Is NaNoWriMo Happening in 2026? No — Here's What Replaced It
No — there is no NaNoWriMo in 2026. The nonprofit that ran National Novel Writing Month announced on 31 March 2025 that it was shutting down. The challenge it made famous — 50,000 words of a novel between 1 and 30 November — has outlived it. Two free events run this November: ProWritingAid's Novel November and Reedsy's Novel Sprint. They differ most on where you have to write and on AI.
Below: what happened to NaNoWriMo, what the two replacements actually require (checked against their own pages on 13 October 2026), the word-count maths for November 2026, and a two-week plan so you reach 1 November with something to write.
Key takeaways
- NaNoWriMo is gone. Its interim executive director announced the closure on 31 March 2025, citing money and falling participation. Camp NaNoWriMo ended with it.
- Novel November (ProWritingAid): free, 1–30 November 2026, write in any app you like — it tracks Word, Scrivener and Google Docs. Requires a free ProWritingAid account.
- Reedsy Novel Sprint: free, 1–30 November 2026, but you must write in Reedsy Studio, with no copy-paste and no AI-generated text. Finishers can enter for $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000 prizes with a literary agent meeting.
- The maths: 1,667 words a day, or 2,381 if you write only on November 2026's 21 weekdays.
- The plan: spend the rest of October on a one-line premise, a structure and a scene list — not on reading about structure.
What happened to NaNoWriMo
Chris Baty started National Novel Writing Month in July 1999 with 21 participants in the San Francisco Bay Area. It moved to November the next year and grew into one of the largest writing events in the world: 431,626 participants in 2015, and more than 400,000 in 2022, according to the organisation's own figures as compiled on Wikipedia.
The decline was fast. Its last two years brought two crises. Its forums were closed after allegations that moderators had groomed minors, and staff were criticised for acting slowly. Then, in September 2024, it published a statement on artificial intelligence saying that "the categorical condemnation of Artificial Intelligence has classist and ableist undertones." Writers who sat on its boards resigned, and a sponsor walked away.
On 31 March 2025, interim executive director Kilby Blades announced the closure in a YouTube video, citing financial strain and a downward trend in participation. The farewell email called the reason "both simple and complex" (Literary Hub). Its events, including the spring and summer Camp NaNoWriMo, ended with it.
The November 2026 challenges, compared
| Novel November | Reedsy Novel Sprint | Run your own | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run by | ProWritingAid | Reedsy | You |
| Dates | 1–30 November 2026, local time; Preptober from 1 October | 1 November 00:00 to 30 November 23:59 EST | Whenever you choose |
| Cost | Free (free account needed) | Free (free Reedsy account) | Free |
| Where you write | Anywhere: tracks Word, Scrivener, Google Docs; manual logging too | Only in Reedsy Studio; no copy-paste from other editors | Anywhere |
| AI | Not banned. ProWritingAid says your text is never used to train its algorithms | AI-generated text means disqualification | Your call |
| Extras | Daily sprints, forums, badges, 150+ live workshops | Prizes for 50k finishers, 3 months of Studio's premium add-ons | Whatever you build |
Novel November (ProWritingAid)
The closest thing to the old NaNoWriMo. ProWritingAid's Novel November page sets the familiar target — 50,000 words in 30 days — while saying the event celebrates progress "whether that's 50 words or 50,000." It runs from midnight local time on 1 November to 23:59 on 30 November, and its Preptober warm-up has been running since 1 October.
Its strongest practical feature is that you keep your own tools. It tracks words written in Word, Scrivener, Google Docs and other apps without copying and pasting, and you can log handwritten words by hand on its dashboard. Around the writing it runs daily sprints, forums and more than 150 live workshops from published authors.
It is free, with no subscription, but you need a free ProWritingAid account. One thing some writers will want to weigh: ProWritingAid sells AI-assisted editing software, and it was among NaNoWriMo's sponsors during the 2024 row over AI. Its page says your text remains yours and is never sold, shared or used to train algorithms.
Reedsy Novel Sprint
Reedsy's Novel Sprint 2026 has the stricter rules and the bigger incentive. You write 50,000 new words in Reedsy Studio, Reedsy's free online editor, between 1 November at 00:00 EST and 30 November at 11:59pm EST. In Reedsy's words: "You can't copy/paste from another word processor, and you can't use AI to generate your book." Breaking either rule means disqualification. If you continue an existing project, you have to import it and add at least 50,000 new words.
Reach 50,000 and two things happen. You get three months of Studio's premium add-ons, and you can submit your first chapter to the contest. First place wins $5,000, second $2,500 and third $1,000, each with a 30-minute meeting with a literary agent and further prizes from Reedsy's partners. Contest entries must be in English. Writers under 18 can take part in the challenge but cannot submit to the contest or win cash prizes.
