OCSA creative writers started NaNoWriMo on November 1st in honor of the national novel writing month. This has been a continuous tradition for student artists at OCSA. They are required to choose a project to work on during the entire month, attempting to reach their word goal. Each grade has a different word goal, 6th graders having 10,000 words as their goal and 11th graders having 35,000 words.
Each year students must decide a plot and plan accordingly. Some challenges students often face include the infamous writers block, plot holes, and time management miscalculations. This assignment is designed to teach young writers the importance of consistent writing while also giving them a sample of what the real world looks like for real professional writers.
During this month all writers must reach their word goals by November 30th 11:59pm when the challenge is over. “Although it is a challenge, I feel it has helped me become better with my time management and story planning,” Evelyn Tippett, junior creative writer expresses in an interview. Since this month has a thanksgiving break, a vocational week where students take time off; students must decide whether or not they will be writing during this break. They are given the choice of writing fewer words a day but having to write during the break, or write more words but not have to write during the break. Often students will also choose to only write during weekdays or schedule writing sessions around their busy high school schedules. This exercise enables writers to manage their time and realistically see how professional writers fit writing into their schedules. During this month, their writing is focused more on the quantity over the quality of the work, since it is meant to just get the artists to write.
Grades for students during this month depend on weekly check ins and are paired with a final grade depending on if they reached their word goal. OCSA creative writers have to write write write. Good luck to all students participating in this challenge!
