#national novel writing month

[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.

[svenjaliv]

This feels like a good time to post a reminder about the NaNo-inspired spreadsheet I made, based on the old website:

It's available here for download - free if you want, any support is appreciated because it means I can keep making trackers and helps with my website costs, but I know times are tough for a lot of us. I've also put it up on Google Sheets 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 Google Drive.)

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. And there are versions for every month, so we're not confined to November!

And finally, because I always loved seeing everyone's word counts and accountability really helps me personally, I made a basic spreadsheet that you can use as a group to collectively track word counts or goals. This version's made for up to 8 people. Again you'll have to make a copy in your Drive to use it, and you'll need to give edit access to your whole group as well.

If there's interest, I'll keep making these as well for each new month. I can also expand it or add more columns/features, so feel free to let me know if you're interested and what you'd like to see!

[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.

[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)

[novella-november]

Well. I have a feeling I'm about to have a million new followers. (March 31st, 2025; not an April Fool's joke, unless Nanowrimo has very poor taste and timing)

Here's a link that explains in long video format the whole entire thing in detail:

and to sum it up:

This blog was made as an Anti-Generative AI to Nanowrimo, as well as a way to actually build a friendly, low-pressure, helpful community of aspiring writers, without the hard-fast-do-it-or-die pressure brought on by nanowrimo.

There is no official "contest" -- only a community coming together to inspire each other to write, help out with motivation by setting community goals, keeping participation motivation via Trackbear.app, etc!

The most popular writing challenge is still November for most people, but I myself have also started to keep a year-round, daily writing goal of 444 via the website 4thewords, which has been an extreme help in getting me to write a little at a time.

This year has been very hectic for everyone what with the election results so I haven't been very active on tumblr (I think everyone can understand that) but I was originally planning on also having each month of the year being a different themed writing / art challenge but got a bit distracted real life.

So, what is the Novella November Challenge?

It's a fun challenge where writers come together to write 30,000 (or your own personal writing goal!) words in 30 days, sharing tips, writing advice, plot ideas, accessibility aids, and committing to having fun while explicitly fighting back against Generative AI by using our own words and disavowing the use of scraping and generating to take away the livelyhoods of artists of all spectrums, and proving everyone who insists "generative AI is an accessibility tool" wrong by committing to our creative visions and making it easier for everyone to find the tools they need to succeed by sharing tips, free programs, and finding a like-minded community to support you! 💙

There is no official website, there is no required place to show your participation, this is a community initiative that will never be monetized by predatory sponsors or dangerous moderators abusing their power.

This blog is here to inspire everyone, regardless of experience level, to write and create the story they want to tell, in their own words, while striving to remain a fun, low-pressure challenge that doesn't turn into a stressful spiral, like often happened with Nano.

Want to start writing but not sure how? Don't have money to spend on expensive writing programs? Have no fear!

LibreOffice: An always free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Word (and Microsoft's other office suits)

4Thewords: A website (both desktop and mobile web browser) that syncs your writing cross platform to the cloud, with built-in daily word goals, streak tracking, and you can fight monsters with your word count to game-ify writing!

Trackbear: A website dedicated to tracking your writing, setting custom goals, and creating leaderboards for community participation; you can join the year-long community leaderboard with the Join Code "f043cc66-6d5d-45b2-acf1-204626a727ba" and a November-limited one will release on November 1st as well.

Want to use Text to Speech to dictate your novel?

Most modern phones have a built-in option available on your keyboard settings which can be used on any writing program on your phone, and most modern PCs that allow a microphone (including headphone) connection has some kind of native dictation function, which you can find by opening your start panel and searching your computer for "Speech to text" or "voice to text".

Want to write while on the go, but don't want to / can't use the small phone keyboard to type, or speech to text?

You can, for as cheap as $40, buy a bluetooth keyboard that you can pair with your smart phone or tablet and use to write in any and all writing applications on your phone -- this allows you to write on the goal (especially using cross-platform websites or services, like 4thewords or google docs) , and the small screen can also help minimize distractions by muting notifications in your writing time.

[growling-snow]

The nanowrimo video is literally your ex breaking up with you and giving a 27 min PowerPoint presentation about how you're the problem and the entire reason why the relationship is ending.

[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.

[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! ✍🏼 💻

[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?

[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!

[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.