The thing I find interesting about it, Jude, is that professional novelists write as fast as NaNoWrimers--at least on the first draft. The ones I know usually write about 2500 words per day, five days a week, and the rate for NaNoWriMo is 1667 words per day, 7 days a week. Both come out to 50,000 words per month.
BTW, if anyone is thinking of planning out their novel (whether fic or original material) before November, there's an interesting series of articles on structuring a novel at
Story Fix .
