challenge should be prepared to write constantly and quickly.
“You lose sleep — and you probably lose a few pounds too,” Lu said.
But Lu said writers should not get discouraged.
“You have to keep going,” she said. “Don’t quit.”
Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
