Skip to Content

Writing a novel in a month

23 October 2017

The success of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) - our Writing Opportunity this week - has shown the power of a good idea and the way the internet can rapidly spread it to an international audience.

The vast number of regions where there are groups signed up shows how successful the project has been - and the great enthusiasm of writers to extend themselves and meet the challenge NaNoWriMo presents. The map on the home page shows a predominance of groups in the US, UK and Europe, but it's remarkably widespread for an English language, US-originated project.

The attraction is two-fold - to meet a challenge imposed from outside and to meet up or at least be in touch with other writers or a community of writers. Writing is always a solitary occupation but writers are increasingly using the internet to connect themselves to other writers. This interconnectedness is just as important to writers at the actual writing stage as it is when you get to promotion and sales.

Two excellent blogs run by groups of writers connect readers and other writers, An Awfully Big Blog Adventure, where the contributors are children's writers, and The History Girls, from a group of female history writers. Both are worth sampling to see what they can offer, and can become mildly addictive. There are others, please recommend your favourites to us and we'll spread the word.

Comments