NaNoWriMo 2026: What It Is, What Happened, and How to Do It This November

NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month, is a challenge to write a 50,000-word novel between November 1 and November 30. The nonprofit that ran it closed in 2025, but the challenge itself carries on, and in 2026 several groups run it on the same dates.

This guide covers what NaNoWriMo is, what happened to it, how the rules and the daily math work, and where you can take part this year. Details were checked on October 24, 2026. Organizers do change dates, so open their page before you sign up.

At a glance

• There is no official NaNoWriMo organization in 2026. The challenge still runs November 1–30, and the classic goal is still 50,000 words.
• 50,000 words in 30 days is 1,667 words a day.
• The closest thing to the original is NaNo 2.0, run by volunteers who include NaNoWriMo's founder. Novel November (ProWritingAid) and Reedsy Novel Sprint run on the same dates.
• Teachers and students can use NaNo 2.0's Young Novelist Challenge, which replaces the old Young Writers Program.

What is NaNoWriMo?

Chris Baty started NaNoWriMo in 1999 with a simple dare: write a whole novel in one month (NaNo 2.0). It settled in November and grew into a worldwide event. People wrote alone, at local meetups called write-ins, and in online word sprints, timed sessions where everyone writes at once and compares counts after.

The goal is a complete first draft, however rough. You don't revise in November. You keep going until you reach 50,000 words or the month runs out. Hitting the goal is called “winning,” and there's no prize beyond the certificate and the draft itself.

Some books that began as NaNoWriMo drafts went on to be published, including The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Wool by Hugh Howey, Cinder by Marissa Meyer and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (NaNo 2.0 FAQ).

Is NaNoWriMo happening in 2026?

Yes, but without the organization that used to run it. The nonprofit told participants by email on March 31, 2025 that it would shut down. Its interim executive director cited money problems and a six-year decline in participation (Publishers Weekly). Coverage at the time also recalled earlier disputes over forum moderation and a statement on AI that many writers objected to.

So this year there's no official site, word-count validator or Young Writers Program. What carried on is the format: one month, one big number, and a lot of people writing at the same time. NaNo 2.0 puts it this way: there's no longer an official NaNoWriMo organization, just many grassroots groups helping writers in November (NaNo 2.0 FAQ). A 2026 roundup found that the old nanowrimo.org address shows a parked-domain page, so don't log in or enter details there (Wrote a Book).

The rules

The original rules were short, and most 2026 challenges keep them:

1. Start on November 1 and stop at midnight on November 30, in your own time zone.
2. Aim for 50,000 words. That's the classic goal. NaNo 2.0 and some others let you set your own number instead.
3. Write something new. The classic challenge starts from a blank page. Writers who worked on an existing draft, nonfiction or a revision used to call themselves “NaNo rebels,” and NaNo 2.0 now welcomes those projects openly.
4. Count only what you wrote during the month. Notes and outlines from October don't count.
5. Track your words. You log your count each day on a challenge's site or keep your own record.

Anyone can win. There are no judges, and nobody reads your draft unless you share it.

How many words a day

50,000 ÷ 30 = 1,667 words a day. In November 2026 the first falls on a Sunday, which gives you 21 weekdays and 9 weekend days. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26.

Pick the row that fits your month before November starts, not on the 12th. If a 25-minute sprint gets you about 400 to 500 words, 1,667 words is roughly four sprints.

These are the totals that keep you on track:

Fall behind and you don't need to double up on one day. Divide the words you have left by the days you have left. Say it's the morning of November 15 and you're at 20,000. That's 30,000 words over 16 days, or 1,875 a day, about 200 more than the plan.

Where to do NaNoWriMo in 2026

The first three rows come from each organizer's own page. The last three come from two roundups that checked organizer pages in October 2026 (Wrote a Book, KudoWrite).

Reedsy also gives $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000 to the top three first chapters, each with a 30-minute meeting with a literary agent. Entries must be in English and written during the challenge.

Which one to pick

• You want the old NaNoWriMo back: NaNo 2.0. No judges, no prizes, and deliberately no forums or social features on the site. The community meets on Instagram, in local groups and in word sprints on Bluesky.
• You want lessons along the way: Novel November. It runs over 150 live workshops across the season and daily writing sprints. It's run by a company that sells writing software, so expect some product mentions.
• You write best with stakes: Reedsy Novel Sprint. The catch is that every word has to be typed in Reedsy Studio.
• November is a bad month for you: Novel 90. The same 50,000 words over three months is about 550 a day.
• 50,000 feels like too much, or you write poems and stories: Order of the Written Word.
• You'd rather go alone: set your own goal and keep your own count. For a write-in near you, NaNoWriMo.ca, run by former volunteers, keeps a list of local groups.

For teachers and students

The Young Writers Program closed with the nonprofit, and its workbooks and lesson plans are gone. NaNo 2.0's team includes the YWP curriculum's original author, Tavia Stewart, and they've built a replacement called the Young Novelist Challenge (NaNo 2.0 Young Novelists).

