Letter to Parents (and family!)

Having trouble convincing your parents that NaNoWriMo is a good idea? Show them this letter! It was composed for the YWP, but it suits any teen who is trying to convince their family that they want to do NaNo.

Link to the YWP version

 
Dear Parents and Family Members,

Have you heard the great news? Your child has decided to write a novel alongside over 200,000 other authors during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). NaNoWriMo is a fun, seat-of-the-pants, month-long writing event where the challenge is to complete an entire novel in the 30 days of November. The thing that matters most in NaNoWriMo is output. This high-velocity approach forces writers to use their imaginations, take risks, and work on the fly.

You may be thinking that a rushed, slightly sloppy novel is the last thing you want to encourage your child to create, but there are many great reasons to embrace the NaNoWriMo concept (and maybe even give it a shot yourself!).

Some of the skills NaNoWriMo builds:

• 
  Fluency: Writing so much in so little time boosts students’ proficiency in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and will help them approach future writing assignments with ease and confidence.


• 
  Confidence: When creating so much text in such a short period of time, students realize just how much they can accomplish when they put their minds to it. NaNoWriMo leaves young writers asking themselves, “What’s next?”


• 
  Creativity: Creating characters, situations, dialogue, and even whole planets from scratch helps kids think, but it also teaches them how to apply their fanciful ideas to a full project.


• 
  Time Management: Our curriculum teaches students how to tackle a huge project by breaking it down into manageable bites!

 
Check out a complete guide to the ins-and-outs of the process here:

• How Does NaNoWriMo Work for Young Writers?

 

A little background on logistics and the greater NaNoWriMo community:

NaNoWriMo has two programs. Our adult challenge is hosted at nanowrimo.org, where all writers (13 and over) have the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel. Our Young Writers Program (YWP) is designed for K-12 classrooms taking part as a group, and for 17-and-under novelists writing solo. The YWP allows participants to set their own reasonable, yet challenging, word-count goals.

The YWP site has vibrant, active forums where kids and teens from all over the world gather and support each other. Participation in the forums is not required, but many find the community helpful in maintaining their word count and enthusiasm for the project. The YWP forums are viewable only by other young participants, teachers, librarians, and NaNoWriMo staff members. We monitor and moderate all posts, and inappropriate content is never allowed.

The YWP site also has NaNoMail, a private message function that allows participants in the adult program and YWP to send messages to fellow authors without divulging their personal email addresses.

Participants in NaNoWriMo’s adult program often attend public, in-person writing events hosted by Municipal Liaisons (volunteer heads of their local chapters). These events will take place in all-ages environments such as coffee shops and restaurants. Teens and family members are welcome to attend all events organized by their Municipal Liaison.

Though a novel may seem like a silly off-hours pursuit, many kids and teens are able to get credit for the project in their classes, and many use their National Novel Writing Month participation as part of their college application essay and list of accomplishments.

Plus, it’s just monkey-barrel loads of fun.

If you have any questions about National Novel Writing Month and your child or teen, please feel free to get in touch with us!
 
Enthusiastically,
The NaNoWriMo Staff

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Huh. I wouldn't think any parents'd object to NaNoWriMo.

Minde do. I can understand them (as I'm writing ALL class tests in November), but it's just not fair that my brother is allowed to party all the time and I can't write without lots of discussions and arguments... : /

Yeah. My mother strongly objected. She wants me to do it during the summer. But, It just doesn't have the same feeling as November.

Eh, my mother could care less right now, but if she DOES object any time soon, I'll have to show her this!

There are plenty of benefits to Nano. Time management and improving your writing skills spring to mind.

my mother gave me the courage to do it
if only she knew how little i wrote
but she realises i have exams to study for
but after that she is going to be pushing me to write

Ooh! I like!
Now if only there was a letter to convince my mom that having a demon character in my novel won't engage me in spiritual warfare and may even be beneficial to my 'faith'...

My mom likes NaNoWriMo; she just doesn't understand how much effort it takes. It freaks her out that I have no free time when I'm just sitting in my room writing.

Our conversations: "It's like a job, Mom." "But it's at home." "So what? You did your underwriting at home." "I still had an office." "Well, shut up. You're going to get most of the money I make for publishing a book while I'm underage, anyway, so I don't see why you're complaining." "Point taken.... continue... but don't expect me to pay for your initial copyright because of that." "DAMNIT."

Mom's can read minds :O

My mom introduced me to Nano! Funny! But I first read about it in a newspaper on the 30th of October. I had a plot brewing up in my mind at that time. I knew that I could so something, so I started the story. My mom reads some of it every day and tells me whether my plot is going off track or is on song! It's just amazing to have so much support from my family!

I don't think my parents know that I'm doing it...they think I'm doing my homework when I'm writing.

This is how the first day of December will go:
Me: Whew, I'm tired!
Mom: Why?
Me: ...from writing my novel
Mom: What?
Me: I wrote a novel during November. Remember, I told you about it in October.
Mom: Oh, I thought you were joking.

I've showed this letter to my parents before, but either they didn't read it, or don't understand it (knowing my parents, either could be true).

Like today, I was really excited about how much I wrote last night, so I told my mom. And she said, "But quality over quantity. If you've written that much, it probably isn't that good."

This is my forth year, so you'd think they'd understand by now, wouldn't they?

I haven't told my parents I'm writing a novel. I didn't tell them last year either. I'll probably tell them eventually. Maybe in a couple of years...maybe.

My mom literally takes the computer away from me so I can't "waste my time writing." She's really started hurting my word count so I have to resort to skipping lunch at school to write, using all my study halls for writing and using long hand to get anything done. Any advice on how to deal with this?

My parents are really supporting of my writing.

I have to finish all of my homework before I can write a word.... And I still have to go to bed at the same time. I think they want to understand..... But can't.

My parents don't know I'm doing nano, but they were approving of earlier writing projects of mine, and my mom actually said the other day that I should write a fantasy series. Homework first doesn't really even exist in my family. As I don't have a history of having assignments turned in late, it doesn't matter when I get my homework done as long as I get it done on time and still am able to get to sleep at a somewhat reasonable time.

I told my parents, and they thought it was a great idea :)

of course, they had to be parents and tell me to keep up with my schoolwork (I'm a junior in high school, and I'm starting to look at colleges) but of course, November is for noveling :P schoolwork ends on October 31st and starts up again on December 1st

I'm a freshman in high school/Year 10, so work's heating up for me a little, but I can write about 1000 words an hour at minimum pace so my parents aren't too bothered. My dad reacts this way whenever I mention it: "God! Not that bloody word thing again!" :D

However, my friends are all really interested (I have awesome friends) and I did NaNo for a presentation in French so now my French teachers are asking about it as well :) Only thing is, they want to read it as soon as I'm done...and that includes my teachers...and the story's not exactly PG-13. Gulp. I'm going to have to do a lot of editing...

Kara x