SOMETHING novel happened on a train to Bendigo last Thursday.
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A few aspiring writers who had never met before got together on a Southern Cross to Bendigo V/Line train as part of "write-in" for National Novel Writing Month.
Train write-ins encourage writers to complete large bits of writing while in transit and with little distractions.
Lisa Farrante, who organised the Bendigo train write-in, travelled from Geelong and met up with Kyneton resident Wendy Purcell along the way.
The pair then continued their write-in at the Old Green Bean in Bendigo before heading back on the train in the afternoon.
Ms Farrante said National Novel Writing Month had a global reach.
"People all around the world participate, it might have started in US," she said.
It was not the first time Ms Farrante had been on a train write-in as part of the month-long goal in November. "I do one every year from Melbourne to Eltham, but this is the first I've done to Bendigo," she said.
She said the month encouraged writers to try and reach targets of between about 30,000 to 50,000 words.
"The idea is that you don’t think much, you just type it up and then edit what you have into a piece," she said.
Ms Farrante, who is writing a PhD on women and the sport of roller derby, is also part of an academic writing sub-group. "A few of us are trying to write our thesis, which has an overall lower word count," she said.