After Multiple Controversies Destroyed NaNoWriMo, ProWritingAid Restarts The Writing Event As "Novel November"

Last year, NaNoWriMo famously shut down after years of continuous operation, after volunteers abandoned the organization en masse in one of the craziest meltdowns of an event in modern history. Now, their former sponsor, ProWritingAid, aims to restart the concept as “Novel November.”

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It originally began in 1999 by an author named Chris Baty, who organized some people to all try to write a novel in a month. It rapidly expanded, and thousands of people every year were participating and writing their books. The goal was to write 50,000 words over the span of 30 days, encouraging steady productivity so people can understand what it actually takes to write a novel.

The event quickly became a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization with employees, full volunteer staff, and budgets to get the word out. Authors like Brandon Sanderson would come and give encouraging speeches to people trying to participate. It was one of the biggest events in the writing community.

And then the problems hit—starting with social justice politics.