Writing Hacks: The Jack Kerouac NaNoWriMo Hack

Language is a technology. It’s a particularly strange one that’s made of squiggles and sounds and maps of meaning, but like any other technology, it’s hackable. So’s writing.

You’ve heard of NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month, when folks all around the world write a novel in a month. Sound ridiculous? It is.

It’s also hackable.

The basic hack is easy: you’re not writing a novel, you’re writing a first draft. A first draft can — and probably should — be a big, ghastly, throw-everything-at-the-wall mess of inspiration, courage, drudgery, and bad grammar.

But we know that. The real hack is far sneakier.

Here’s a story you know: Jack Kerouac, father of the Beat Generation, taped together 120 feet of tracing paper cut to fit into his typewriter, and wrote the American classic On the Road over three weeks of fiery inspiration. An amazing feat for the style Kerouac dubbed “spontaneous prose.”

Except that’s not the whole story.

Here’s Sarah Stodola’s from her Mental Floss article The Fact and Fiction of On the Road:

In 1947, while still working on his first novel, The Town and the City, Kerouac decided to next write a novel about the American road. In the following years, he would traverse America several times in service of that project. The first explicit reference to On the Road came in August 1948, when Kerouac referred to the novel by name in his journal: “I have another novel in mind—‘On the Road’—which I keep thinking about: two guys hitchhiking to California in search of something they don’t really find, and losing themselves on the road, coming all the way back hopeful of something else.”

Over the next few years Kerouac would write outlines and sketches for the book, rearranging characters, swapping this story out for that one, taking trips on roads all over North America, and developing a prose style to match the spirit of the road he loved.

When Kerouac finally started the draft, he had all that preparation with him:

When he sat down in April 1951 to type the scroll manuscript, Kerouac had on the table beside the typewriter a list of reference points for himself—events, descriptions, and themes that served as writing prompts over the following weeks.

Kerouac wrote more than 120,000 words in three weeks — a heroic feat of discipline and inspiration to be sure, but one that wouldn’t have been possible without years of preparation.

Which is how you hack NaNoWriMo.

It takes work, but it’s totally doable. Buy Fast Fiction from Denise Jaden and do everything she says about preparing for November: gather characters, get clear on background and setting, choose a POV — all of it. Just do everything she says. Ten minutes a day over a couple months will do it.

Then, in November, free write the entire first draft. 2000 words a day and you’re not allowed to stop for anything.

And if you think all of this will make you work lack inspiration or energy, just think of old Jack Kerouac and his 120 foot scroll.


Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards

Join Adafruit on Mastodon

Adafruit is on Mastodon, join in! adafruit.com/mastodon

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 36,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


Maker Business — “Packaging” chips in the US

Wearables — Enclosures help fight body humidity in costumes

Electronics — Transformers: More than meets the eye!

Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Silicon Labs introduces CircuitPython support, and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

Adafruit IoT Monthly — Guardian Robot, Weather-wise Umbrella Stand, and more!

Microsoft MakeCode — MakeCode Thank You!

EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — #NewProds 7/19/23 Feat. Adafruit Matrix Portal S3 CircuitPython Powered Internet Display!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !



1 Comment

  1. Zachary Saile

    Don’t forget the Benzedrine and bop records!

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.