6 Books to Inspire You During National Novel Writing Month

Afterworlds, by Scott Westerfeld
After writing her novel in an adrenalized one-month haze (NaNoWriMo isn’t name-checked, but is heavily implied), Westerfeld’s teen heroine, Darcy Patel, lands a very lucrative two-book deal. Half of Afterworlds is devoted to Darcy’s dishy new life in New York City, in which she hangs with authors (and falls in love with a fellow female debut novelist), spends too much on rent, and works on edits and the impending demands of book two. In alternating chapters, we read the slender paranormal tale that won her the deal, about a girl whose near-death experience during a terrorist attack earned her a trip to the land of the dead, and left her with strange new powers and a sexy Hindu death god love interest. Darcy’s book has a killer opening scene and a frightening mythology, but Westerfeld’s is even more fun, catnip for anyone who wants insider knowledge on author world, and inspiration for writers in search of a community of their own.

Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell
Fangirl celebrates book love from every angle: the writing, the reading, and the unabashed fangirling. Cath isn’t just Harry Potter-esque fantasy series Simon Snow’s biggest fan, she’s also one of the fandom community’s most beloved fic authors, writing a parallel story in which mage Simon Snow and his possibly evil roommate, Baz, fall in love. Her story, of coming into her own as a college freshman and writer, is interspersed with excerpts from her fanfic, and from the original Simon Snow series by the fictional Gemma T. Leslie. This book doesn’t just show the fruits of creation, it also shows the process, with Cath both writing on her own and collaborating with a classmate. SUPER BONUS: Rowell started writing her first draft during NaNoWriMo 2011—and, she says, most of what she wrote ended up making it into the finished book.

Side Effects May Vary, by Julie Murphy
The debut novel of bestselling author Julie Murphy was written during NaNoWriMo, which Murphy has called “the Ironman triathlon of writing.” It follows fantastically prickly protagonist Alice from her diagnosis with terminal cancer, which inspires her to go on a “bucket list” spree of revenge on her enemies, accompanied by Harvey, the childhood friend who loves her. But when the cancer goes into unlikely remission, Alice is left to figure out how to live the detonated life she thought was over—and to decide whether to make good on implicit promises made to Harvey.

Illuminae, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
A book doesn’t have to be any one thing, or told in a format that even exists for storytelling yet. Kaufman and Kristoff’s epic outer-space sci-fi is a propulsive, wildly fun book told through emails and instant messaging, classified documents, transcripts of interviews and recorded calls, and write-ups of security camera footage. It’s a story about love and survival and vengeance, and it’ll give your brain some totally fresh storytelling tactics to chew on.

I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
Cassandra lives in poverty in a falling-down castle in postwar England, with her kid brother, dreamy sister, artist’s muse stepmother, and author father, who struggles with writer’s block as his house falls down around him and his family half-starves. Cassandra tries to “capture” life at the castle in her notebook, teaching herself to write and recording the life-changing appearance, Bingley-style, of two handsome young bachelors to town. One of the most charming stories you’ll ever read, told in the lucid, un-self-consciously hilarious voice of a girl becoming a writer.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente
Reading Valente’s writing is like huffing pure creative oxygen. Her worlds are gardens of unearthly delights, her language and images unfold in mind-bending ways, and tripping with a little earth girl named September through a hallucinogenic Fairyland will make your head float away and your fingers itch to start typing your own novel. (You may also start leaving your window open for the Green Wind, in hopes of hitching a ride to the Perverse and Perilous Sea that borders Fairyland.)