FAQ

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) is a free, worldwide writing challenge that takes place every November.

Many participants tackle the classic NaNoWriMo challenge of drafting a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, but the event welcomes all sizes and styles of projects.

Whatever you’re working on, you’ll find a friendly community offering lots of encouragement along your writing journey.

What is NaNo 2.0?

NaNo 2.0 is a small group of long-time NaNoWriMo champions and enthusiasts, including NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty. We came together after the official nonprofit closed in 2025 to support people taking part in the challenge.

Are you the official NaNoWriMo organization?

Nope! We’re just one of many groups helping writers explore their imaginations in November.

What can I write?

Anything you want! Novels, short stories, memoirs, scripts, fanfic, poems, Ph.D. dissertations, and more are all great. You can even use NaNoWriMo to make progress on that novel-revision you’ve been procrastinating on for years.

How do I win NaNoWriMo? Are there prizes?

To win, just pick a writing goal and then reach it by November 30th.

In previous years, you could validate your word count on the NaNoWriMo site and get a winner’s certificate. The validator died when the old site went away. But NaNoWriMo’s real prize was the manuscript you wrote (and the satisfaction of setting an ambitious creative goal and nailing it).

We’ll be handing out some fun virtual swag for winners starting November 25.

Has anyone ever published their NaNoWriMo novel?

Absolutely! Hundreds of traditionally published novels, and tens of thousands of self-published books started out as wildly imperfect NaNoWriMo first drafts. The list includes dozens of New York Times bestsellers—several of which have been adapted into Hollywood movies and beloved TV series.

How can I track my writing progress?

You’ll find a world of ways to track your rapidly climbing word count on our Resources page!

What happened to the old NaNoWriMo nonprofit and websites?

The nonprofit ran out of money and closed its doors in 2025. None of the NaNo 2.0 crew were working or volunteering for NaNoWriMo at that point, but our outsider’s take is that it was partly due to a tough fundraising landscape and partly due to a series of unpopular decisions by management.

We saw a few key issues that diminished community trust…

Lack of forums moderators. The message boards on NaNoWriMo.org were vast, and there weren’t enough well-trained moderators to oversee everything. The moderation issues came to a head in 2023 when a moderator was accused of posting an inappropriate link in a teen forum. She was reportedly fired, but communication around what happened and what was being done about it wasn’t clear, leaving people feeling like online safety wasn’t being prioritized.
Loss of longtime staff and volunteers. A new leadership team took over in January 2024, and a mass exodus of long-serving staff followed. The new leaders also sidelined the amazing 1000-person volunteer network of Municipal Liaisons, many of whom had been serving as local ambassadors for decades.
An odd defense of AI. The new team also added a note to the NaNoWriMo FAQ warning people that concerns about AI could be seen as classist and ableist. The statement drew understandable backlash from the writing community and caused many authors on the advisory board to leave.

What is your AI stance?

NaNoWriMo is, and has always been, a wild joyride through the human imagination. We hope you’ll give yourself the gift of creating without technical intervention in November. All the words and images on this site were created by humans (except for the ones you don’t like, which were made by Chris’ cats).

Can you help me retrieve something from the old NaNoWriMo site?

We wish. We had stuff in there too. But we’re unaffiliated with the old organization, and we don’t have access to any of the data.

How can you guarantee the safety of minors who use this site?

NaNo 2.0 is committed to the safety of all participants, especially its younger members. Our site has no accounts, no forums, and no private messages. We clearly mark external links, and you can report any content concerns through our contact form.

Are there plans to create a more robust event site with more functionality down the line?

Our goal is to keep things simple and just provide links, pep, and other writing resources. We’re heartened to see that there are a lot of fully fledged NaNoWriMo-related sites springing up that already do a bunch of things the old site did. We’ll be profiling some of them this fall on our blog.

Are you taking donations?

Our team has all the project costs covered. Thank you for asking!

How do I find other participants?

There are a bunch of sites, communities, and classes where NaNoWriMo participants will be writing together in the fall. We’ll profile some on our blog, and you can find links to others on this resource site run by former NaNoWriMo volunteers. On social media, it’s easy to find your people by searching the #nanowrimo hashtag. Most social platforms also have fun, timed writing sessions called “word sprints" happening in November. We’ll be hosting some on our Bluesky account. We hope you’ll join us for one!

Did I hear you’re selling writer swag?

No—sorry for the confusion. “Writer swag” is the term we use for our free, downloadable badges and certificates.