Whenever he has a second of spare time, sophomore Stephen Hanson leaves UF for Terrance County.
All he has to do is open his laptop, and suddenly he's in the halls of its community high school, walking next to Jason, who is struggling with the backlash of being publicly homosexual in a conservative town.
Plot twist: Terrance County is not real. Then again, neither is Jason.
Hanson is just one of more than 200,000 people participating in National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. Participants attempt to write 50,000 words - about the length of a novel - within 30 days. The annual month of marathon writing started Tuesday and will last until Nov. 30.
Gainesville had 181 active NaNoWriMo writers last year, many of whom were college students, said Christy Shorey, UF library assistant and co-municipal liaison for NaNoWriMo. During November, student writers voluntarily add writing a novel to their packed schedules.
"It can be tricky with time management, but it's always a good break from the heavy academic stuff to be able to escape into the story that you're writing," said Shorey, who has reached the 50,000-word mark eight times.
Hanson, a 19-year-old music composition sophomore, needs all the time he can get. He has replaced free time with writing time, he said.
"Whenever I have a second or a couple minutes between class - or even during class if the subject isn't particularly engaging - I'll whip out my laptop and just start typing," Hanson said.
In order to make the 50,000-word quota, he must average 1,667 words per day.
NaNoWriMo runs on the honor system. The sponsor organization, The Office of Letters and Light, does not verify anything but the final word count. Entries are deleted from the server after being counted, according to a press release on nanowrimo.org.
Then what's the point?
"Focusing on an actual, statistical number - like 1,700 - will yield results," Hanson said. "It sets a pace, makes it manageable and it's a little competitive."
Confident he will succeed, Hanson is determined to make sacrifices in order to meet the deadline - like writing off sleep, he said.
Last year, the organization launched NaNoUniversity as a way to support collegiate authors. Local colleges with writers include the University of North Florida, the University of Central Florida and Stetson University.
The website offers a guide with an entire section titled "Time Management, Preservation of Sanity, and Not Failing Out." It includes advice like, "Once November is over, everything else will seem easy."
"If somebody likes writing, I don't think that being a student should deter them," Shorey said.
Municipal liaisons like Shorey host events throughout the month to keep morale and word counts up. Gainesville events this year include an unplugged Veterans Day write-in where authors can disconnect from Internet distractions and a "Thank God It's Over" party in early December.
Two events will be held on campus because the location makes students more likely to attend, Shorey said.
She will partner with Library West assistant librarian Stacey Ewing to put on the fifth-annual Big Event, a night designed to motivate writers during the mid-month slump. The event will be Nov. 15 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the third floor of Library West.
Attendees will listen to a pep talk from local writer Lee Roland and chat online with guest authors Eleanor Brown and Gail Carriger. There also will be three word-war contests where participants compete to see who can write the most words in a 15-minute period.
About 90 percent of Gainesville participants write novels in the science fiction, fantasy, paranormal and urban fantasy genres, Ewing said.
She expects about 30 writers to attend the event.
Library West will host The Final Push on Nov. 30 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. It will be participants' last chance to crank out words toward their goal.
"My favorite part is being there when somebody reaches 50,000 words," Shorey said. "Everybody just kind of stops and just applauds because you know [he or she has] reached the point that everyone's striving for."
