NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program

1. Gain your parent's or guardian's permission to participate.

Let them know about your grand plans to write a novel! Then, give them a chance to familiarize themselves with NaNoWriMo and with our Young Writers Program. We ask young writers to make sure that parents review our Terms & Conditions, and that, if permission to participate is granted, that parents have their young writer's account password. If possible, sit with your parent as you create your account. Please do not create an account if your parents have not given permission.

2. Sign up for NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program.

Be sure to register as a “Young Writer.” If you're signing up as part of a class, you'll need to have your teacher provide you with a code in order to enter their classroom. If you're signing up on your own, register with either your email (if you're 13 or older), or your parent/guardian's email (if you're under 13).

3. Set up a safe profile and show it to your parent.

Our "Profile" feature allows you to share fun things about yourself, from a brief bio, to a list of your favorite authors and novels, to a few words about your non-noveling interests. Though our Young Writers Program does not currently offer open forums where you might come in contact with strangers, and though many of you will only have exposure to classmates who you know offline, we still want to encourage safe practices.

We absolutely want you to express yourself. Doing so safely online means being careful about what you share. Personal or identifying information, such as your full name, address, phone number, location, or personal email address should never be shared on your publicly visible profile. Should you wish to upload a profile picture, we recommend choosing a fun image that represents your personality in lieu of using a photorealistic image of yourself.

You will find a link to "Profile & Settings" on the top-right of your screen when you click on your username.

Please have your parent or guardian review your profile data before you post it. Better yet, involve your parent in the process and ask them to sit with you as you create it.

4. Create a novel.

If there's an upcoming or current NaNo writing challenge, such as Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July or our November writing challenge, click "Yes, I accept!" from the "Take the Challenge" box on the dashboard.

If you aren't aligning to a specific NaNo event, you can create your own personal challenge by finding the "Challenge Yourself" box on your dashboard, clicking "Yes!" and filling in details about your project—including your own personal word-count goal. (You can update this info at any time, so no pressure!)

More detailed instructions on how to start your first project can be found here!

5. Decide where you will do your writing.

All of our challenges give you the flexibility to write on the platform your school prefers or the platform where you feel most comfortable. Want to write in a standard word processing app like Google Docs or MS Word? No problem. Do you prefer a more specialized tool for writers? Go for it! You can even write in longhand (who doesn't love paper and pencil?). No matter where or how you write, you can still track your progress using our online tools.

When you create a new project, you will be asked whether you want to write elsewhere and update your word count manually, or whether you would like to write directly inside our interface. Even if you write inside our site, your work belongs to you and is your responsibility to save and maintain. Download your work frequently (we recommend at the end of every daily session) to back it up. After you're finished a given writing challenge, please download your work in its entirety. We do remove inactive accounts from time-to-time and our site should not be the only place where your novel exists.

6. Get familiar with your writing environment.

Regardless of where and how you decide to write, you can have fun building the profile for your novel! Start on the top navigation, click on "My Novels" and choose the project you want to customize. Here are a few things you can do:

Upload the image of a book cover you've designed, or choose a custom color and font to display the title of your book
If you plan to use our writing tool you can customize the default sizes and fonts that appear in your composition box
Getting ready for a challenge? Add Novel Notes to brainstorm ideas, write character sketches, or pep yourself up. They don't count towards your word-count goal.

7. Use our Writer Resources.

We’ve got workbooks, pep talks, videos, and NaNoWriMo flair to get you prepared and inspired to write. On the top navigation, click on Resources to access it all!

8. Whenever your challenge begins, start writing!

Your story matters. And for 30 exciting, surprising days, you get to lock away your inner editor, let your imagination take over, and just create. The main NaNoWriMo challenge begins November 1. The Camp NaNoWriMo challenges begin April 1 and July 1. Personal challenges begin whenever you choose!

9. Earn badges and track your progress.

We'll award you badges for days-in-a-row and percentage completed. Check your badges from the Dashboard or your writing space.

10. Stay motivated.

For small bursts of inspiration, try out our Dare Machine or Writing Sprints features. When you're in Novel view, you will find these options as side bars to the left of your screen.

11. Keep writing until the very end.

If you reach your word-count goal by 11:59:59 PM on the last day of the challenge, you'll be declared a NaNoWriMo winner! Show off your hard work with a winner certificate or badge.

After Your Challenge Ends

Encourage students to back up and print out their work as soon as the challenge is over. We have found over the years that some students lose access to the email accounts they created their projects under (such as school-provided email accounts). If a Wrimo loses access to the email account they created the account under, there is nothing we can do to recover it if they want access down the road.

Is your novel ready to meet the world? Consider printing a hard copy with our self-publishing partner, Blurb. If you wrote within our interface, you can use our PDF download feature (which you will find in the writing space). If you wrote using an outside app, don't worry, you can download from there. To get started, read our how-to suggestions, or publish your novel now.

Is your novel not-quite finished? You can continue writing and editing beyond the final date of your writing challenge! If you participated in November, we offer tools and resources to support you in your process through January and February, our “Now What?” Months.
Do you want to write another? You can create new projects and goals throughout the year, with personal challenges or site-wide events like Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July.