NaNoWriMo 2026

[sijopunk]

Is anyone else doing NaNo this year? The original team from back when it started "rebooted" it after the last one crashed and burned. The current team wasn't involved with the last several years of NaNo and are starting fresh. The forums are gone, as is the community aspect, but we can do that here.

If you never did NaNoWriMo (NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth), it's a challenge to write 50K words in the month of November. That's it. There's nothing more to it, and everything's pretty much on the honor system. It's all in good fun, and the "prize" for "winning" (winning = finishing 50K words in 30 days) is a badge on your profile, so not worth taking more seriously than you're taking the manuscript you're writing. They don't publish or collect the manuscripts, that's yours to do what you want with.

https://nano2.org/

If anyone wants to post their NaNo profile, I'll add it to this first post so that we can have a list all in one place.

(Edit: I tried to get the profiles to link but haven't figured it out yet)

tracker.nano2.org********/hyunnapark -- Untitled Romantasy project

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I gave up the practice of writing simply for the sake of writing when I dumped my agent and publisher.

That's essentially what NaNo is as far as I'm concerned. Plus, it would be a distraction to me where all my other "inspired" works are concerned.

It might be a useful exercise for some, giving them motivation through the deadline, but at this stage of my life and writing career, I don't need that.

 

[CalBishForNow]

Not this year. I've had a busy October, November isn't looking much better, and I've got two WIPs I'm looking forward to finally finishing and relaxing my writing muscles after. It's an unusually bad time to write to a goal.

But I've tried it three times before and succeeded once and don't have any objection to the general idea, so consider this a recommendation to others to challenge themselves, and I'll think about it even harder in 2027 if someone starts a similar thread then.

 

[forgotmyantidepressants]

I've done it in the past when I had WAY more time. I managed to crank out a god-awful first draft that I scraped because it was irredeemably bad.

But I do think it's a good way for people (especially new writers) to learn to write consistently.

 

[StillStunned]

I wrote nearly 50k words in September. That's enough for now.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Aiming to make it to 100K this year, as I mentioned in the other thread. One is just an 85K dark romance piece I aim for Valentine's, but the other will be three noir stories (non-erotic) that'll take place in a fictional street around the 30s and 40s period, Black Mask style.

I won't be using online trackers though.

 

[TheLobster]

What? Writing? In this gaming economy?

 

[KittyOfSteele]

What? Writing? In this gaming economy?

View attachment 2700125

Paladins play themselves. Just make one and write while you grind.

 

[Kat90xx]

I’d love to do it but the organisers picked a terrible month with November! It’s the busiest month by a mile for work, holidays, Xmas prep etc etc… Never mind stressing to crank out all that word count on top

 

[sijopunk]

the organisers picked a terrible month with November!

I agree. Especially for Lit writers it slams right into Halloween & Holiday contests, plus November is a good time to get started on a Valentine's Day story so November is kind of awkward. I'm a little on the fence, myself. If no one else here does it, then I'll probably skip it since I know I'm not ready and I won't be ready by Sunday, lol.

 

[TheLobster]

Paladins play themselves. Just make one and write while you grind.

Now that's the idea, considering I don't have enough monitors to simultaneously play, write, and, well...

 

[Kat90xx]

I agree. Especially for Lit writers it slams right into Halloween & Holiday contests, plus November is a good time to get started on a Valentine's Day story so November is kind of awkward. I'm a little on the fence, myself. If no one else here does it, then I'll probably skip it since I know I'm not ready and I won't be ready by Sunday, lol.

Totally! I gave up on Halloween which is criminal as it’s basically my Christmas! But I’ve got a wip to finish before the end of the year and a Valentine’s entry on the cards… It doesn’t sound like a lot compared to others but I want to love all my babies the same and do them justice…

 

[crookedletter]

Well shit, I'll give it a try. I plan to start a new novel while my in-progress one simmers awhile, might as well set my sights on a productive month. That kind of output is a little lofty for me, but goals don't have to be met to be useful.

I won't post my profile here, since I don't think it's a Lit type of novel. At least in my initial conception -- we'll see.

 

[gloomyMoron]

I'm "planning" on writing something. I prompted some friends for some prompts so that I'd finally feel obligated to actually start/finish a thing. I think I have a decent idea for the story. It's just about seeing where it takes me. I'm a more of a Pantser than a Planner (though I'm a bit of both, too). So, I really just have to see where the story takes me and then try to clean it up from there. It'll be a Contemporary/Urban Fantasy story with gritty Technomagic and secret societies. A very WIP back-of-the-book blurb/summary:

Aedan Jacobs, an orphan about to age out of foster care, gets caught up in a friend's stupid plan to make it big. It goes horribly wrong and Aedan is forced to come face-to-face with the hidden supernatural world beneath the surface of society and the aspects of himself he never even knew he had.

nano2 @gloomyMoron

Edit: Yes, I know that sounds bland, boring, and trite. I've not written anything, so it is hard to actually write a blurb. Heh.

---

I'm also considering entering the "Challenge" for this month, too. (Not any contests, though, since it has been almost a decade and a half since I last wrote anything 'erotic' and that was for and to a partner.) And I have the rough idea for that and the premise floating around in my head already too.

 

[StillStunned]

Aiming to make it to 100K this year,

I've felt quite unproductive this year, but I just worked out that I'm actually on 160k published words already.

 

[TheLobster]

I've felt quite unproductive this year, but I just worked out that I'm actually on 160k published words already.

How many unpublished words though?

 

[StillStunned]

How many unpublished words though?

Well, there's about 2 million in the AH...

 

[AlwaysDancing]

I definitely don’t have enough hours in the day.

But I’m going give this a try anyway. A real honest try.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Now that's the idea, considering I don't have enough monitors to simultaneously play, write, and, well...

View attachment 2700134

*Leans closer.*

Your claws are big enough to alt tab between WoW and the word processor.

 

[Britva415]

the last one crashed and burned

What happened?

 

[gloomyMoron]

What happened?

The previous NaNoWriMo was non-profit organization that used to have prizes. It got some really iffy sponsors (bad publishing deals for authors who wrote there, among other things) and had an AI Policy that really ground the gears of authors (even supporting/recommending AI tools). So it eventually collapsed. NaNo2 is trying to start NaNoWriMo over and isn't committing those same mistakes.

 

[sijopunk]

What happened?

Long story short, the nonprofit behind NaNoWriMo shut down when all the sponsors left after some weird stuff with one of their admins plus a very pro-AI stance. This is a back-to-basics reboot by the original founders (who were not involved in any of that).

 

[Britva415]

Long story short, the nonprofit behind NaNoWriMo shut down when all the sponsors left after some weird stuff with one of their admins plus a very pro-AI stance. This is a back-to-basics reboot by the original founders (who were not involved in any of that).

Huh.

I'm kinda floored that this subject never hit the AH.

According to site search results (actual content, not just a count of keyword matches), the shutdown of the Bulwer-Lytton contest got far more attention here.

Weird.

 

[Katie_Mae]

What happened?

A number of different things, including allegations of sexual misconduct and grooming from one of the moderators which was (as is typical) not handled well nor in a way which took the allegations seriously, which did not safeguarded any of the young people at risk. There were other issues with other people in charge and inadequate child-protection protocols, both online and in in-person meetups etc.

And yes, there was the pro-AI stance saying it was ableist not to embrace AI, and that seemed to be the straw which broke the camels back, but participation and donations were already down, and they'd been financially struggling for years.

 

[TheLobster]

it was ableist not to embrace AI

And I thought the infamous "it's ableist to use big words in your writing!" was the absolute dumbest take possible. Alas!