November 1st marked the beginning of the crazy month that is National Novel Writing Month. More commonly known as NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month challenges participants to write a 175 page (50,000 word) novel by midnight, November 30.

As the NaNoWriMo site explains, NaNoWriMo is a program for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel, but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the only thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s about quantity, not quality. The month of writing boasts a vibrant, tight-knit community run by local volunteers, with regular get-togethers, an end-of-month celebration and a printable certificate for those who have reached their goal.

NaNoWriMo, though certainly the most celebrated, isn’t the only challenge of its kind. There are others even more extreme in existence, such as the 3-Day Novel Contest. The 3-Day Novel Contest challenges participants to write a short novel (about 100 pages) over Labour Day weekend. The contest begins at 12:01 on the Saturday of Labour Day weekend and stops by 11:59 pm on the Monday. Unlike NaNoWriMo, participating in the 3-Day Novel Contest requires a $50 deposit, but also contains the possibility of winning prizes at the contest’s end. Participants can mail in their completed novel for a chance to win monetary prizes or the grand prize: publication by Arsenal Pulp Press.

A variety of similar challenges have sprung up, including So You Think You Can Write? (a harlequin novel writing contest), National Graphic Novel Writing Month, and Script Frenzy (a screenplay-in-a-month contest).

Of course, as with everything that is very popular, NaNoWriMo is also somewhat controversial. When NaNoWriMo first began, there were many that argued that whatever is written under extreme pressure within one month would inevitably be crap. Perhaps this is so, but NaNoWriMo embraces this. As the NaNo website states “Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing.”

Of course, there are people of the camp that believe that art isn’t tomfoolery. A masterpiece surely can’t be written as verbal diarrhea on a page. And competitions like NaNoWriMo somehow seem to cheapen the act of writing. Whereas writers have always faced the stereotype of a thumb-twirling, window-gazing occupation spent at home behind  a computer at 3am with a cup of java (it’s not neurosurgery, after all), competitions such as NaNoWriMo make writing seem even more playful, even less serious, even less hard (when really, it is!).

This is a valid, though somewhat jealous and self-centered take on “quantity not quality” competitions. Competitions like NaNoWriMo are making writing fun, which is a good thing, especially in a society where illiteracy is of increasing alarm. Furthermore, it’s true that a masterpiece can’t be written diarrhea on a page, but a masterpiece can often begin from written diarrhea on a page. Even the greatest works of literature have begun as half-formed incoherent thoughts. These are worlds that are yet unborn until one gives birth to them. And as with most births, writing a novel can often a messy, frightening one (Yes, I did just try to create a gory birthing visual in your mind).

These days, it’s easy to get scared as a writer because the market is getting smaller and more competitive at the same time. Books are out of vogue, creative writing schools are on the upswing and, added to all that, you’ve got NaNoWriMo, 3Day Book contests, and so on and so forth. What is this madness?! But the market is changing and we have to keep adapting.

What do you think of NaNoWriMo? Will you be NaNo-ing this year? If you’ve already started, how’s it going? Share your thoughts!