Creative Writing students here at SLHS are in the process of writing a novel in a month for their latest project.
The Novel in a Month project is based on the organization NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which takes place in November. The organization works to help writers who have trouble putting their words to paper by challenging them to write a 50,000 word draft in a month.
Mrs. Miller, South Lakes’s Creative Writing teacher, has brought an adapted version of this challenge to her class. Students must set goals on the word count they want to achieve and write a minimum of 5,000 words, in hopes of completing the class challenge before the month is up.
“I decided to do it here because it’s something that is super creative, but it teaches setting goals and that it’s okay to adjust those goals,” Mrs. Miller said.
Students are given full creative freedom when forming their novels, with fewer restrictions and rules compared to writing for an English class.
“I am more like a cheerleader for them. I check in on their documents and give them a little bit of feedback here and there,” Miller added.
Creative Writing students have expressed enjoyment from the process of drafting their novels.
“I don’t think that it has been too challenging yet, I have been having a lot of fun writing it,” student Abby Gordon said.
Drafting the story and forming ideas for their novels have been a positive experience for some students, like Natsu Zavala.
“Putting the story together, that’s fun and easy,” student Zavala said.
While writing their drafts, students have also experienced challenges.
“It can be difficult to meet deadlines because they are usually based on how many words we have. It’s the first big project [of the year], ” Zavala added.
When their projects are finished, excerpts may be added to the walls in the English hallway. Students have the choice whether they want to present them in class or not.
For future Creative Writing students completing the “Novel in a Month project”, the current students have pieces of advice.
“Make sure you have the schedule and do the best to manage your time, write whenever you feel like you can,” Gordon explained.
“Don’t push yourself too hard, make sure you give yourself a manageable word count goal and don’t be too hard on yourself,” Zavala said.
The Creative Writing project seems daunting, but many students accomplish the minimum word count and go on to set goals to write upwards of 6,000, 15,000, and even 50,000 words.
