NaNoWriMo is shutting down.
Looks like that’s the end of the manuscript for NaNoWriMo.
In an email, the nonprofit announced that they’re wrapping things up for good. NaNoWriMo—which stands, for the uninitiated, for National Novel Writing Month—was founded in 1999 as a facilitator of writing challenges and programs; the marquee event is the titular November sprint to write 50,000 words in 30 days. But it seems like a combination of factors has impacted the organizations ability to stay afloat, despite a large and dedicated global community of writers.
The nonprofit has had some challenges in recent years, stemming from both money and missteps. Arts nonprofits seem to always be struggling for cash, but NaNoWriMo’s troubles were made worse after it was scrutinized for some inappropriate behavior by volunteers and moderators and then more recently for its equivocating stance on AI.
According to the farewell email, the reason behind the decision to shutter NaNoWriMo “is both simple and complex.” The email, which was posted in full on Reddit, goes on to lament that “this is not the ending that anybody wanted or planned.” The note explains that while “there is no shortage of writers who want to participate in NaNoWriMo … building a community and being able to sustain it are two different matters.”
The real nitty-gritty behind the shuttering is explained in a video posted on YouTube: the organization’s money and participation problems were exacerbated by the aforementioned complaints about volunteer and moderator behavior, which then became major breaches in community safety and trust. Financially and reputationally, it doesn’t seem like NaNoWriMo was able to recover. The video mentions some alternatives that the group tried, but ultimately nothing panned out or proved to be a good fit.
What’s next seems largely up to the community of writers involved in the organization’s programs. You can still write a novel manuscript in November, or any month really, but now you’ll have to attempt it without the nonprofit’s tracking software and website—incidentally, if you’ve got any data stored on the NaNoWriMo site, now’s the time to back it up.
I’m sure people are already hard at work building something new to step into the gap—a quick glance at the active subreddit makes me think it’s already well underway. The feedback and encouragement in this community seems like its secret sauce, and the sort of thing that would make sprinting through a draft possible. Hopefully something new and cool blossoms from this community!
