Course Description

So, what is NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month is an international celebration of writing, and a shared writing experience. It’s an organization that provides tools, structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page. Writers challenge themselves to meet a goal--usually 50,000 words in 30 days (roughly 1,666 words per day).

Have you ever wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo and just couldn’t create a space for the daily/weekly discipline it takes?

In this 1-credit hour Honors College course you will meet with other writers who want to accomplish a first draft of a novel. We will read Chris Baty (NaNoWriMo founder)’s book No Plot, No Problem, and do some pre-planning, and then we will write (a lot!!) in November.

Please understand, this is a generative process--we aren’t worried about perfection in these manuscripts, just meeting word counts and keeping momentum.

Texts

No Plot, No Problem, Chris Baty (NaNoWriMo founder)

Requirements

October: meet twice to discuss No Plot, No Problem, and to pre-plan for writing.

November: Write an average of 1,666 words per day, for a goal of 50,000 words at the end of the month. (You don’t have to write the full 50,000 words for credit! It’s a goal!)  Students will update word counts on the NaNoWriMo website and interact with each other online. We will also have several “write-ins” where we all work in parallel on our own projects (and have coffee and snacks!).

December: write a reflection paper about the experience, and discuss parts of the work that the writer feels were successful, meet to read work aloud, share plans for revision.