Described by participants as a mental disease or a type of insanity, the National Novel Writing Month contest, affectionately abbreviated to NaNoWriMo, pits its contestants against time in a race to each write 50,000 words in 30 days. The quest is international in scope, and the contagion reaches even to isolated Hanover. Visiting Spanish professor Pedro Palou who participated in the contest while in Mexico and other parts of the United States Cassandra Hartt '14 who wrote for NaNoWriMo throughout her high school career and first-time participant Sanja Miklin '12 all said they were suffering from the NaNoWriMo bug this year.
The participants said they are drawn to the daunting challenge by a passion for words and a desire to simply put ideas on paper, and are participating this year.
While writing for quantity, not quality, many normal writing rules can be ignored, according to Palou. NaNoWriMo is about the action of sitting down with pen and paper or laptop and word-processor and writing without any fears or reservations getting in the way.
"It gets you inside the novel by itself," Palou said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "You can probably go after it and arrange a lot of things or go for another 50,000 words, but that's not the main issue. The main issue is that you get involved in the frenzied project of writing every day for a month without thinking about a lot of things you usually think about when you're writing a novel."
The project is meant for anyone writers with dozens of finished novels on their shelves or amateurs who have never written anything longer than an essay. In fact, according to the NaNoWriMo website, the hope is that it will provide an avenue for undiscovered writers and people who never dreamed of writing a novel to find their potential. Miklin, who has completed over 10,000 words so far, said she recommends the experience to anyone and everyone.
"Everyone should try it and not be intimidated by the amount of writing involved," she said in an interview. "It's a very good way to relax from classes and writing other essays. Sometimes at Dartmouth you feel like you're not in control of everything, but you're in control of this whole world. It's very refreshing."
In order to ensure they reach their word count, each author develops a writing strategy. Ranging from front-loading their word count to setting aside an hour to write every morning, all NaNoWriMo participants have solid plans. Hartt said she has reached 50,000 words every year except her junior year of high school and feels sure this year will be no exception. Palou is even trying to exceed the 50,000 requirement to reach 100,000 words.
"I try to write every afternoon after lunch because if I go to my house, I start making errands and start getting involved with the problems of the house and finally stop writing." Palou said, adding that he was at 18,000 words on Sunday.
Palou is currently working to organize a write-in a NaNoWriMo staple for the Dartmouth and greater Upper Valley communities, tentatively scheduled for Wednesdays at 4 p.m. in Sanborn Library.
"It's not a socializing thing, really," Palou said of the write-ins. "You can say hello, but the main thing is to be writing at a nice pace with other people who are also writing, so it gets contagious and so you don't get lazy in your room or in your office working alone."
