This November writing challenge is an alternative to the 50,000-word options. Sure, Write the Story! offers a 50K option as well, but it is also about providing a 50K alternative for November. If you want a 50K challenge that feels more like what NaNoWriMo offered, there are at least two awesome options:
50K November Challenges
- ProWritingAid's Novel November --- this site is free to register, has a participant dashboard, and includes a message board community, work count tracking, and badges.
- Reedsy Novel Sprint 2026 --- this site has plenty of bells & whistles that include a participant dashboard, a writing community, plenty of live events to help your writing journey in November, and the opportunity to win cash prizes and literary agent meetings. Also, if you hit your 50K mark, you get 3 months of premium Reedsy add-ons.
- WorldAnvil NovelEmber --- this site is an incredible writing community created for game masters, authors, TTRPG players and all world-building creatives. Like the previous two options, they stepped in to fill the gap left behind when NaNoWriMo officially disbanded. Like Write the Story! they provide options other than the traditional 50K novel idea and also encourage Rebel options where writers can create their own challenges.
Write the Story! Options
- Short Story --- commit to writing between 5,000 to 10,000 words. A 10K word count breaks down to approximately 334 words a day for the 30 days of November.
- Novelette --- commit to writing between 7,500 to 17,000 words. A 17K word count breaks down to approximately 567 words a day for the 30 days of November.
- Novella --- commit to writing between 10,000 to 40,000 words. A 40K word count breaks down to approximately 1,334 words a day for the 30 days of November.
- Novel --- commit to writing 50,000 words. A 50K word count breaks down to approximately 1,667 words a day for the 30 days of November.
- Choose Your Own Adventure --- commit to a project of your own and write the story or scene that's been whispering to you. Or create a goal for the number of days you want to show up and write over the course of November. Even 5-15 minutes a day is a worthwhile goal because as I learned from author Jon Acuff, some beats none!
The Word Count & Beyond
Whatever option you choose and wherever you choose to participate, I hope your November is filled with writing, words, and wonder. If you sign up here, this is a bare-bones endeavor this year. While I wish we could provide a dashboard and badges, this idea and its related webpages are a recent development.
Even so, we are prepared to help you track your word count through daily posts where you drop your word count in the comments and we enter those totals into a spreadsheet so we can provide you a final count on November 30. Each day, there there will be a daily post with some encouraging words and a place to share your journey as well as your daily word count. What I hope more than anything is that you will find the encouragement and motivation to help you make room each day for you and the story whose words are waiting to be released into the world.
May this November be the time you finally choose to Write the Story!