Teens take on the challenge of writing a novel in one month

Chloe Davis
Reporter

Imagine this: A student given one month to write a 50,000 word creative piece (over 100 Microsoft Word pages), who’s keeping in mind that it’s not even for a grade.  Many may be convinced that no one on Earth would ever choose to do such an assignment. On the contrary, students enjoy participating in this opportunity to expand their creative writing skills and experience the daunting task of novel writing.

Every November thousands of young writers participate in what they call “NaNoWriMo” – National Novel Writing Month, which challenges teens to write a full-length novel in one month.  There are several students in our high school who have stepped up to this challenge.

Freshman Kaitlyn Reid wrote a story of about 51,000 words for NaNoWriMo in a very short amount of time. “I only had about a week to plan the whole thing out,” she said.  “Keeping all the details straight was not easy, but I just kept playing with combinations that I thought I would like to read until I came up with something that I knew I would be able to write a book on.”

This seems like a major undertaking to many high schoolers who probably wonder what is so appealing about writing. “It’s one of my favorite things to do,” Kaitlyn said.  “It’s just nice to be able to write what you feel and turn it into something people might enjoy.”

As if just finishing the novel weren’t impressive enough, Kaitlyn plans to self-publish her work online.  “The website will print it as an actual book depending on how many people order it,” she said.

This notable accomplishment reinforces Kaitlyn’s writing aspirations. “I want to be a writer when I get older,” she said.

Kaitlyn’s point of view is similar to that of many other student writers, including Junior Sarah Dittmeier.  “I’ve always wanted to be an author,” she said.

Sarah’s novel was 50,015 words, equivalent to 120 pages.  “I mainly think of one situation to put people in,” Sarah said.  “I play with different ways it can turn out based on how the characters react to what’s going on.”

Despite the independence of the novel-writing process, Sarah said that her English classes had a significant impact on her writing. “You learn to ‘show, not tell,’ and develop characters, which helps depending on how you tell the story.”

Even though Sarah loves to write, she said sometimes the writing process can be stressful.  “The hardest part is trying to stick with it when you’ve run out of ideas,” Sarah said.  “It’s easy to start, but harder to go from Point A to Point B.  A lot of times I would just get complete Writer’s Block.”

Sarah also had trouble balancing her schoolwork and writing. “I would try to get writing done first and finish that daily quota I had to fill in order to keep my story on track – then just stay up pretty late doing homework,” she said.  “If I tried to do my homework first, I would stay up way into the morning to write.”

Both Kaitlyn and Sarah are dedicated writers who hope to continue through their lives.  But not everyone who participates in NaNoWriMo is that way.  Freshman Emily Serven hadn’t prepared in advance for NaNoWrimo like many dedicated writers; curiosity prompted her to simply give it a shot.  “My friend told me about it,” Emily said.  “I had written stuff earlier, just to a small degree.  To make it into a story I just had to think more and take it deeper.”

Emily said that she didn’t think school or activities overwhelmed her the way it did for Sarah.  “One of my activities after school is a creative writing club,” she said.  “We meet every Friday and work on what we’re writing.”

She also agreed with Sarah’s point of view that English classes help.  “Talking about ‘Heroes’ in English class and all the discussions we have really helped,” she said.

Emily, who is waiting to have her story edited and plans to revise it, sees writing more as a hobby than a potential career plan.  “It’s just casual,” she said.  “I want to be an engineer when I grow up.”

Emily said that the length requirements made for an interesting story. “My story is about a girl who doesn’t know much about her past and ends up in an adventure to find out more,” she said.  “It’s a little hard to explain.”

Emily’s approach was somewhat different to that of Sarah and Kaitlyn, who said that they draw on personal experiences to develop plotlines.  “All of my characters’ memories are based off of my memories,” Sarah said. “I feel like my writing reflects on me and my perspective on life.”

Similarly, NaNoWrimo has provided Kaitlyn with the opportunity to find out more about herself.  “I learned that if I concentrate on something I really love, I can do pretty much anything I want to,” Kaitlyn said.