The Best NaNoWriMo Alternatives for 2025: Write a Novel in a Month Without NaNo

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) was a much-beloved writing challenge that operated for over 20 years until early 2025, when it shut down citing financial difficulties. NaNoWriMo challenged writers to write a novel (50,000 words) in one month every November. At its height, over 500,000 people participated. Its shutdown leaves a massive hole in the writing calendar. If you’re looking for a NaNoWriMo alternative for 2025, we’ve gathered the best hosted and DIY options to keep this wonderful November writing tradition alive.

NaNoWriMo brought together two incredibly powerful forces to help millions of people realize their dream of writing a novel. Those forces were the forces of accountability and habit. Accountability because you were writing as part of a community of people. Many people publicly committed to their goals, posted progress in forums and on their social media accounts, and even met up at in-person meetups during the challenge. The feeling of mutual support you got from participating in NaNo was incredible, and I’ve never felt similar elsewhere.

NaNoWriMo also helped build the habit of writing. Having to write 50,000 words in November is a challenge. That’s about 1,667 words per day. That encouraged writers to show up every day, and when you do this for 30 days in a row, it is incredibly powerful. Although 50,000 words isn’t quite a novel—it’s more in novella territory—it is a powerful start. Writing the 80,000–100,000 words of an average novel feels unattainable for many people, but when you manage 50,000 words in one month, together with a community of people, the unattainable suddenly seems more attainable.

The powerful combination of structure and community provided by NaNo was why it was beloved by so many. It was the reason that we at ProWritingAid sponsored NaNoWriMo for so long along with other big names, like Amazon and Scrivener. And because it fit so well with our mission to empower writers to share their stories with the world. I was hugely sad to see the trail of missteps that led to NaNo’s downfall.

Now that NaNo is gone, how can we keep the good bits of NaNo alive?

Best Hosted Writing Challenges Like NaNoWriMo

NaNo was such a fantastic idea that many people will be looking for writing challenges like NaNoWriMo in November 2025, myself included. So what options do people have if they want an option that combines community and habit formation?

Novel November (NovNov)

Several of the former sponsors of NaNoWriMo and other companies and influencers in the writing community have combined their efforts to create a similar challenge to NaNo for writers looking to participate in 2025. This challenge follows the same format as NaNoWriMo, where participants write 50,000 words in November.

Writers can log their achievements on their project dashboard and earn badges along the way. You have the option of joining one or more of our four hour-long free virtual cowriting sessions each day during November, where you can write together with other participants. These are fantastic for accountability and have a wonderful atmosphere.

There will also be 150+ free expert sessions with bestselling authors, book coaches, and editors, including Madeline Miller, Rufi Thorpe, and Tomi Adeyemi. Participants can learn more about how to write a great book and how to get it published afterward.

This challenge is run by ProWritingAid in collaboration with industry leaders such as Scrivener, ElevenReader, Lulu, Kickstarter, and Wattpad—companies trusted by millions of writers worldwide.

You can sign up for the Novel November challenge here.

StoryADay Challenge

The StoryADay challenge is a bit of a different NaNoWriMo alternative. Instead of writing a novel in November, you write and finish a short story every day during May and/or September. This is a fantastic opportunity to get your creative muscles flexing. Even if you want to write a novel, writing short stories is a fantastic way to explore the characters and ideas in your novel. Writing so many short stories in such a condensed space of time will supercharge your creativity, and if your goal is to write a novel, you should have a wealth of source material and ideas by the end of one of these challenges. StoryADay provides optional prompts to help you along the way.

You can find more details here.

The 60-Day Novel Challenge

The 60-Day Novel Challenge is hosted by Dabble. The challenge spans two months: writers spend October outlining and planning, then November writing, with the goal of reaching 50,000 words by the end of the challenge.

Participants gain access to weekly workshops, daily writing sprints, and a library of resources on story structure and character development. The challenge is free to join, though some resources are tied to Dabble’s subscription platform.

You can learn more about the challenge here.

The Rough Draft Challenge

Created by author and coach Sarra Cannon, the Rough Draft Challenge focuses on helping writers make consistent progress with their writing. Unlike NaNoWriMo’s fixed word count goal, participants set their own targets for the month, whether finishing a first draft, revising an older manuscript, or outlining a new project.

The challenge runs at different points throughout the year and centers around Sarra Cannon’s community, where writers can connect through YouTube live sessions. It’s a flexible and supportive environment for those who prefer to work at their own pace rather than follow strict deadlines.

You can learn more about the challenge on Sarra Cannon’s YouTube channel.

Rogue’s Amazing Word Rush (RAWR)

RAWR is a free writing challenge hosted by the Rogue Writers community. It runs during October and November with the aim of writing 25k, 50k, 75k, or 100k+ words in 30, 31, or 61 days. There’s also the option to pick a custom word count or time-based goal.

Participants can earn badges as they hit milestones and are encouraged to track their progress alongside other writers using an external tool called TrackBear (more on this app below). It’s a lighthearted, community-driven event for writers who enjoy a mix of flexibility and fun without the pressure of formal structure.

You can learn more about the challenge here.

DIY Tools to Replicate the NaNoWriMo Experience

For people who just want to build a habit of writing this November and aren’t so worried about the community aspect, there are a number of DIY alternatives.

MyWriteClub

This is a word tracker that allows you to set goals and invite your friends to encourage you. With this word tracker, you could create a DIY alternative version of NaNoWriMo and still get some of the accountability benefits by sharing your progress with your friends.

Sign up here.

TrackBear

TrackBear was created by a developer whose partner took part in NaNoWriMo. She struggled to keep track of her progress editing her novel. So TrackBear is designed to allow you to track both editing and writing. TrackBear also allows you to work with friends through community leaderboards. This means that if you have a community of writers, such as your writing group, who want to do a November writing challenge with you, then you can set up a challenge and invite them. This allows you to create a DIY version of NaNoWriMo.

You can sign up here.

4TheWords

4TheWords bills itself as a gym for writers, designed to help you put words on the blank page. It’s a heavily gamified environment that allows you to do things like defeat monsters by writing. It claims that its writers write 5 million words every day.

You can sign up here.

Final Thoughts

The downfall of NaNoWriMo was heartbreaking. But the idea of NaNoWriMo was incredibly inspiring. Over the years, NaNoWriMo has helped so many writers find their community and realize their dream of writing a novel, even if they didn’t always complete it within the month. NaNo’s disappearance has left a huge hole in the writing calendar and a massive community of writers without a home. At ProWritingAid, we decided to collaborate with other companies and individuals in the writing space to provide a home for those writers. Whether you choose to join our Novel November challenge or another November book writing challenge, I wish you the best of luck. The world needs more stories. The world needs your story.

FAQ: NaNoWriMo Alternatives 2025

Q: Why did NaNoWriMo shut down in 2025?

NaNoWriMo was a nonprofit organization. It ended operations in early 2025 due to financial challenges following issues with safeguarding and some other bad publicity.

Q: What are some alternatives to NaNoWriMo in 2025?

The best options include ProWritingAid’s Novel November, NoQu, StoryADay, and tools like MyWriteClub, TrackBear, and 4TheWords.

Q: What is Novel November?

Novel November is a community writing challenge in November where participants target writing 50,000 words. It includes virtual cowriting sessions and expert talks hosted by ProWritingAid and partners.