Mod edit - I broke these posts out of the Happiness thread Nanowrimo has essentially died with the organisation shutting down, so there was discussion about whether we should do something similar here.If there’s a demand for it we could easily have our own write a novel in a month challenge… I’m not going to commit to anything til we’ve had a chance to discuss it in the staff room but it would be good to know if its something people would like to see Basic concept would be a challenge yearly or whatever to write a novel in a month and use a dedicated board to track your progress through individual threads much as we usually do with nano. Rules would be light touch to allow for individual freedom but bearing in mind what lead to the issues at Nano we'd say it has to be your own work not AI derived text.
I think it could be really nice for people looking for an alternative to NaNo. Because I know some are more motivated when writing in a group. I think also, given the some of the issues with NaNo's management and treatment of serious legal issues, creating another name for the challenge might be handy. The Ideas: I think perhaps what would be the easiest is to convert the NaNoWriMo Forum segment on this website into 'Monthly Novel Writing Challenge'. In my mind, there would be two ways this would work. Either or both. 1. The Monthly Novel Writing Challenge would function like the 'Writing Contests' where each month, there is a genre and a theme to get writers started. This could be really fun for people who want to branch out into different genres. If you complete the novel- based on an honor system/word count screenshot- you get a badge/banner. (I know they are in short supply though. So, reward details are up to the mods.) I would also suggest that each month, the writers who win get to post their first chapter in the Monthly Novel Writing Showcase- which is separate from the Workshop and functions like the 'Writer's Showcase'. 2. The Monthly Writing Challenge is self-directed with the genre/theme up to the writer. One gets a badge/reward for finishing and gets to post the first chapter on the MNWS. 3. You have a continual 'self-directed' event that resets every month along with a 'Genre/theme version'. So, both! Issues with the ideas above: 1. Having a monthly novel writing challenge might take away from the monthly short-story events, etc. - Solution: Having it be quarterly. every 3 months. That way, people can participate and still do the short-story/poetry contests. 2. It would take more mod power - If this is something that seems interesting, I am sure there is a away to make it work. I would be happy to run this as well as the Roleplay Forum. I also know there may be another person or two out there who might enjoy doing this as well. 3. The Reward/Banner system is overloaded already - This is a reasonable issue to bring to the table. I think perhaps there would be an easier reward to give out- but I have not thought of it yet. But also, bragging rights are a thing! The Positive Possible Outcomes: 1. Getting more members for this forum - With NaNo shutting down, I have seen a LOT of writers feeling homeless. So, a lot of alternatives for the 50K are being suggested. I think we could grow the forum a lot and maybe become a new home for a lot of lost writers. 2. Getting people to finally write that novel - This is the key reason why I am sad about NaNo's closing. Because to me, it was a way to get people to just express themselves. Creativity is so important to everyone. 3. Creating a more community - We have a wonderful community here. I love it. And having more people on the forum would help boost the workshop attention, contest entry and votes. I think those from NaNo would add to community. 4. Letting Writers Explore New Genres - If we went with the 'Monthly Themes' Challenge, I am curious how many writers would dare to branch into new genres. I think it could be very interesting and new for all involved. Most importantly, grow us all as writers. End of Pitch. Thanks for reading.
If we do it , it’ll be under the same rules as the rest of the site, so no AI content would be a given
Drinking a birthday scotch tonight. Just kidding - actually, i went for a 4-mile birthday run on the tred. Sad but true, I know. Hope everyone is having a great spring so far! Td-
One of the best things about it was the word count feature. I haven't done NaNoWriMo for a few years, and I can't quite recall if you entered the WIP into the tabulator daily for them to track your progress, or if it was on the honor system. I'm pretty sure you had to submit whatever you had on November 30th for word count verification, to see if you "won" or not. Wish I were clearer about that. But I liked the challenge and accountability of it, like the tallies my online step counter keeps for me. Over 10,000 per day, every day since New Years'!
It was a daily tracker. I don't know how plausible it would be to make here. But wow!! Congrats on 10K a day. How do you manage? And any tips? My current regular is 2-3k.
there’s probably no need to reinvent the wheel every word processor has a word count and people can post their count in posts easily enough there’s also things like track bear for those that want it
Now its own thread as requested - on thing i would say is if we do it it'll be once ot twice per year not every month as @Gravy suggested above, if you do it all the time it's not special any more
Thank you so much for making this, Moose! I agree. On reflection, I think Quarterly is the maximum amount per-year. I think once or twice would also work well. Then, it's a matter of deciding the month. Personally, Nov and Dec are too busy with the holidays. I would do January for one of the events. Maybe October, because it's spooky here in the US and cozy?
@big soft moose have the mods had time to discuss this idea? I still like it and I am not sure how you are gauging feedback on the topic. Please let me know. Thanks.
