HOUGHTON – Colleen Hix likens novel writing to a marathon. And as with marathons, finishing is better than falling short, which is exponentially better than never having started.

“There’s that validation of having set yourself a task that’s tough, and then achieving it, and you’ve got a first draft of a novel,” she said. “How cool is that? … The idea is to encourage people to novel. It’s good for you. If it’s something you want to do you should do it, instead of sitting around thinking about it.”

And also like marathons, it’s something that’s easier to do with a crowd cheering you on. Hix is one of the many writers around the world tackling National Novel Writing Month (often shortened to NaNoWriMo). Starting midnight on Nov. 1, authors have 30 days to write a 50,000-word novel.

Formed in 1999, the annual event included more than 325,000 participants last year.

As of last week, there were 124 people signed up in the Upper Peninsula, up from 84 people last year, said Rebecca Frost, a Michigan Technological University Ph.D. student who has been NaNoWriMo’s municipal liaison in the Upper Peninsula since 2012.

The Houghton contingent holds a meet-up every Friday at Cyberia, becoming regulars enough to develop a playfully antagonistic relationship with the barista. Frost brought overflowing bowls of candy, plus Fred, a diving helmet who is the group’s NaNoWriMo mascot. People stuck for ideas on their story can open Fred up to find slips of paper with writing prompts such as “Give your MC (main character) a random baby to hold.”

In addition to hosting the weekly write-ins, Frost also throws a kick-off party and a “Thank God it’s over” party, as well as emailing weekly pep talks to the region.

Aside from her first novel, which was “Lord of the Rings” fan fiction, Hix has gravitated towards erotic thrillers. Frost, who earlier wrote “fantasy princess stuff,” has been moving toward post-apocalyptic books.

Outside of NaNoWriMo, Brett Harrison, a frequent Cyberia customer who fell into the group two years ago, mostly writes poetry. For this year’s project, he’s working on a science fiction novel.

“You’re not tied to anything except that it seems like this could happen in the future,” he said. “It’s not like historical fiction where you have to do all this research. … There’s this incredible freedom, because I can go anywhere and do anything. I can say a lot about society, because I’m creating dystopian or utopian worlds.”

Once the clock strikes midnight, writers can chase 50,000 words however they want. Frost typically goes for 4,000 words a day, which she can usually manage in an hour and a half. She writes on her iPad in the evenings. As a motivational tactic, she downloaded an app called Write or Die, which responds to lulls in typing with a spider popping up on screen or by turning the screen red with blood. Once the writer hits their target, they’re rewarded with a photo of a cute puppy in a hat.

“You don’t overthink it, you don’t think to edit it, you just get the words down,” she said.

Anyone thinking of writing a novel should join NaNoWriMo, Frost said.

“It’s a really great community online and in person, and we all encourage each other and talk about the pitfalls and the woes that we face, or like the problems that killing off characters,” he said.

“The first time I killed off a character, it was so traumatizing,” Hix replied. “I couldn’t. And these guys were so supportive. I’d come every week and they were like, ‘Did you kill her yet?'”

In addition to the big project, there are also NaNoWriMo camps in April and July, where the group can meet to talk about shorter projects, or to revise the books they wrote in November.

Of her NaNoWriMo books, Hix has finished one and is a few chapters away from finishing last year’s, a “300,000-word opus” she may eventually take to publishers. About a week into NaNoWriMo, she was 8,000 words into the third.

“It definitely helps you to get going, because the idea’s to get out a first draft, and the hardest part is to get that first draft out,” she said. “People complain, ‘Oh, how do you expect to do any quality work in a month?’ That’s not the point. A successful first draft only has to exist.”

For more information, go to nanowrimo.org.