The National Novel Writing Month Young Writer's Program

This is a great opportunity to get those creative juices flowing! And even mom and dad can write! We have several in this house who will be participating, so let us know if you are joining us!

Here's the information:

National Novel Writing Month starts on November 1. It isn't too late to decide to participate! There is no commitment to anyone but yourself.

The website is http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/


The basic idea is that the student and teacher set a word count goal for a novel, the student writes the novel in one month, and if the student meets the goal, he/she 'wins' and can get a free proof copy of the novel in paper back book form. The website has suggested ranges by grade level for word count goals. There is no fee for any part of the program.
While the actual writing of the novel is done in one month (November), the work for the whole project actually takes most of the school year and can be used as a substantial part of an English/language arts curriculum.

The website has some great (and free!) workbooks available for download. There are elementary, middle, and high school versions, with about 100 pages each. The bulk of the workbook is designed to be done in
Sept-October, before starting to write the novel. The workbook guides the student through character and plot development, setting location, creating interesting dialog, etc.
The actual writing of a complete first draft is done in November. Then, you have until June to edit the novel, do the interior layout, design a cover, and order your free proof copy. (The workbook has some guidance for editing.)

You can find 'writing buddies' on the website and the workbooks have suggestions for sharing and critiquing peers' novels.
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Thank you for the information Amy!
(This was written by a friend of Amy's, unfortunately i do not know who, so I can not give credit where credit is due...)