National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for all you folks into the edginess that is acronym usage) happens every November, asking participants to complete a 50,000-word (or more, obviously) novel in the span of 30 days. The challenge might sound preposterous to outsiders and snobs, but in reality many of the finished products go on to receive publication, critical acclaim, awards, and bestseller status. Not bad for a project that’s packed into one intense month. So while it would be irresponsible for us wonderful folks at OEDB to guarantee participation means publication — for all we know, you’re actually genuinely terrible at writing — we can say that there are some success stories out there you might find inspiring.
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Lani Diane Rich:
National Novel Writing Month literally launched Lani Diane Rich’s entire career. She published her debut novel Time Off for Good Behavior in 2004 and holds the distinction of being the very first previously unpublished writer whose NaNoWriMo manuscript led to professional success. Grand Central Publishing picked up the chick lit comedy, which won the Rita Award for Best First Book. After that, Rich scored herself a staggering seven more book deals as well as gigs co-hosting various literary podcasts. She currently writes “magical romance novels” under the pseudonym Lucy March.
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Sara Gruen:
By this point, most bibliophiles who follow the bestseller lists know of Water for Elephants, the No. 1 New York Times-er that spawned a 2011 movie starring Edward The Abusive Vampire Boyfriend and also Elle Woods. Sara Gruen actually wrote her third novel as part of the NaNoWriMo challenge, making her probably the most high-profile success story so far. The historical fiction read that swept America deliberately recasts the biblical tale of Jacob as a circus (literally, not as a metaphor for a raucous life) struggling to survive the Great Depression. Along with the aforementioned bestselling honors, Gruen also received a Quill Award nomination and an Alex Award.
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Gayle Brandeis:
As an already well-established poet, essayist, and novelist, it’s probably surprising to note that NaNoWriMo proved the turning point in Gayle Brandeis’ writing. Specifically, it meant more attention from the mainstream versus the literary community. The manuscript for Self Storage, which she wrote during November of 2003, netted her a two-book deal with Ballantine. Following publication, Target named it a Breakout Book for customers to purchase. Her latest novel, The Book of Live Wires, follows up her Bellwether Prize-winning The Book of Dead Birds and is purposely being released in November to coincide with and celebrate NaNoWriMo.
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Erin Morgenstern:
The Night Circus started off as a NaNoWriMo project stemming from an idea forged during the previous year’s challenge. Funny stuff (not really). Author Erin Morgenstern has actually participated in the annual event since 2003, but it wasn’t until 2009 when she achieved the dream of every novelist and aspirant novelist and finally landed herself a book deal through it, then subsequently hit The New York Times bestseller list at number two. Then it won an Alex Award and a nomination for the Guardian First Book Award. Then the producers behind the Harry Potter (with which the novel’s whimsical, magical, and dark atmosphere is often compared) movies bought the rights and have already started developing the adaptation. Not bad.
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Marissa Meyer:
Participating in the yearly novel-writing initiative actually produced three books for this self-admitted “chronic overachiever.” Only three months passed between completing the sci-fi fairy tale Cinder and Marissa Meyer scoring some sweet publishing coin, and the sequels Scarlet and Cress quickly followed suit. Known as The Lunar Trilogy, the series — which is planned to hit four books — actually marks her first foray into writing and publishing novels. Prior claiming fame as a NaNoWriMo success story, the author worked as an editor and penned short stories and fanfiction.
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Amelia Atwater-Rhodes:
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has actually been writing novels since age 13, but The Persistence of Memory consistently appears on lists of some of the most notable works to emerge from the yearly NaNoWriMo challenge. Probably because, as young adult vampire literature in a post-Twilight scene, there already exists a hungry audience! Its publication marked Atwater-Rhodes’ tenth foray onto bookshelves worldwide, so one can assume she already knew what she was doing when signing up to take part!
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Julia Crouch:
Headline offered the debut work by a novice novelist a thoroughly impressive three book deal thanks to NaNoWriMo. Julia Crouch attributes Cuckoo’s unexpected (but obviously not unwelcome) success to the other participants, who helped critique her words throughout the process. In fact, she admits to contending with some pretty nasty writer’s block while eking through the annual challenge! She certainly didn’t enter into everything completely sans experience — actually, she wrote and directed theatre productions in her early career, and initially decided to take part in NaNoWriMo after completing an open source class in creative writing.
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Stephanie Draven:
Stephanie Draven’s erotic political dramedy In Bed with the Opposition began as a NaNoWriMo project, although the author previously received awards for older novels, and vaulted her to bestseller status. While she certainly enjoyed well-established status before attaining success in November’s biggest nail-biter after the election (that may or may not be hyperbole), scoring a deal for her month-long manuscript led to one additional perk. Now, Draven heads up NaNoWriMo events like “Turn Up the Heat” in Baltimore where she pulls from her positive experiences to advise bright-eyed, bushy-tailed newbies on how it’s done.
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Gennifer Albin:
2010 saw Gennifer Albin spend the month of November completing her first novel, Crewel, which wound up her very first publication in the medium two years later. The sci-fi/fantasy mashup aimed at young adults is planned as a trilogy (of course), and NaNoWriMo itself picked her as one of the authors providing encouragement and support to participants through “pep talks.” Albin originally worked as an editor and academic with a master’s in English before moving on to full-time authorship.
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Donna Gephart:
Like many of the other successful NaNoWriMo writers out there, Donna Gephart already enjoyed published author status before succumbing to the good vibrations and sweet sensations of the competition. Mounting pressure to submit another book resulted in the one month conception gestation, and birth of the young adult novel Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen. It only took three months for Delacorte Press/Random House to snatch that giggly little baby up. And, funny enough, even the seasoned Gephart found the “public humiliation” of blogging her progress a notably effective motivator.
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