The competitors face each other across the large, square table, the harsh fluorescent light glinting off of their glasses. Their eyes are dark and serious, their eyebrows narrowed in determination. Their fingers are poised, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.
The clock ticks for a few moments, and then—it chimes loudly, signaling the beginning. In a flurry of finger movement, the competitors tap furiously away at the keys, struggling to win the battle that will get them one step closer to winning the war—the word war.
While not all battles are this serious, most people participating in National Novel Writing Month are serious about their goal, especially in New York City. National Novel Writing Month, often abbreviated as NaNoWriMo or NaNo, is an annual competition in which an individual challenges himself or herself to write 50,000 words or more from November 1st until November 30th.
The competition is nationally housed online for easy access, and the website, nanowrimo.org, includes an area in which competitors can enter their word count numerically. These numbers are represented in a bar graph that shows a participant visually how they are progressing, and the participant gets his or her own individual bar that shows other people what his or her word count is.
In theory, NaNoWriMo is an individual competition. The only limitations: Participants must begin with a fresh idea, they cannot write collaborative novels, and the novels must be some form of fiction. Participants can be of any age, and they don’t necessarily have to be seasoned, professional authors—although seasoned, professional authors do take part in NaNoWriMo and have even used it to create drafts of novels that have been published and are now relatively popular.
NaNoWriMo is generally used as something of a tool to pull drafts of novels from people who would not have the drive or motivation to write novels otherwise.
“It started for me as a personal challenge to finally complete a manuscript. Given my crazy schedule and short attention span, a thirty day challenge seemed perfect for me,” explained Mel Walker, a veteran participant in the competition.
The nature of the competition pits the writer against his or her novel, struggling to fulfill the daily word count par of 1,667 words or even to surpass that amount. However, quite against the initial theory, the spirit of competition flows freely between fellow writers, and the competition has become more social in nature.
Many writers participate in what are called “word wars,” or “word sprints” if they don’t feel like getting aggressive in their competitions. In these word wars, two or more writers set up a time period, usually fifteen minutes, during which they attempt to write as many words as they can. The word wars can be done online, but they are most effective in person.
Throughout the month of November, people participating in NaNoWriMo attend what are called “write-ins”—events at which writers sit down and try to get their word count up to or above par. These write-ins are organized by Municipal Liaisons, usually abbreviated as MLs, and Municipal Liaisons are essentially responsible for organizing events—both in-person and online—and keeping the peace in the region.
Since New York City consists of five boroughs and not all writers can get to certain boroughs, this year, Municipal Liaisons have organized write-ins in different boroughs on different days, with social meetings on Fridays.
Many participants appreciate the effort the MLs put into regional activity, especially because most of them are also taking part in NaNoWriMo. Last year, one of the Municipal Liaisons for the New York City area was Erin Morgenstern, whose very successful novel released that year, The Night Circus, was a novel written during the competition.
“The MLs do particularly wonderful jobs of hosting all the write-ins and social events. And I have to say—I admired them a hell of a lot more when I found out that they were writing their own novels, too. Do they have super powers or something?” wondered Mallika, a participant who is also juggling graduate school and did not disclose her full name.
The write-ins tend to help people focus and keep up a quicker pace when it comes to word count, and the human interaction—and spirit of competition—seems to be very motivational for writers.
“The community building aspects help reinforce our own personal motivation. To see so many others experiencing a similar journey and the joy helps. Also, I’ve found that every writer I’ve encountered is a wonderful person,” mused Walker.
Face-to-face interaction is not the only kind that New York City Wrimos (what NaNoWriMo participants call themselves) take part in. Regional forums and a chat room have been established by the Municipal Liaisons, who, in addition to organizing write-ins, moderate the online world of New York City’s NaNoWriMo community.
Participants use the forums and the chat room relatively frequently. This frequency was the reason that this year, a new message board appeared above the forum threads, telling participants in the New York City region where write-ins and socials will be located.
Though the community tends to be competitive, they also have a lot of fun together. During social meetings, participants are told to leave their laptops at home—there is no writing done at socials, because they are the resting points at the end of each week for participants.
“I’ve been to the socials. Always fun, everyone has a fictional story or a NaNo story to tell. Every writer knows a good book I haven’t read. The group is fun, intelligent, easygoing, and sexy. Yeah, I said it, writers are fun,” smirked Joe Kennedy, a participant who lives in New Jersey, but writes in at New York because he works in the city.
In addition to having fun at the socials and write-ins, participants are also proud to be part of the NYC NaNoWriMo community because of several reasons, but especially the natural mobility of the area, in comparison to the other regional communities.
“I’ve said it for many years, NYC has the best of everything. We have the best MLs in the country, amazing locations and a very active writing community. Where else can you write in a different borough every night and top it off with an online chat room?” asked Walker.
At the end of the day, community members are grateful for the social aspect, especially if it means getting into a few word wars and getting a few words closer to the coveted goal of 50,000 words.
“The NYC NaNo community is great,” admitted Kennedy. “If they can’t inspire a few more words, I’m not sure what can.”
