#national novel

[eric-bogosian]

Re-sharing this post I found on Twitter for people looking for alternatives to NaNo. I haven't tried any of these sites but they might be worth looking into.

[jesncin]

Happy National Coming Out Day! It's been about half a year since our middle grade graphic novel, Lunar Boy, released! Today we want to reflect on the concept of Coming Out, and how it's fictionalized in media.

Check out Lunar Boy wherever american graphic novels are sold, or check it out at a library! All the support means a lot with getting stories like this out there.

[queerautism]

It feels kinda wild I've seen no one mention the huge controversy NaNoWriMo was in about 7 months ago (Link to a reddit write up, there's also a this google doc on it) in this whole recent AI discourse. The main concerns people had were related to the 'young writers' forum, a moderator being an alledged predator, and general moderation practices being horrible and not taking things like potential grooming seriously.

About 5 months ago, after all of that went down, MLs or 'Municipal Liaisons', their local volunteers organisers for different regions of the world, were offered a horrible new agreement that basically tried to shut them up about the issues they'd been speaking up about. Some of these issues included racism and ableism that the organisation offered zero support with.

When there was pushback and MLs kept sharing what was going on, NaNoWriMo removed ALL OF THEM as MLs and sent in a new, even more strict agreement that they would have to sign to be allowed back in their volunteer position.

This agreement included ways of trying to restrict their speech even further, from not being able to share 'official communications' to basically not being allowed to be in discord servers to talk to other MLs in places not controlled by NaNoWriMo. You also had to give lots of personal information and submit to a criminal background check, despite still explicitly leaving their local regions without support and making it very clear everyone was attending the OFFICIAL in person events 'at their own risk'.

Many MLs refused to sign and return. Many others didn't even know this was happening, because they did not get any of the emails sent for some reason. NaNoWriMo basically ignored all their concerns and pushed forward with this.

Many local regions don't exist anymore. I don't know who they have organising the rest of them, but it's likely spineless people that just fell in line, people who just care about the power, or new people who don't understand what's going on with this organisation yet. Either way, this year is absolutely going to be a mess.

Many of the great former MLs just went on to organise their writing communities outside of the official organisation. NaNoWriMo does not own the concept of writing a novel in a month.

R/nanowrimo is an independent subreddit that has been very critical of the organisation since this all happened, and people openly recommend alternatives for word tracking, community, etc there, so I highly recommend checking it out.

I've seen Trackbear recommended a lot for an alternative to the word tracking / challenge, and will probably be using it myself this November.

Anyway, just wanted to share because a lot of people haven't heard about this, and I think it makes it extremely clear that the arguments about "classism and ableism" @nanowrimo is using right now in defense of AI are not vaguely misguided, but just clear bullshit. They've never given a single shit about any of that stuff.

[sylviii]

this suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. fuck nanowrimo. if you're doing NaNoWriMo this year, let them know how much this sucks and don't give them any of your money.

generative AI is not a classism issue it is not an ableism issue tHE WHOLE GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS THAT YOU ARE WRITING AND NOT AN ALGORITHM.

[svenjaliv]

I usually make spreadsheets for NaNoWriMo every year, but after all the *waves hand at the scandals and assorted nonsense* that, I'm not doing NaNo myself anymore. So I made a new spreadsheet, inspired by the old website to still get the NaNo feeling without using the site.

For anyone who wants to use it, it's available here for download. I've also put it up on Google Docs here, but it looks a little different because the fancier chart effects aren't supported. You'll have to download it or make a copy to be able to use it. (Please don't ask me for edit access, that won't work. File > Make a copy, and you'll have it on your own GDrive.)

I also made this in four other designs, available here. They all come with character and plot development sheets, and pages for novel info, chapters, timeline, etc. There are also versions for other months because really, there's no need to be confined to November, right?

And I've also updated my NaNo spreadsheets for anyone who wants to use those!

[keepcalmandwritefiction]

If you need motivation to hit your NaNoWriMo word count, then I want you to write as if these guys will finish your story for you if you don’t write it fast enough. (x)

[throughtrialbyfire]

NoSkipNovember

in light of the NaNoWriMo… trash fire, i decided i'd make my own event for myself. and if you want to participate, feel free! i know i'm making this post late as it's already november 1st here, but it happens AHAH. this is just a personal challenge i thought up yesterday evening, and it may help some other people!

