If your middle schooler is doing NaNoWriMo...how many words?

[Ghee]

How high is their word count goal? DD is 10 and this is her first year doing this. I'm struggling with what I *should* be looking for.

[elegantlion]

I think it depends on how well they write. How many words can they comfortably get on a page in one day. There is also supposed to be a story formed around those words, which can add to considerations.

 

Nano is supposed to be encouraging and I would rather start the word count lower the first year, so they can achieve some success. I would have no qualms about setting a goal of 2,000-5,000 words for a young writer with not a lot of creative writing experience.

 

You can always up the count if they are way ahead, but it's more discouraging to miss it because you aimed too high.

[missmoe]

My daughter's goal her first year was 3000. She was 11 and didn't make the goal. She ended up writing about 1100.

[Ali in OR]

Last year my kids were almost 9 and 11 and they set a goal of 2000 words (it was our first year). They both hit the mid-4000's and really enjoyed writing their stories. I think they are aiming for 5000 this year, but I wouldn't go that high for the first time.

[scrapbookbuzz]

DD and I are participating this year but I thought it was the same amount across the board? Guess I'd better look more closely at that!

[higginszoo]

My eighth grader is doing One Year Adventure Novel this year, too, and her forum buddies have challenged her to the whole 50,000 ... we'll see what she does.

[Impish]

Diva's aiming for 50k, but I set her goal at 30k.

[Mimm]

My ten year old has set a goal of 400 words a day. We'll see if she makes it. My eleven year old's goal is similar (I can't remember, just a little bit more). 11 year old is better at producing words. I would say she's a better writer, but really, the 10 year old is a perfectionist and her writing is of a higher quality, but when it comes to something like NaNoWriMo, quantity is what matters (which is one reason I want the ten year old doing it... step out of her comfort zone and stop worrying about perfection). They are both super excited and this is their first year. We'll see how it goes. I suggested they outline but the 11 year old was highly resistant to the idea so I'm betting she gets blocked at some point. :)

[Word Nerd]

DD and I are participating this year but I thought it was the same amount across the board? Guess I'd better look more closely at that!

 

The adult NaNoWriMo (which kids can do if they want) has a 50K minimum for everyone. The NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program lets kids select their own word count goal.

[marbel]

The adult NaNoWriMo (which kids can do if they want) has a 50K minimum for everyone. The NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program lets kids select their own word count goal.

 

I haven't looked at it this year, but the YWP also has some suggested word counts based on age or grade level (can't remember which). You should be able to find it on their site. We used those the first year my kids did it because we had no idea what would be a realistic goal. They both made it. This will be their third year; they are excited to get started tomorrow!

[bobbeym]

DS14 set his goal for 22,500 words. I'm not at all convinced he's going to make it, but right now he's resistant to me lowering it. So I'll just keep an eye and adjust it later in the month if I need to.

 

ETA: DS agreed to drop it down to 10K words, with a daily goal of 455 words 5x a week. I think that's much more do-able!

Edited November 1, 2012 by bobbeym

[jenn-]

My 12yo has a count of 10K this year, but this is not her first year.

[catz]

My kid last year at just turned 11 did 8000. He did 5000 at 10, and 3000 at 9. My oldest is a really strong typer and writer in general. I don't know what his goal will be this year - he's considering writing a screen play, so his word count may actually be lower. But the story continuity and planning will need to be better because he wants to go on to film and edit and produce it (he's doing a video creation and editing class right now).

[Erica in OR]

We're going with the "high" grade level amounts—the site has a low/medium/high for each grade level. It's our first year doing it. My 7th grader wanted to go much higher, but I agree with others that better to go over her goal than to not meet a very ambitious one. If we follow the grade level amounts each year, in 12th grade they do the adult level 50,000 word count.

 

So, 7th grader 5,000 words, 5th grader 3,000 words. They each worked on the young writer prep book to help them think about their characters, etc. Should be interesting to see how they do.

 

Erica in OR

[higginszoo]

My 13 year old dropped down to 30K words. She had 1050 yesterday and wasn't home for big chunks of the day (she was at work from 8:30-11:30, then ran errands with me in the afternoon), so I think that that pace is pretty realistic.