For many writers, November was synonymous with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Over thirty days, writers would knuckle down and attempt to write a 50,000-word novel. Just thirty days of work for a complete first draft? Awesome.
Unfortunately, NaNoWriMo has now closed its doors. But don’t worry, NaNoWriMo isn’t the only way to join a community and work toward your writing goals.
Here are five excellent alternatives to help you smash your word count goal before the end of the year.
1. ProWritingAid’s Novel November
ProWritingAid is our favorite spelling, grammar, and style editor (check out our reviews here and here), and once again, they’re coming to the rescue.
This year, ProWritingAid is hosting a brand new month-long challenge called Novel November (or NovNov) to fill the gap NaNoWriMo left behind.
Like NaNoWriMo, writers participating in NovNov will push themselves to finish their novel's draft in 30 days. If that sounds daunting, don’t worry—you’ll have plenty of support along the way.
You can add your daily word counts in the challenge hub, track your progress, and earn badges. And just like in NaNoWriMo, there are plenty of special offers up for grabs for all the winners.
Best of all, it’s absolutely free!
Learn more about this new writing challenge and sign up here.
2. MyWriteClub
MyWriteClub is a great way to meet your writing goals all year round. Although the website is still in the beta testing phase, it’s still super easy to set a goal, share it with your friends, track your word counts, and join writing sprints around the world. You can also earn stars to show off your progress.
This is a no-fuss, super simple way to connect with others and write your draft. Check it out here.
3. 52 Week Short Story Challenge
This challenge requires a year-long commitment and follows Ray Bradbury’s philosophy of writing a story a week to hone and sharpen your skills. “It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row,” he famously stated. And hey, Bradbury did all right for himself.
This challenge is more writing advice than an organized challenge at the moment, but there are still plenty of people around the world who do it. If you’re committed and self-motivated, but don't want to stick to strict word count deadlines, it could work really well for you. Why not give it a try?
And, if you're a member of The Write Practice Pro, why not post your stories in the workshops for feedback? (Not a member yet? Join us here.)
4. Continuous Creation Challenge
The Continuous Creation Challenge is the most personalized and the shortest challenge I’ve come across. Intended not just for writers but creative projects of any kind, the idea is to shift all your energy usually spent consuming (news, TV, books, Internet randomness) into creation. You simply identify your goal, determine your time period, and tackle it.
5. 100 Day Book
Writing a 50,000-word draft in just 30 days can be a daunting, and sometimes even impossible, prospect.
That’s why in 100 Day Book, we support writers as they write or edit their draft in (you guessed it) 100 days. Writing over a slightly longer period of time offers a bit more flexibility and sustainability, but isn’t long enough for procrastination to settle in.
Because 100 Day Book is about more than your current draft. It’s about learning a writing process that will work for all your books. Plus, you can do it year-round with either our guided or self-guided cohorts (check out all the details here.)
If you’re looking for accountability, support from a writing community in the same boat you are, and most important of all, a finished first draft, check out 100 Day Book today!
NaNoWriMo Is Great, But There Are Alternatives
NaNoWriMo was a fun way to draft a book and engage the writing community, and it holds its own special place within the modern writing tradition. However, if you’re looking for an alternative this November (or throughout the year!), there are still plenty of writing challenges waiting for you. I hope you’ll check them out!
What’s your favorite writing challenge? Share in the comments.
PRACTICE
Sprints are one of the best ways to reach your writing goals! Today, free write or choose a story idea from our favorite list, set the timer for fifteen minutes, and write a scene based on that prompt.
When you're finished, share your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop. If you post, make sure to remember to critique three other writers!
Not a member yet? Join us here.
Happy writing!
By day, Emily Wenstrom, is the editor of short story website wordhaus, author social media coach, and freelance content marketing specialist. By early-early morning, she is E. J. Wenstrom, a sci-fi and fantasy author whose first novel Mud will release in March 2016.
Elizabeth Nettleton is an author and editor currently based in Oxfordshire, England. An avid reader and writer since childhood, she was once so engrossed in her book that she ran into a lamppost.
There is nothing Elizabeth loves more than magic and getting lost in other worlds (except for her family, friends, and pets, of course!), so she primarily writes fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. When she's not reading or writing, you can find her playing with her kids, daydreaming, or trying not to die in a video game.
You can learn more about Elizabeth's projects on her website, or say hello to her on X here.
Less an alternative than a much needed addiction fix, I used Book-In-A-Week.
