50,000 words in 30 days

Participants affectionately refer to National Novel Writing Month as NaNoWriMo and despite the nickname, they take the event very seriously.

A global creative writing project sponsored by The Office of Letters and Light, NaNoWriMo challenges participants to write 50,000 words of a new novel in one month. Even though this year it is not officially being sponsored by an on-campus organization, word got out about the event and several students are participating. According to the NaNoWriMo Blog, last year there were over 150,000 global participants.

Elaine Whitaker, chair of the Department of English and Rhetoric, is pleased so many students are taking interest in novel writing. She sees it as a continuation of Flannery O’Conner’s tradition of literature at GCSU.

“The craft of fiction contributes significantly to our liberal arts mission,” Whitaker said.

One of the students participating in the event is English major Amanda Beck. The theme for her novel is going to be mystery, which seems appropriate since she is working toward a minor in criminal justice. She is excited to see if she has a novel in her.

“(The novel is) about a girl who buys a dress that has a lot of history and ends up taking her on a wild adventure,” Beck said.

Beck and some of her closest friends, like Amelia Esguerra a fellow sophomore are going to try and get together at a local coffee shop to have writing sessions.

Esguerra, also an English major, plans on writing a personal narrative about her college experiences.

“I don’t plan on trying to get it published and I’m not even sure who I’ll let read it, but it’s more me trying my hand at writing a narrative and seeing how it turns out,” Esguerra said.

Another English major is trying her hand at NaNoWriMo and in the process reconnecting with her background. Senior Rachelle Eyma is writing a novel that draws on her experiences as a Haitian-American. Her approach will be mainly nonfiction but she is thinking about incorporating other stories in her main novel.

“My parents are from Haiti and my cousins are staying with me and they just came here from Haiti so I feel like I’m in Haiti right now,” Eyma said.

She is trying to represent her culture the best she can. She knows how to speak the local language of Creole and plans to incorporate this in her writing to make it more authentic. This experience is bringing her closer to her culture.

Even creative writing majors who don’t plan on being novelists are participating in the event. Jessica Friday, a junior, wants to be more on the marketing side of novels, but she is writing a fictionalized account of what is known about the history of Atlantis for the month.

“The important thing about NaNoWriMo is to get your thoughts down on paper. Everyone who tries will get something out of it,” Friday said.

Posted by Danielle Paluga on Nov 11 2010. Filed under Close Up. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.