If the phases of the moon and caffeine-intake strategies of our tech team align, we’ll be rolling out author profiles and word count trackers on the NaNo 2.0 site this week.
To create an account, you’ll need to be at least 16 years old. We wanted to share how we landed on 16+, and offer some alternate tools (and apologies) to our young novelists who won’t be able to use the new tracker.
First, the two big reasons we landed on 16+…
1. We’re really, really cautious when it comes to online safety
This was one of our foundational principles when we launched NaNo 2.0, and it’s shaped all our programmatic decisions, particularly for younger writers. It’s why we’re making profiles private by default for everyone. And it’s why—even though we don’t have social features like message boards or DMs—we’re erring on the side of caution and going with 16+.
To enforce this, we’ll be asking for your birthdate when you sign up. We won’t store that info, but we will use it as a one-time check when you create an account.
2. We want to support writers around the globe
Going with 13+ would have been fine for writers in the US, Canada, UK, Japan, and some other countries. But it would have violated laws for digital consent in Ireland, Germany, France, Poland, the Netherlands, and a lot of other regions. We don’t have the technical capacity to create custom age-checks based on local laws, so we would have needed to block account-creation for everyone in those countries. Going with 16+ allows us to welcome writers from all around the world.
For our young writers and educators, we know this news may be disappointing. Some of the most amazing, creative, life-changing NaNoWriMo stories have come from elementary students, middle schoolers, and younger teens taking part in the month-long writing adventure at school or with their families. It kills to build something not everyone can use.
This is why we’re working hard on a Young Novelist Challenge version of the tracker. We’re aiming to have it ready next year, and we’ll also be adding fun writing tools to the YNC universe that you don’t need an account to use.
In the meantime, there are a bunch of ways younger authors can still chart and celebrate their awesome writerly progress.
For online tools, we have a brand-new, Google Sheets tracker designed by NaNo 2.0’s very own Gertrude Daly. This Easter-egg-filled spreadsheet will keep you company along every step of your writing journey.
In addition to all the action-packed resources in our free, downloadable Young Novelist Challenge workbooks, we have spreadsheets, printable calendars, and progress charts on our Writing Tools page.
Some of our favorite ways for young writers to document and track their writing achievements include the YNC day-by-day tracker and the YNC progress chart.
This is just the start, and our volunteer crew will keep working on finding ways to make our writing tools safe and inclusive. If you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions on things we should add, please drop us a line!