Photos: Steve Marcotte / OsideNews

Oceanside CA- National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) kicked off at the Oceanside Public Library, Saturday afternoon, as local writers gathered to brainstorm, share tips and give support to fellow novelists participating in the event.
It’s the Library’s first time hosting the NaNoWriMo which started in 1999 with 21 participants and six winners. In 2012 there were 341,375 participants and 38,438 winners with the, un-official, count for 2013 at over 260,000 participants, world-wide, signed up.
To become a winner in the event, participants begin working, on November 1, towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 p.m. on November 30. Starting on November 25, writers can validate their novel to win. If the word count is over 50,000 words, they paste the text into the word-count validator. A few robotic calculations later, the aspiring novelist becomes an official NaNoWriMo winner.

Brendan Bunn, of Carlsbad, is participating in his first NaNoWriMo. ” I know the beginning and the end of my book, it’s all that stuff in the middle I have trouble with” said Bunn. Brendan hopes to get some tips from others at the event who have participated in the past.
Over 20 people participated in the event that started at 2:30 PM and lasted until the last writer left the community room for the night. Coffee, food and useful books, from the library, helped fuel the writers for the inaugural meeting .
All winners will get an official “Winner” web badge and a PDF Winner’s Certificate. Over 250 NaNoWriMo novels, developed through the event, have been traditionally published. They include Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, Hugh Howey’s Wool, Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, Jason Hough’s The Darwin Elevator, and Marissa Meyer’s Cinder.
More information about NaNoWriMo can be found on their website[here]