National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is a challenge to everyone who has ever wanted to write a novel but doesn't know how to start. The challenge is: write at least 1,667 words every day in November. Do this and on December 1, you'll have 50,000 words on the page and a first draft of your novel.

You don't have to write from beginning to end, either. Write the fight scene first! Name your main character “Mary Sue”! Decide halfway through that this romance has a forest monster in it! It doesn't matter, as long as you keep writing. 1,667 words a day sounds like a lot, but it's very achievable even for a first-time writer, especially if you don't try to edit while you write.

If you hit 50,000 words or more during November, you win! Maybe winning means you're ready to start editing that draft, or maybe it means you move on to a totally different story. Maybe all it means is that you buy yourself some ice cream. In any case, be proud of yourself — you've achieved something very cool!

That's the cool thing — you can participate just by writing in November! As long as you try your best to hit 50,000 words in November, you're participating. You don't have to sign up, use a particular website or piece of software, or be part of any particular writing community.

That said, some people find it more motivating to write with a community. There are a lot of in-person and online writing communities, which you can find by searching online, and you can probably find one you vibe with. (The r/nanowrimo Alternatives Megathread is a good place to start.) Many of these communities do a writing event in November (and other times throughout the year too) and they can also point you to resources to help you learn how to edit and rewrite your draft once you have it. (But you don't have to! The goal is to write, not to get published.)

There are some resources salvaged from NaNoWriMo 1.0 that you might find helpful, including an archive of pep talks from authors and the resource hub from the old NaNo site, archived on the Internet Archive.

As mentioned above, you can also find communities, wisdom, and other resources on the r/nanowrimo megathread. There are lots of podcasts and blogs out there that have resources too.

Any way you want! Some people build spreadsheets, some use a website like TrackBear, and some just constantly click the Word Count button in Google Docs. If you're writing with a community, the community may have a centralized place to track words.

If you don't have an established way to count your words, pick something simple that works for you and doesn't get in the way of actually putting words on a page.

There was an organization called NaNoWriMo (formerly the Office of Letters and Light) but it shut down abruptly in April 2025, after several years of mounting scandals. (You should click that link, by the way. The story starts years before they accepted shady pro-AI sponsors.) A number of people have attempted to rebuild or replace NaNoWriMo since then but none has been successful.

Even founder Chris Baty and former Executive Director Grant Faulkner have tried to reboot NaNoWriMo, though both of them had at least some part in the scandals linked above, and neither has ever acknowledged their part or apologized for such. Here's why that's important, from a longstanding NaNo volunteer and community leader.

At this point, it's probably best to leave NaNoWriMo as an idea that no-one owns or administrates.

Probably just because Chris Baty didn't think that far ahead. People and communities all over the world participate in NaNoWriMo — it truly brings the writerly world together!

NaNoWriMo is a writing challenge intended to get you comfortable writing without fear. Therefore, using generative AI is kind of counter to the whole idea of NaNo. If you're thinking of using AI during NaNo, try without it for just one month, and see how much your craft improves when you're writing regularly. After all... if you're not the one actually writing, what's the point?