WhirlPickerHow to run your own November writing challenge
NaNoWriMo is gone, but 50,000 words in November never needed a website. Here's how to run the challenge yourself, alone or with friends.
November without NaNoWriMo
For years, November meant one thing to a lot of writers: 50,000 words in 30 days. National Novel Writing Month started in 1999, and the nonprofit that ran it announced in 2025 that it was closing. Other groups now run their own versions, such as ProWritingAid's Novel November, but you don't need anyone's permission to take the challenge. Here's how to run it yourself, alone or with friends.
What made the challenge work was never the website. It was a hard deadline, a number to hit every day, and the feeling of other people writing at the same time. You can keep all three.
1. Pick a goal you'll actually reach
The classic target is 50,000 words, about the length of a short novel. Divide by 30 and it becomes a daily number, which is what you'll really be chasing:
| Goal for November | Words a day | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| 50,000 | 1,667 | Four to six 15-minute sprints |
| 30,000 | 1,000 | Three or four sprints |
| 15,000 | 500 | One or two sprints |
A smaller goal you finish beats a big one you abandon on the 9th. If 50,000 sounds impossible with your November, choose 15,000 and enjoy every word over it.
2. Have a story waiting on the 1st
The hardest day is the first, staring at a blank page. Go in with a premise, a main character, what they want and what's in the way. You don't need an outline, just enough to start.
If nothing's calling to you yet, draw one. PartyWrite deals six cards from a world of your choosing: a character, an objective, a secret, a connection, an object and a conflict. That's a premise in a minute. Draw a few sets in late October and keep the one that won't leave you alone.
3. Write in sprints, not sessions
"Write for two hours tonight" is easy to put off. "Write until the candle goes out" isn't. Short, timed sprints are how most people get through a writing month:
- Set a timer for 15 or 25 minutes and write without stopping to edit.
- When it ends, note your words, stretch, and start another if you have it in you.
- At a steady pace, a 15-minute sprint is often 300 to 450 words, so the daily target is a handful of sprints rather than an evening.
PartyWrite's candle is made for this: choose 10, 15 or 25 minutes and a candle burns beside your page. When it goes out it tells you how many words you wrote, and it never deletes anything or stops you writing on.
4. Track it where you can see it
A number you can see keeps you honest. A paper calendar on the wall, a note on your phone or a spreadsheet with one row a day all work. Write down each day's words and the running total, and colour in the days you hit your target. Don't make up missed words in one heroic weekend. Add a few hundred to each of the next several days instead.
Or let a town keep count. PartyWrite's November town has a house for each of the 30 nights, under that night's real moon. The words you write in PartyWrite light each house's windows on their own, and you can add words written anywhere else. Tonight's target adjusts as you go, so your goal always stays reachable. If you reach it, lanterns rise from every street.
5. Find your people
Writing alone together is the secret ingredient. Agree a time with a friend, a writing group or your class, start a sprint at the same moment, and compare word counts at the end. A library, a café or a video call all work as a write-in.
6. When you fall behind (you will)
- Skip the scene you're stuck on. Write "[fight happens here]" and jump to the part you're excited about.
- Bring in a new card. A stranger arrives, the lights go out, someone tells the truth. Trouble is fuel.
- Lower the goal, don't quit. Ten thousand words in November is still ten thousand more than October.
7. On 1 December, leave it alone
A November draft is meant to be rough. Put it away for a few weeks before you reread it, then decide what it wants to become. The main thing you'll have made is the habit of writing every day.