Fallen Earth takes part in NaNoWriMo

No it looks like he's writing the novel in one month. He's already done it twice before (in 2004 and 2009).

I think you may misunderstand the difference between a first draft and a completed manuscript. Finishing off the first is a worthy accomplishment but you still have lots of tightening, rewriting, and editing cycles remaining.
A novel doesn't spring forth from the head of its creator fully grown like Athena leaping out of the head of Zeus.

The idea of Nano is to get people focused on the goal of writing an entire novel instead of endlessly re-drafting a first chapter. Why do people keep popping up to complain that it's not really "writing", or not really "a novel", or not really "in one month"? ...okay, maybe not that last one, but it's only a matter of time.

As Beau said (and one of the few times I agree with him 100% is on Nanowrimo) it's designed to encourage people to actually finish a completed first draft of a novel. That's the hardest part.

Editing can take a long time or it can take very little. It depends on the writer and how his writing style is. Some people write first drafts for discovery, while others meticulously research and plan before hand and have very little editing to do after. It's possible to finish and edit it in one month: 3k words a day will have the 50k words met in 18 days, with 12 more for editing. 3k words don't take that long to write either.

Still, even if you don't write the novel completely in a month, belting out a first draft under some serious time pressure, and with the encouragement of others is really fun. I failed to meet my goal last year but I'm looking forwards to trying again, and it's also a great way to meet other local area writers.

The important thing to remember about NaNo is that it is just a voluntary, fun event -- there are no cash awards or first places. While there are rules, they are only there to help encourage writers to go for it.

As far as writing a novel in one month, it is very possible. Whether it is good or not depends on both the reader and the writer. (After all, there are no rules here. And there shouldn't be.) If you write somewhere near 1200 (iirc) words per day, you will have 50k at the end -- with a few days left for editing/rewriting.

The great thing about NaNo is that it takes a good creative butt-kicking and wraps it in with a holiday atmosphere. People that have never written anything in their lives write during this event -- it's a great way to finish something. I think we all know someone who claims to be a writer, yet never actually finishes anything. NaNo is a good exercise for those people, as well.

Beau