J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book over several years. John Grisham spent three years writing his first book, \A Time to Kill.""
UW-Madison sophomore Zack Cuellar wrote his first novel in the span of one month.
Cuellar may not be published, but last November he and more than 2,100 other people around the world earned the right to call themselves novelists. More than 14,000 people attempted to write 50,000-word novels last November through National Novel Writing Month, also known among participants as NaNoWriMo.
The event started in 1999 as the brainchild of Chris Baty, a freelance writer living in the Bay Area. Baty described the event as ""a month-long creative kick in the pants for procrastinating writers"" and credited coffee and naivete as his inspirations.
""I think that I was just way over-caffeinated and overly ambitious,"" Baty said. ""I think that if I had been within my right mind there's no way it would have ever started because it's obviously just such a ridiculous idea.""
Baty added that the first participants were 21 of his friends who were ""also very tolerant of stupid ideas.""
NaNoWriMo has spread through word of mouth, the Web and e-mail, and this year Baty said he expects 25,000 participants.
For some people, NaNoWriMo offers a way to complete a life-long goal.
""I think a lot of people do have that idea, that 'One day, I'm going to write this novel,'"" Baty said. ""And I think that people will go to their grave with that idea.""
""Everybody says, 'Oh, I've got this novel I want to write,'"" said Stacie Arellano, a municipal liaison for Madison participants.
Arellano said writing a novel had been a childhood dream and recalled receiving as an adult a letter she had written to herself in junior high. The letter said, ""Did you finish your novel?""
""Everybody has a really vast ability for creativity and writing stories,"" Baty said. ""But the thing that's missing is giving yourself a deadline and kind of a structured way to pull it out of your brain.""
Many communities across the globe have organized parties and write-ins to help some of their local novelist hopefuls.
In Madison, approximately 12 people gathered for a kick-off party at the Great Dane, 123 E. Doty St., last year and some people met each other at coffee houses throughout November to work together, according to Arellano.
She said it helps to have people get together to feed off each other's creative energy as well as their plans to organize parties and write-ins.
Finding time to write 50,000 words over the course of a month can be challenging, Baty said, adding that the timing was often inconvenient for students with November midterms.
""I feel that sometimes the novel ended up winning out over preparing papers or studying for midterms,"" he said.
He also said that for all participants, it is best to keep expectations low and focus on the word count, not the quality.
Cuellar said he found time to write last year between classes and in the evenings. He said he liked to go to coffee houses on State Street and listen to random music on his iPod to spur his creativity. He plans to write again this year, and has recruited a few friends.
He said he did not expect to finish last year's novel, which was inspired by '40s detective movies.
""I was really surprised, having not expected to finish, even though I really have doubts that anything from that would ever be sellable,"" he said.
Cuellar said he hopes to finish another novel this year. Arellano, who participated in the past two years but did not finish, said she is confident she will complete her first novel this year.
""I want this so bad this year,"" she said. ""I'm going to do it-it's going to happen.""
For Baty, who said he has now written ""four deeply mediocre novels,"" one of the most rewarding parts of the experience has been reading forum posts at the NaNoWriMo Web site and sharing in strangers' success stories.
""Reading through all of those posts is just like that moment when you're reading into the novel, where you start to get those chills,"" Baty said. ""I remember last year at the end of the event, I was reading through people's posts talking about, 'I did it! I can't believe I did it!'
""I just sat there at the computer crying, reading these people's posts, because they were just so wonderful and emotional, like personal triumphs taking place. [It was] really awe-inspiring to read through them.""
The Madison group of participants plans to hold its kickoff party this year on Nov. 1 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Cool Beans Coffee Caf??, 1748 Eagan Rd. For more information on National Novel Writing Month, visit http://www.nanowrimo.org.
