This November, KU faculty and students will participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
“Thirty days and nights of literary abandon!” is the slogan for NaNoWriMo. Starting Nov. 1, participants will commit themselves to writing a 50,000-word novel by Nov. 30, 11:59:59 p.m.
“Because of the limited writing window, the only thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. This approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly,” according to the NaNoWriMo website.
A brief history on the website explains how writers in the San Francisco Bay area who were passionate about writing started NaNoWriMo; the first month of writing was in July 1999. The group encouraged each other during the month and they were all able to complete their novels. After that month, they went from being writers to being novelists. Since then NaNoWriMo has spread throughout the world. On the group’s website writers can set up a free account, log in, blog about their progress during the challenge, donate funds to the organization which is publicly sponsored and meet other writers participating in NaNoWriMo.
“There are stories of people publishing their novels and using the kernel of what they do in creating something really interesting, and that’s exciting too. Who knows what could happen,” said Professor Melissa Nurczynski of the Writing Department. Nurczynski is the organizer of NaNoWriMo for Kutztown University.
To prepare for NaNoWriMo before November first, writers create an outline for their novels.
“It’s a real simple concept and real hard to complete,” said Nurczynski. “You want a simple plot, you want to have an idea of who the characters are and have an idea of where it’s going to go, and just go.”
This event is free and open to anyone. For more information or if you are interested in joining a group of NaNoWriMo students on campus visit the NaNoWriMo website http://www.nanowrimo.org or email Nurczynski at nurcynski@kutztown.edu.

By Elizabeth Walter