It has workbooks for elementary, middle and high school in Doc and PDF, with Spanish versions, and lesson plans and pacing guides aligned with Common Core, laid out for planning in October, writing in November and revising in December. Laura Bradley, a middle school teacher who ran YWP with her students for eight years, shares her classroom material at nanoteacher.org.

NaNo 2.0 accounts are for writers 16 and up, so younger students track their count in the workbook or with their teacher. As in YWP, each student sets their own word goal instead of 50,000.

Before November 1: a one-week prep

Preptober, the October planning month, is nearly over. A week is still enough for the parts that save you the most time in November.

1. Decide what the book is in one sentence. Who wants what, and what stands in the way. If you don't have an idea yet, start from a list of story ideas.
2. Decide how it ends. It can change later. Knowing roughly where you're headed is what keeps day 19 from stalling.
3. List 20 to 30 scenes. At 25 scenes, each one is about 2,000 words. A line per scene is enough: where it happens, who's in it, what changes. If you'd like a structure to hang them on, try kishotenketsu or a subplot that runs alongside the main line.
4. Write down your main characters. Two or three people, each with what they want, what they're afraid of and one habit. A character sheet template helps.
5. Choose where you'll write and how you'll count. Some challenges only count words written in their own app, so check this first.
6. Tell someone the number and the date. Joining a challenge does this for you.

During November: keep moving

• Don't revise. When a sentence isn't right, leave it. When you don't know what happens next, write a note in brackets, like “[they argue about the money here]”, and go on to the next scene.
• Write the scene you can see. You don't have to go in order. If the ending is clear and the middle isn't, write the ending.
• Expect the second week to be hard. The opening excitement wears off around then, and it's the most common place to stop. Lean on your scene list here.
• Write down what you decide as you go. A name you made up on day 3 will come back on day 22. Keep a story bible so you can look it up instead of rereading.

After November 30

50,000 words is a short novel. Many adult novels run 80,000 words or more (see how many words is a novel), so if your story isn't finished, keep the habit going into December at a pace you can sustain.

Then put the draft away for a while before you reread it. When you come back, look first at the big things: whether the story holds together and whether characters do things they wouldn't do. A guide to finding plot holes is a good place to start. Sentence-level edits come last.

Writing your November novel in TypeTak

TypeTak is an AI writing editor where you write alongside an agent. Here it's for reaching 1,667 words a day with a count you can trust, and keeping the story straight through all 30 days.

• Today's count is only what you typed. Set a daily goal of 1,667 words, and the row below the editor shows where you are, like 1,240 / 1,667. Text the agent wrote, pasted text and applied revisions don't count toward it, so the number fits the “your own words” rules several challenges set. Press the flame to see the last 7 days.
• The whole draft has a finish line. Give the manuscript a goal of 50,000 words, and the manuscript card shows how close the draft is.
• Day 22 still knows what you decided on day 3. Put the characters and places from your prep in one place. When you can't remember what you called the landlord, ask the agent, and it checks your notes and the chapters you've written.

If your challenge bans AI, you can spend the whole month writing without opening the agent, and the goals work the same. Whether the agent goes near your November draft is up to you and your challenge's rules.

FAQ

What does NaNoWriMo stand for?

National Novel Writing Month. Despite “national,” people took part from all over the world.

Is NaNoWriMo happening in 2026?

The challenge is, but there's no official organization. The nonprofit closed in 2025. NaNo 2.0, Novel November and Reedsy Novel Sprint all run November 1–30 with the same 50,000-word goal.

Is anyone still doing NaNoWriMo?

Yes. Writers still do it every November, through NaNo 2.0, company-run challenges, local groups listed on NaNoWriMo.ca, and #nanowrimo on social media. Plenty of people also do it alone and keep their own count.

When is NaNoWriMo?

November 1 to November 30, in your local time. Camp NaNoWriMo, the shorter April and July version, ended with the nonprofit.

What is the word count goal for NaNoWriMo?

50,000 words. That's 1,667 words a day for 30 days, or 2,381 a day if you only write on weekdays in November 2026.

Why did NaNoWriMo shut down?

The nonprofit cited financial problems and six years of falling participation. Reports at the time also noted the damage to trust from disputes over forum moderation and its 2024 statement on AI.

What replaced NaNoWriMo?

No single event did. NaNo 2.0 is closest in spirit and is run by volunteers who include founder Chris Baty. Novel November from ProWritingAid is the largest of the ones that publish participant numbers.

Can I use AI during NaNoWriMo?

It depends on the challenge. Reedsy Novel Sprint, Novel 90 and Order of the Written Word don't allow AI-generated text. NaNo 2.0 asks you to try without it but doesn't police tools. Check the rules of the one you join.

Sources

NaNoWriMo closure

Publishers Weekly·Lit Hub·Reactor

NaNo 2.0

FAQ·About·Young Novelists

Challenge rules

ProWritingAid Novel November·Reedsy Novel Sprint 2026·NaNoWriMo.ca

2026 roundups

Wrote a Book·KudoWrite