Chapter One
By: Julia Effle –
Fact or fiction, horrifying or dramatic, fantasy or satire, whatever the genre, there’s a novel for it. But you’re the writer, you have a month to get down 50,000 words -1,667 words a day and 7,143 words a week to complete it. Are you up for the challenge?
Seniors Ell Kinsey and Josh Warren, along with ten other Knights, are joining over 2,000 other students in Nebraska for National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo.
National Novel Writing month is a nonprofit organization that inspires students and adults around the world to write a novel in one month. The event began in 1999 as a launch, and then started back up again in 2005 when they relaunched it. NaNoWriMo’s programs now include National Novel Writing Month in November, Camp NaNoWriMo, the Young Writers Program, Come Write In, and the “Now What?” Months.
On Nov. 1, participants began working toward the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel, which needs to be completed by 11:59 PM on Nov. 30. On day one of this experience, Kinsey and some of her peers helped host the very first Knight Writer’s workshop here at LSE, and they have continued to do so throughout the month of November. Every Monday, either in or out of the school building, students come together to encourage, plan, and help each other write.
“It’s a community thing, so what we’re going to be doing is meeting together outside of school and in school to encourage each other,” said Warren.
Although Warren has not participated in the past, he’s passionate about doing so this year. In April, he began writing a 20,000 word novel and is hoping to extend this project to 50,000 more words by the end of the month, for a combined total of 70,000 words.
“[There is] a lot of satisfaction, you know? Pride in yourself [for] doing something that even professionals [don’t typically do]: get a first draft of 50,000 words in a month.”
Kinsey, on the other hand, has completed three novels through the NaNoWriMo organization, and four in her lifetime. Her first time participating in NaNoWriMo was in 2015, when she was a sophomore.
“I’ve completed a novel in 2015, 2016, and I also did one during ‘Camp NaNoWriMo’ in April,” said Kinsey.
Growing up, Kinsey loved to write and knew writing was a passion and talent she needed to pursue. She’d attempted writing books several times before finally finding success.
“I’ve been writing ever since I was little, I tried to write a novel in 5th grade and that didn’t work out. [I] tried again in 8th grade, that didn’t work out; I finished my first one freshman year actually,” said Kinsey. “Ever since then, I’ve kind of just realized this is what I was supposed to do.”
Creative Writing teacher Sam Segrist completed his first NaNoWriMo in 2006. It was a challenge to say the least. At that time he was student teaching and not working another job.
“It was difficult to balance. My experience was fun because I got to write the story and see where it went. [You] kind of come up with ideas later on in the process that you hadn’t planned on, and that’s the joy of the creative experience,” said Segrist. “If it’s all planned out ahead of time, it kind of just feels like you’re following a recipe. It was very satisfying when I was able to hit submit.”
That 2006 writing experience wasn’t Segrist’s first attempt at writing a novel. When he was a junior in high school, he started writing and editing his own magazine titled “The Regurgitated Spork”. During Segrist’s junior year [of highschool], he took a new approach to his writing.“ [I] made 12 issues… It was fun and I ended up meeting some interesting people,” said Segrist.
As one of the sponsors of Knight Writer’s, Segrist enjoys working with young writers and providing as much support as he can. As for his Creative Writing students, given the choice to participate, they were offered a perfect grade at the end of the semester.
“I brought a bag of books, guides on writing, story prompts, style guides, how to manuals and also magazines from writer’s digest. Overall I just make sure there is time in Creative Writing that the NaNoWriMo writer’s have to work on their stuff.”
In a 2016 survey, 86 percent of respondents said that NaNoWriMo helped them learn what they can accomplish when they were determined just like students here at LSE. 89 percent of respondents said that NaNoWriMo made them more excited about writing.Nanowrimo.org said, In a 2013 independent study, 87% of student participants in our Young Writers Program said that it made them more confident writer’s.
Hundreds of books have been published thanks to NaNoWrimo. These include the titles such as Water for Elephants, The Night Circus, Wool, Fangirl and Cinder.
It’s amazing where your passions can take you. For Kinsey, it lead her to a possible career path. For Warren, it was an opportunity to challenge him to pursue a hobby he enjoys. And as for Mr. Segrist, well, it show’d him a strength of completion and satisfaction and he self published a magazine. For the other writer’s, it’ll take them amazing places as well. Are you up for the challenge?