Book-In-A-Week is a monthly self-ascribed goal based on number of pages you say you’ll write in a week. It starts the first Monday of the month and you have to give daily total page counts.
It’s a great way to keep the blood flowing and the words cranking out.
It does cost a small fee to join as a lifelong member ($3 when I signed up). But that cost is for life and the forums work a lot like NaNoWriMo for pep talks and motivations.
http://www.book-in-a-week.com/
Oh interesting — thanks Rene, I hadn’t heard of this one!
At the urgings of a young friend of mine who was a third year and 3 book veteran of NaNoWriMo, I signed up last year. I had only written story stories to that point and until a few weeks before the November deadline I didn’t know quite what I’d write about. Inspiration showed up one night and finally I knew what I wanted to do. 25,000 words and 30 days later I was surprised to find I had written more than I ever had before and was well on my way into the project. (Trouble was that I then started for the first time that I might publish something, combined with the worry about getting my facts straight meant that it’s still not done. )
I have signed up again… This time with something new as my brain needed a break from the glitches I’m having with the first one. Over this last year I have learned a lot about writing and how to prepare to write, synopsis and planning etc, so I feel I am more likely to get farther than I did before. We shall see of course and “life happens while you are making other plans” so something may get in the way. If I didn’t sign up however I would probably procrastinate longer so the goal, though I’m not stressing about making the 50,000 words, will help keep me motivated.
I will check out some of the alternatives mentioned in the blog too for later, so thank you for letting us know some more options.
Hey that sounds like me. I participated in NaNoWriMo last year and I was only able to get 25,000 words about. I’m doing it again this year after doing a lot of plot development in preparation. I’m hoping to get more words than last year if not the 50,000. I wish you luck on your novel.
Sounds like we had a similar experience. Hope you do well with your novel and enjoy the experience of NaNoWriMo yet again.
I thought about doing NaNo for a couple of years, but never made the commitment. Writing over a thousand words a day for thirty days seems u feasible for me with the schedule and commitments I have. So, in the spirit of NaNo, I set out to write every single day. Journaling, note taking, short stories. It doesn’t matter. But even without that pressure to write over a thousand words, it still takes discipline; something which severely lacking. But maybe I’m putting too much pressure on myself. I know this year will be especially tough, but I will make the commitment to write every day.
That’s a great idea George. Smart way to make the challenge work for YOU.
I’m considering doing NaNo. However, the idea I have would never be published or public. I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it. Has anyone done something like that? Essentially, I want to write the back story to a character who’s going to be VERY important in the second book of a series (the first is 99% done). Maybe I don’t need a 50,000 reference book.
As far as when I get my best work done, I’m DEFINITELY a night person. I force myself to write in the morning, but the juices really start flowing around 9:00PM.
Cody, for me, NaNoWriMo was the impetus that got me started on a very long-lasting habit of writing at the same time every single day — something that has been monumental for my overall writing. And I didn’t ever publish that project either (in fact, I lost it on a hard drive that died halfway through). Good luck, whatever you decide.
Really great advice, Emily, because NaNoWriMo is NOT for everyone. I hadn’t heard of any of these, so I’ll definitely check them out. Thanks!
Hope you find one that works for you, Marcy!
Here’s another alternative, especially for nonfiction writers. It’s “WINFIN” or “Write Nonfiction in November”. It helped me post everyday in November last year and this year I’m planning to finish the book that I’ve been working on for several years. http://writenonfictionnow.com/why-bother-with-nanonfiwrimo-or-take-the-wnfin-challenge/
Yes! Love this. As someone who is opting out of NaNo this year, I’m so glad to see this being talked about. NaNoWriMo is definitely not for everyone and (for me at least) it can even be destructive. The last couple of years I’ve exited November so discouraged it was hard to pick up the pen in December, January, even sometimes in February. The partial draft of my novel I’d so casually abandoned lingered on my harddrive like an email left too long unaddressed in the inbox… growing ever more distasteful as my guilt of neglect increased daily. So I’m opting out of NaNo this year and hoping this means I’ll still look forward to picking up my pen in December. I think it’s a worthwhile trade.
Also, thank you for mentioning the 52 week short story challenge! That might be more my style… I’ll have to check it out.
Thank you for this. I agree with some comments here that NaNoWriMo is not for everyone. I’ve been trying to sort myself out in preparation for this month. But when it arrives, for some reason or the other, I just couldn’t commit and see myself writing through for 30 days straight. I think the Short Story Challenge is a much better fit for me.