Dear Parents and Family Members,
Have you heard the great news? Your child has decided to write a novel alongside over 200,000 other authors during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). NaNoWriMo is a fun, seat-of-the-pants, month-long writing event where the challenge is to complete an entire novel in the 30 days of November. The thing that matters most in NaNoWriMo is output. This high-velocity approach forces writers to use their imaginations, take risks, and work on the fly.
You may be thinking that a rushed, slightly sloppy novel is the last thing you want to encourage your child to create, but there are many great reasons to embrace the NaNoWriMo concept (and maybe even give it a shot yourself!).
Some of the skills NaNoWriMo builds:
- Fluency: Writing so much in so little time boosts students’ proficiency in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and will help them approach future writing assignments with ease and confidence.
- Confidence: When creating so much text in such a short period of time, students realize just how much they can accomplish when they put their minds to it. NaNoWriMo leaves young writers asking themselves, “What’s next?”
- Creativity: Creating characters, situations, dialogue, and even whole planets from scratch helps kids think, but it also teaches them how to apply their fanciful ideas to a full project.
- Time Management: Our curriculum teaches students how to tackle a huge project by breaking it down into manageable bites!
Check out a complete guide to the ins-and-outs of the process here:
A little background on logistics and the greater NaNoWriMo community:
NaNoWriMo has two programs. Our adult challenge is hosted at nanowrimo.org, where all writers (13 and over) have the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel. Our Young Writers Program (YWP) is designed for K-12 classrooms taking part as a group, and for 17-and-under novelists writing solo. The YWP allows participants to set their own reasonable, yet challenging, word-count goals.
The YWP site has vibrant, active forums where kids and teens from all over the world gather and support each other. Participation in the forums is not required, but many find the community helpful in maintaining their word count and enthusiasm for the project. The YWP forums are viewable only by other young participants, teachers, librarians, and NaNoWriMo staff members. We monitor and moderate all posts, and inappropriate content is never allowed.
The YWP site also has NaNoMail, a private message function that allows participants in the adult program and YWP to send messages to fellow authors without divulging their personal email addresses.
Participants in NaNoWriMo’s adult program often attend public, in-person writing events hosted by Municipal Liaisons (volunteer heads of their local chapters). These events will take place in all-ages environments such as coffee shops and restaurants. Teens and family members are welcome to attend all events organized by their Municipal Liaison.
Though a novel may seem like a silly off-hours pursuit, many kids and teens are able to get credit for the project in their classes, and many use their National Novel Writing Month participation as part of their college application essay and list of accomplishments.
Plus, it’s just monkey-barrel loads of fun.
If you have any questions about National Novel Writing Month and your child or teen, please feel free to get in touch with us!
Enthusiastically,