Rules of NoSkipNovember

write every day of november, whether 1 word or 10,000.

that's it.

the point of NoSkipNovember is to build the habit of writing, even things that are small. it's to get you to sit down and, in whatever medium you write, to get in the habit of continuing to write.

what can you write?

anything! poetry, songs, outlines, plotting documents, books, short stories, as long as it's creative writing in some form, you are doing it right.

can i set a word goal?

yes!! if you want to set a daily word goal or the usual month goal, go for it! mine is the traditional 50k words, but you could set it for 500 or 500,000 or whatever you want. just be sure to take your time, and take breaks to stretch and move around.

does it have to be original fiction?

not at all, fanfiction is what i'm going to be focusing on, so if you wanna write that, you should!

i have another question

feel free to leave it in the replies or my inbox! i'm always happy to help. this is a very spur-of-the-moment, loose challenge, so feel free to make your own personal rules or stipulations. as long as you are having fun, getting some writing done, and feel accomplished, that's what matters.

that's it. have fun, hope you have a lovely NoSkipNovember!

[altamont498]

Reblogs to improve sample sizes would be greatly appreciated.

[kjscottwrites]

Okay, so as a counterpoint to this survey >>>

[riviewrites]

Are you serious, nanowrimo?

"You're"?? 🤨

[copperbadge]

I'm updating my National Clean Your Home Month manifesto, in advance of publicizing it for November, and was adding a note about the last two years of malfeasance by the official NaNoWriMo organization when it occurred to me that I have no idea why people use the official website.

It's not that I thought anyone shouldn't, it's that I genuinely don't know why people do. It presumably provides meaningful benefit but I am unaware what it is because I never used it myself when I did NaNo (I wasn't aware it existed for the first year or two I participated).

And it occurred to me that whatever it was could perhaps be grassrooted somehow instead, in less harmful ways -- like, resources on how to write, that's just a links list; word counters are easy to source and most word processors have them built in; progress meters aren't impossible to find; writing groups can be formed or already exist in your community if you know how to find them (admittedly some are very hostile to NaNo folks and homegrown meets were part of the problem when mods/organizers weren't vetted for kid based groups). Was/is it the message boards? Were there other benefits I'm not aware of?

I'd love to hear in notes/reblogs (please do not send asks) why people use the site and what they wish they could have in a NaNo type structure. I'm not fixed to rebuild it myself -- I have the skills but that's a full time unpaid job I don't want. I'm just considering that a resource document or similar may not be super difficult to assemble, which would maybe ease people who want to bail on the official org into a more homebrewed version. But I don't know if that's what people need or what it would contain.

What did you get from the official NaNoWriMo website? What didn't you get that you want?

[jesncin]

Happy Eid Mubarak from Lunar Boy and Astronaut Mom! I've always wanted to draw an illustration for Eid, so I'm glad I got to finish one on time for the year of Lunar Boy!! The Lunar Boy family showcases various Indonesian food and traditions during Idul Fitri. Peace and happiness to my Muslim friends~

[writingchallengesnetwork]

In light of the egregious actions carried out by the National Novel Writing Month organization, there has been a wide variety of different challenges created in order to keep the communal aspect of the challenge alive while distancing themselves from the official organization. This blog, at its most basic, is designed to be a hub in which various writing challenges are advertised so that the communal aspects of the writing community can continue in November and beyond. The spirit of Nanowrimo has long since expanded beyond the original group that began the challenge, and writers can (and should!) create their own spins on the idea.

With all of this in mind, I am proud to introduce the Writing Challenges Network!

However, this is not all that this could be. As it is the early days, I have set up a new discord, this tumblr, and a twitter page in the hopes of connecting writers to challenges throughout the year.

The writing community, as a whole, is welcoming and always wanting to lift each other up in reaching their goals. This network will hopefully be an avenue to provide those values to others and provide a place of connection. I would love anyone interested in fostering these values and are willing to brainstorm to please reach out! This is for the community, and thus should be shaped by and for all members of it.

I personally will be hosting quarterly writing challenges via another blog so that there are more challenges than just in November! If you are interested in the seasonal/quarterly challenge, the current @gothnowrimo will be happening in October and will have prompts, themes, and other fun posts to help get in the spooky writing spirit. The next one will be in February!

If you would like to submit a challenge or would like to connect, you can send an ask or connect to me in the discord community.

[wordscount]

This was in my head and I had to make it.

[phantomkinoc13]

WRITE NOVEMBER!

Because nanowrimo decided to allow AI bullshit this year, we’re saying fuck ‘em, and doing our own november writing prompts!

November is still national (novel) writing month, but we say NO AI IN ART OR WRITING!! Join us saying No to ai in writing with No-AI-November, and do WRITE NOVEMBER this year, instead!

HOW IT WORKS: You can write as you normally would, set word count goals, work on your novel, your fanfics, or just writing scenes you want to write throughout November. You can optionally choose from the list of weekly themes, or daily prompts as you’d like, for inspiration.

REBLOG THIS POST, & USE THE TAGS: ‘write November’ ‘novel November’ or ‘no-ai-November’ as well as any other writing tags you feel appropriate.

Feel free to use either of the images above, when posting writing. Use this post or make your own to post your writing goals, and any work you want to share!

Let’s Write! ✍🏼 💻