The trade-off is control. Your draft lives in Reedsy's editor for the month, so check that it exports in a format your usual tools open before you commit 50,000 words to it.
Run your own
NaNoWriMo's rules were never owned by anyone: 50,000 words, 30 days, a deadline you announce to someone. A spreadsheet with a row per day does the tracking. A friend or a writing group supplies the accountability that the forums used to. If manuscript privacy is the reason you would rather not write in someone else's editor, our guide to who can read an unpublished book in your writing app is worth ten minutes first.
The maths of 50,000 words in November 2026
November 2026 starts on a Sunday and ends on a Monday, with 21 weekdays and 9 weekend days.
| If you write… | Words per writing day |
|---|---|
| Every day (30 days) | 1,667 |
| Every day except 4 (for example US Thanksgiving weekend, 26–29 November) | 1,923 |
| 25 of the 30 days | 2,000 |
| Weekdays only (21 days) | 2,381 |
The number that matters more than any of these is the second week. Enthusiasm carries most people through the first seven days. The middle of the month is where the plot runs out of road, and that is a structure problem rather than a discipline problem. We wrote a whole piece on why novels die in the middle and how to plan around it before it happens.
A two-week plan to start ready
It is mid-October. That leaves roughly two weeks, which is enough if you spend them deciding rather than researching.
Week one: decide what the book is.
- Write the premise in one sentence: who wants what, what stands in the way, and what it costs them. If you cannot, you are not ready to outline yet.
- Pick a structure — one, this week. Three-Act is the safe default; our comparison of the major story structures shows which fits which kind of book.
- Know your protagonist's want and need, and where they will be in conflict.
Week two: decide what you will write on 1 November.
- Outline the beats with word targets. Fifty thousand words over a fifteen-beat outline is about 3,300 words a beat. Our book outline templates guide lists the beats, and where each lands, for eight structures.
- List the first ten scenes in a line each. On a bad day in week two, a one-line scene is the difference between writing and staring.
- Book the time. Put the writing sessions in your calendar now, and decide which days you will skip so a missed day is a plan rather than a failure.
Writing a genre with two arcs running at once? Outlining a romantasy shows how to keep the plot and the relationship escalating on the same spine.
What happens on 1 December
Fifty thousand words is a real achievement and a real draft. It is usually not a finished novel; most adult novels run considerably longer. The writers who get the most out of November treat 1 December as a change of job: finish the draft at a sustainable pace, then revise. Our nine stages of writing a book picks up exactly where November leaves off. If you want to compare the tools for that longer stretch, see the best writing apps for authors. Every other guide for people writing a book is in the writing hub.
Checked on 13 October 2026: ProWritingAid — Novel November and its help centre; Reedsy — Novel Sprint 2026. On NaNoWriMo's closure: Literary Hub, 1 April 2025; National Novel Writing Month on Wikipedia, citing The Guardian and The Verge (2 April 2025). Event details change; check each organiser's page before you sign up.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is NaNoWriMo happening in 2026?
No. The nonprofit behind National Novel Writing Month announced on 31 March 2025 that it was shutting down, citing financial strain and falling participation. The challenge itself — 50,000 words of a novel between 1 and 30 November — carries on through independent events, chiefly ProWritingAid's Novel November and Reedsy's Novel Sprint, both free and both running 1–30 November 2026.
When does Novel November 2026 start?
Writing runs from 00:00 local time on 1 November 2026 to 23:59 local time on 30 November, according to ProWritingAid. Its 'Preptober' warm-up began on 1 October 2026.
Is Novel November free?
Yes. ProWritingAid says participation is free and needs no subscription, but you do need a free ProWritingAid account to register and track your words.
What is the Reedsy Novel Sprint, and can I use AI?
A November challenge run by Reedsy: write 50,000 new words in Reedsy Studio, its free online editor, between 1 November and 11:59pm EST on 30 November 2026. Copy-pasting from another word processor is not allowed, and neither is using AI to generate the book; breaking either rule means disqualification. Writers who reach 50,000 words can enter their first chapter for prizes of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000, each with a 30-minute literary agent meeting.
How many words a day is 50,000 words in November?
1,667 a day if you write every day. November 2026 has 21 weekdays, so writing only on weekdays takes 2,381 a day. Taking four days off — Thanksgiving weekend in the US falls on 26–29 November — means about 1,923 a day on the days you do write.
Can I join a November challenge late?
Reedsy says you can join its Novel Sprint at any point until 11:59pm EST on 30 November, though the 50,000 words still have to be written in Studio during the challenge. Running your own challenge has no sign-up at all.
Is 50,000 words a finished novel?
Usually not. It is a solid first draft of a short novel, but most adult novels run considerably longer. Treat 1 December as the start of the next stage — finishing and revising — rather than the end.
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