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As many of you may know, each November many writers undertake the National Novel Writing Month challenge, with the simple aim of writing 50,000 words in the space of one month. Last year saw a few Dakkites attempt the challenge, so I thought I'd stick this up so that those of us going for it this year can offer encouragement, advice and general discussion on how we're getting along, and hopefully convince some of those who haven't done it before to give it a shot.

Here's the official site, where you can find information and maybe even some local workshops that a lot of libraries/schools ect run over the month. http://nanowrimo.org

As someone who's done it before, I'll offer some advice of my own to anyone new.

- Words are words. In this challenge, it's all about creativity, speed and fun, so do not obsess over grammar, wording or anything like that. Some find this easy, otheres hard, but there's plenty of time to worry about the technical side of it later on. For now, focus on getting down that story, whether it's one you've always had in your head or one that came to you on the way to work this morning.

- Like Johnny Cash said, Get Rhythm! If you can, get in the habit of writing something every day, preferably setting aside time for it in advance so you can sit down and crack out a good chunk of the word count. Personally, I like to go for 2k words a day as that leaves a few days extra if I miss some, get a block for a day or two or have a crazy idea that requires the rewrite of several chapters!

- It's all good, even when it's bad! After you're done, you'll likely look back and wonder just who wrote that nonsense on the screen in front of you, because it can't have been you! Whatever you come up with will almost certainly need very heavy editing after the fact, but for now, don't worry if it looks like utter crap; in theory, you'll at the very least have the bones of a story ready to go.

So that's my tips, anyone else feel free to chip in with more advice/questions/ideas. If other members on here are willing to make a go of this challenge (and hey, I've left it a bit late but there's still 24 manic hours to plan before November) this thread can be a place where we can all post progress updates, offer encouragement and generally keep going. I'll be posting my own work in the Dakka fiction section as it's a 40k piece, but feel free to link to your own site/blog if you're posting elsewhere (as long as it's Dakka-appropriate).

So, who's with me?

I completely forgot this was a thing. I do have a concept for a story I've been tossing around for about a week now. Doubt I will be participating though. My current schedule only leaves me a couple non work related hours every day and I'd rather not spend all my free time for the next month writing.

I wrote 20k words in two weeks for my current fiction project, and if I'm being honest, it took a lot less than that to do the actual writing. Tempting to hop on board.