By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer

(l to r) Alexandra Ren, 15, Laurel Douglas, 14, and Asha Seemungal, 11, participate in the Young Writers Program during National Novel Writing Month at the Teen Room of the Marlborough Public Library.
Photo/Ed Karvoski Jr.
Marlborough – Countless students have borrowed books from the Marlborough Public Library. Now, some of them can say that they wrote a novel there.
Several middle and high school students gathered weekly at the library’s Teen Room to participate in the Young Writers Program (YWP) during National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. They began writing Nov. 1 and finished by Nov 30.
The word-count goal for the adult NaNoWriMo program is strictly 50,000 words. While the YWP website suggests 30,000 words, this program is more flexible and allows participants to set individual goals. To prepare for the month-long project, participants first met Oct. 27 with Jess Bacon, teen librarian.
“We discussed different tools that they can use to keep writing,” she said. “A problem when you’re writing all throughout November is you hit a roadblock and you don’t know where to go. If that happens, you can find a new character or introduce a new conflict.”
The young writers continued meeting weekly throughout November. First, they each registered an account on the YWP website. Then they accepted word challenges and tried other writing exercises, Bacon explained.
“I had them come up with two options of what their main character could do for the next scene, and then the person next to them decided what their main character would do,” she said. “It could be as simple as ‘my main character is either going to meet the love of their life or meet their arch nemesis.’”
They were particularly interested in focusing on the word challenges within 10-minute intervals. After a one-minute signal was given for them to finish a sentence, they each announced their current word count.
“Their goal is to try to write a little bit more than they did in the last 10 minutes,” Bacon explained.
Having personally participated in NaNoWriMo for eight years, Bacon wanted to offer this fun and educational program to the teens.
“The whole point of this month is to finish the novel that’s in your head,” she said. “It’s okay if it doesn’t meet your high expectations – that’s what revisions are for. But you’ll never reach the end if you’re constantly stuck in chapter one.”
The young novelists reunited Dec. 1 to celebrate their accomplishment. Bacon expects the program will return next November.