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NaNoWriMo Facts & Worksheets

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a creative writing project that happens annually during the month of November.

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National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a creative writing project that happens annually during the month of November. People of various backgrounds participate in accomplishing a 50,000-word novel by the end of the month.

See the fact file below for more information on the NaNoWriMo or alternatively, you can download our 21-page NaNoWriMo worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

  • In July 1999, a freelance writer named Chris Baty started a creative writing project in the San Francisco Bay area and 21 people participated in it.
  • It was in 2000 when the project was moved from July to November.
  • The sweater weather during November was believed to help in productivity in writing as people could take advantage of the gloomy weather.
  • Baty’s friend designed NaNoWriMo’s official website that launched in 2000.
  • From 21, the number of participants reached over 140 in 2000.
  • Baty made known some ground rules and facilitated the participants’ social interactions by launching a Yahoo! Group.
  • NaNoWriMo’s first rules were: participants must write entirely new material, cannot be written with a co-author, and must be submitted on time.
  • By the end of the writing challenge, 29 out of those 140 participants completed the project.
  • Of the 140 participants, 29 completed the challenge as manually verified by Baty himself.
  • NaNoWriMo drew more participants the next year as 5,000 people signed up for the month-long event.
  • News outlets like the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post reported about the event which spurred its increased popularity.
  • Despite the large turnout, the event almost did not push through because of some technical difficulties encountered on the website.
  • In its fourth year in 2002, NaNoWriMo’s website improved in terms of automation and the event grew more and more popular in various media outlets, resulting in a participant turnout of of 14,000.
  • In 2003, the team behind the NaNoWriMo team launched the Municipal Liaison program.
  • The Municipal Liaison program involves getting volunteers to moderate forums, release pep talk emails to participants, organize fundraisers, and call for participant meetups in different regions.
  • In 2003, Baty began to work on his first novel entitled “No Plot? No Problem!” which is a writing guide aligned with NaNoWriMo.
  • It was in 2005 when NaNoWriMo became a registered nonprofit organization and eventually became the Office of Letters and Light.
  • In 2011, a fresh layout and more forums were added to the NaNoWriMo website.
  • In 2012, Baty decided to pursue a full-time writing career and announced his resignation from being NaNoWriMo’s Executive Director.
  • Grant Faulkner became the new Executive Director and a newly re-designed NaNoWriMo website was launched.
  • The new website garnered more than 1,000,000 visitors and over 39,000,000 page views in its first month.
  • By 2015, NaNoWriMo supported over 400,000 participants from 633 different regions and over 40,000 people won.

RULES

  • NaNoWriMo’s main objective is to get people writing, which is why a set of rules was set to help the participants make the most of the month-long writing marathon.
  • The ground rules are as follows:
    • Writing begins at 12 midnight on November 1 and ends on 11:59 PM on November 30. All participants are required to strictly follow the timing. No one is allowed to start early or end late.
    • Novels can be planned prior to November, but no actual written material is allowed to go into the body of the novel.
    • In order for participants to win, their novels must consist of a minimum of 50,000 words. The novel may be a final or a partial draft.
    • There is no particular theme, genre, or language to be followed; all kinds can be written by participants.
    • A novel in poem or fanfiction format is allowed.

PROGRAMS

  • The Laptop Loaners program was launched in 2002 and ended in 2009 as a way to help those who do not have regular access to a computer or word processor. Some participants donated laptops and some borrowed one while covering the shipping cost.
  • The Young Writers Program was launched in 2004 to aid kindergarten through 12th-grade students in writing. Kids of this program may choose the number of words they would write, which ranged from 1,000 to 50,000. Teachers were given resources as well such as writing ideas and lesson plans.
  • NaNoWriMo officially became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in September 2006 and began operating under the name “The Office of Letters and Light.”
  • Camp NaNoWriMo was launched in 2011 and was a summer version of the NaNoWriMo challenge. The workshop spanned two separate month-long sessions: April and July.

PRIZES AND PUBLISHED WORKS

  • Participants who are successful in writing an average of 1,667 words per day to reach the goal of 50,000 words by the end of November are declared winners.
  • Anyone who reaches the 50,000-word mark is declared a winner.
  • Over 600 NaNoWriMo novels in total have been published since 2006.
  • Some notable NaNoWriMo novels are Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

NaNoWriMo Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the NaNoWriMo across 21 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use NaNoWriMo worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) which is a creative writing project that happens annually during the month of November. People of various backgrounds participate in accomplishing a 50,000-word novel by the end of the month.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • NaNoWriMo Facts
  • Fact Notes
  • History Check
  • Remember the Rules
  • Novel Basics
  • Program Overview
  • Notable Novels
  • Why We Write
  • Tips and Tricks
  • From Book To Screen
  • Ready, Get Set, Write!

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Link will appear as NaNoWriMo Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, November 6, 2019

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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