Requirements to Sign-up

Is there a minimum age to participate?

Can I participate if I’m not American? Are non-English novels okay?

 
 

Is there a minimum age to participate?

You must be 13 or older to have an account on NaNoWriMo.org. But all ages are very welcome to take part in National Novel Writing Month, and we encourage younger writers to sign up over at NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program website. It’s a similar challenge for participants 12 and under, as well as those participating as part of a K-12 classroom group.

NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program participants get to choose their own word-count goal for November, and also have access to great noveling workbooks and fun, kid-oriented writing activities. Like NaNoWriMo, membership in the Young Writers Program is free.

 
 

Can I participate if I’m not American? Are non-English novels okay?

You bet! We are very proud to be an international event, and don’t consider the “National” in the title to refer to the United States. This is an event for all nations. We’d change the name to “International Novel Writing Month,” but InNoWriMo doesn’t roll off the tongue in quite the same way.

You can write novels in any language you like. Our validator doesn’t handle non-Latin characters sets, sadly, so there may be an issue with becoming an official winner. But this is just icing on the NaNoWriMo cake, and we encourage you to write in whatever language is most comfortable for you.