While not quite a book club, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a great concept that inspires people to write: a shared vision of bookhitch and our own book project. Here we chat it up with Chris Baty and learn the idea and history behind the flowering phenomenon: NaNoWriMo.

You are the founder and now director of NaNoWriMo. How did it all start?

In every group of friends, there's always one person who can be counted on to come up with an outrageously dumb idea and then spend tremendous amounts of energy convincing the saner members of the group to take part.

I'm that person. Thankfully, I have a great group of friends who all agreed that writing a novel in thirty days seemed like a reasonable way to spend a month together back in 1999. None of us had any fiction-writing experience, so we weren't really shooting for brilliant prose. I think we all just loved novels, and wanted to see what would happen if we got together every night and tried to write books of our own. It grew from 21 people that first year to 140 the next, to 5,000 the next. Last year, we had 100,000 adult NaNoWriMo participants, and 15,000 kids and teens in our Young Writers Program.

Who can participate? Do you already have to be a writer?

Absolutely anyone can participate. We especially encourage book-lovers who have never dreamed of writing their own novels to give it a shot. They're usually amazed by how unhorrible their month-long novels end up being. That said, you do need internet access if you want to "validate" your novel on our website and become an official winner.

We also have a separate Young Writers Program for 12-and-under writers and those taking part in the challenge with a K-12 classroom.

How can someone participate in NaNoWriMo? How do you win?

Basically, to participate you just create an account on www.NaNoWriMo.org. It's totally free, and when you sign up you get an author profile area that you can decorate with a photo, list of your favorite writers, etc. You can also join a region, so you can find out about local write-ins going on in your area during November.

You write your novel off-line, starting November 1. Then you have until midnight, local time, on November 30th to write 50,000 words. Throughout the month, you get pep talk emails from NaNoWriMo headquarters and famous authors (last year we had Sue Grafton, Tom Robbins, Neil Gaiman, and other writing all-stars contribute pep talks).

If you cross the 50,000-word finish line by November 30th, you upload a scrambled version of your novel to our site, where it's counted. If your book is 50,000 words or more you get listed on our winner's page, get a downloadable winner's certificate, and other goodies. No one reads the novels uploaded, and all novels are deleted immediately after being counted.

It's a very different sort of writing contest. No judges. Minimal prizes. A lot more fun.

What is the primary purpose/goal of NaNoWriMo?

To help everyone realize they have a book in them, and that the process of getting that book can be really fun when you look at it the right way. Aspiring writers tend to mistakenly believe that our own first drafts should be roughly on par with the books we buy in bookstores (forgetting the fact that every book we love has been revised several times, usually by more than one person). When our own efforts fall short of our author idols, we feel like hopeless hacks, and tend to just give up entirely.

When you write a novel in a month, you have to lower your expectations from brilliance to simple completion. Since no one could possibly write a great novel in thirty days, the fog of self-criticism we drag along with us on creative endeavors lifts. Plots and characters are allowed to take wing without being second-guessed and fretted to death by our inner editors.

Also, because the month's end is always looming, you're forced to make difficult book decisions quite quickly. You meet your characters in Week One. By Week Two, you have to figure out what you're going to do with them. Without a deadline to help keep your feet to the fire, it's easy to allow yourself the luxury of taking an entire month to try and come up with a plot worthy of your these great characters. Of course, one month of brainstorming can easily become two months of brainstorming, which can quickly become an indefinite hiatus from the book. It's easy to get so protective of your book's potential that you never actually risk sullying that promise by getting it written. Which is kind of sad if you think about it.

When you tackle the whole first draft in a month, you're forced to make these hard bookish decisions right off the bat. And you do it a little recklessly, grabbing whatever idea seems workable at the time. And you do so knowing that you can fix any wrong turns in the second draft. Again, this takes the pressure off, and makes novel writing an adventure rather than a slog.

Has anyone gotten his or her NaNoWriMo completed book published?

You bet. I think we're up to 18 sales of NaNoWriMo manuscripts to publishers now. Yesterday (3/30), we just got news from an author that her book sold to Scholastic. Last year, we had our first #1 New York Times bestseller that began as a NaNoWriMo manuscript---Sara Gruen's "Water for Elephants."

How does NaNoWriMo connect writers? What sense of community is there, whether on or off the website?

We have huge online forums where writers give plot advice, talk genre, craft, and swap caffeine-intake strategies for the month. Most cities in the English-speaking world (and many beyond) also have local NaNoWriMo groups that get together for kick-off parties, weekly open writing sessions, and Thank God It's Over Parties at the end of the month. It's a very social approach to novel writing, and people tend to come away from the event with a new manuscript and some new friends to boot.

What would you tell someone Step 1 is when beginning a book? A title, a plot, some paper?

None of the above. I would just remind them that they need to embrace the idea that they're not supposed to get everything right on the first go-round. Beautiful stories start out as miserable first drafts, which are then improved to slightly less embarrassing second drafts, which grow into possibly redeemable third drafts. Every book you've ever loved has started out as a lousy first draft. Embrace imperfection, and keep moving forward. When you write for quantity rather than quality, you end up getting both.

What happens when November ends? What should a NaNoWriMo contestant do with his or her newly written novel?

It really varies from writer to writer. Some folks dive right into revisions, with the goal of fixing it up, getting an agent, and selling the thing. Others never look at their books again; they're just happy to have spent a month exploring the outer reaches of their imaginations. I think both approaches are great.

What will be new at NaNoWriMo for November 2008?

More encouraging pep talks! And many more people. We're expecting 150,000 participants in 2008, from over 80 countries. Also, this is a great place to mention something new for us: We've launched a new contest called Script Frenzy (www.ScriptFrenzy.org). It's also totally free. For it, participants write a 100-page movie, play, or set of TV shows in the month of April. It's not too late to join in!

A Big thanks to Chris Baty for all the NaNoWriMo low-down. Good luck to all you future NaNoWriMer’s!