When aspiring writers tell me about their love for writing, one of the first questions I ask is, "Are you going to do NaNoWriMo this year?" I automatically assume they know what I'm talking about. Sadly enough this is not always the case. "What is NaNo...something?" they would reply to my question.
People often surprise me when they tell me they don't have a clue what NaNoWriMO (or ‘NaNo', for short) is all about. That's usually when I explain that NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. "National Novel - what?"
National Novel Writing Month has been around for ten years. It is a challenge that many writers participate in. The goal is to write a novel with a minimum of 50,000 words, from scratch, in one month - November. During this month, literally thousands of writers aim at the same goal; writing a novel of 50,000 words before the end of the month.
Many writers start plotting and developing their characters a few months ahead of NaNoWriMo. They share their excitement with each other and they meet other NaNo-ers or WriMos - as they call themselves - in the site's chat room. During the month of November they visit the forums and talk about the progress of their novel.
They will spend all their spare-time on the challenge and they reach their goal one by one. And the people who have not written 50,000 words at the end of the month can still be proud of themselves. They took part in this challenge and spent a lot of their spare-time writing their novel. Something they may have not done otherwise.
Many writers use writer's block as an excuse for not writing, but NaNoWriMo proves that writers can write if they really want to.
I started doing detailed plotting. Then a few years ago (this will be my 6th NaNo), I decided to write into the mist. That has worked surprisingly well.
I never would have tried pantsing if it weren't for the freedom of NaNoWriMo.