Welcome to Creative Chaos, a new monthly column by me! This column will be exploring the various matters of creative tomfoolery I get up to throughout the years, whether they stick or not.

Today’s article is all about NaNoWriMo; both what it means and my experience with it! 

So, without further ado, let’s get to the chaos!

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a challenge that happens throughout November, and the concept is simple. You’re meant to write 50,000 words in 30 days. (If you’re interested, you can find them at nanowrimo.org, and they hold Camp NaNoWriMo every April and July! You can find me at QuickSilver444 there.)

However, from what I’ve seen, the challenge is more so about consistently writing, rather than just hitting the word count. So as long as you make progress towards your goal, you’ve won at the challenge.

It’s also a wonderful opportunity to make writer friends, as a large community of thousands come together to write novels every year.

I’d been eyeing this event for years, dreaming about writing that 50k and being an official novelist. However, this year was the first year that I actually took to doing it instead of fantasizing about it.

While I only got to around 21,000 words, because the latter half of November became filled with D&D sessions and homework that I spent all my energy on, that was still a huge accomplishment to me. 

I usually write 1-2 pages per project because my brain gets too distracted to continue from beyond there, so seeing the 51(!!!) pages of my own writing in front of me was enough to bring tears to my eyes. 

I highly encourage any aspiring authors reading this to sign up for this project. It’ll completely change your perception of both yourself and your writing, and maybe you’ll even find a community of writers like you!

Now, I’m going to talk more about my own project and how the writing process for that went.

For my own project, I wrote a story all about two siblings trying to navigate high school, friends, and relationships. It’s called As the Birds Sing, and it stars Bridgette and Mara, the siblings, as well as Jasper and Daphne, their new friends.

There are two types of novelists in the world, I’ve learned; those who meticulously plan every little detail and those who just see where their hands take them. I seemed to fall into the latter category, as most of those 51 pages I told you about were me improvising what would happen to my characters next. 

This improv led me to adventures in flower fields, binging horrible anime episodes, and intense thinking back to my childhood friends and how we behave around each other.

Not only is writing for NaNoWriMo incredibly fun, it can also be incredibly cathartic. Writing your own story to get a break from reality can be very therapeutic and freeing.

Join me next month for talks about how I combined my newfound interest in coding and my long-term passion for writing. (Small hint: it’ll be an interview!) Until next time!