It's that time of year again, lovelies, and while we have access to a Mini NaNoWriMo throughout the year, it is time for the real challenge to begin. Some of our members will be challenging themselves to write their own novels, but many of you will be taking our site challenge and giving it your all. That is great because it always seems that NaNoWriMo month is one of our most active months in a year. That being said, there is really nothing that you have to sign up to participate! See below for details.


HOW IT WORKS

From 12:01am November 1st, 2020, to 11:59pm November 30th, 2020, our NaNoWriMo competition will abound. Any in-character words that you write on Aeipathy will count toward your word goal for this year. We would like to see everyone meet their personal goals for this month, whether it's 5,000 words or 100,000 words. That said, we have three set awards for you to earn if you are looking to push yourself this month, as will be detailed below.

THE RULES

-- All words that count toward NaNoWriMo must be in character. This means in character on in canon or in AU.

-- No code inside of your posts will be counted toward your word count. All of our code is automatic, however, so this should not be an issue.

-- If you ghost-write a post, those words count toward your total word count for the month.

-- This contest is on a per-member basis, not per character. You do not need to sign up and you do not need to track your own words. However, if you wish to track your own word counts for fun, I suggest you head on over to nanowrimo.org/. They have a really wonderful and immersive means of tracking your word counts. You can set your own goals, even if it isn't for the full 50,000 words. They give badges and awards and also help you track your progress by alerting you of big milestones!

-- Please note that your word counts will be tracked in Google Docs throughout the month. At the end of the month, the in-doc word counter will be used to accumulate all of your words. If you wish to count your own words, please use this method because we will not be using any other method to do so. This is to remain fair and consistent.

TIPS AND TRICKS

We want everyone to be successful. Whether your goal is 15,000 or 50,000, we want to see you hit a goal that will make you feel great about your efforts, your plotting, and all of the stories that you will write over the span of 30 days.

-- We suggest that you don't leave all of your posting for last. Not only does this hold other people up from their goals, but it makes reaching your own word count goals more difficult. If you keep on posting regularly throughout the month, you might actually surprise yourself about how much you get done.

-- Be swift as a coursing river, everyone. If you can manage it, don't leave replies for more than two or three days at a time. If you keep up, keep consistent, and keep sending your posts back to your partners, it keeps yours and everyone else's muse high, keeps them writing toward their goals, and makes it easier to reach yours.

-- Some of you might average 400 words, and some of you might average 600 or more. We suggest that you stretch your wings as a writer. Write an extra 100 words a post, or experiment with different ways of fleshing out your writing. Try different exercises to improve your own writing strategies and increase your word counts. Just don't fall into the trap of writing too much and getting drawn away from the purpose and plot of your posts.

-- Don't overburden yourself with extra threads if you won't be able to handle all of them, especially after NaNoWriMo ends. We know that something like this is exciting, but taking too much onto your plate now will affect your writing come December and the months after. Simply pace yourself. If you're a writer that likes to keep strict thread numbers, then make it your goal to keep up on them. If you know you can handle more, take on more, plot, explore with your fellow members, come up with new storylines, funny plots, hilarious AUs, or reach out in your house chats and plotting groups for new things to write.

-- Plan ahead. You may not be able to write every single day of the month, but sometimes missing a day can set you back in your goals. If you know you might not be able to post on one day, make it your goal to split your word goal for the day between either the day before or the day after so that you can stay caught up and don't find yourself flagging behind early on.

-- Set post goals. It is more than likely that you will find yourself with many posts to reply to all at once this month. Don't panic. Just pace yourself and set a daily post goal. Perhaps you want to write four posts a day to keep up with your owed threads, and that is great! Do what you need to to keep up and keep writing. It'll all pay off in the end.

-- Don't just stop at your word goal. If you're aiming for any of the awards (15k, 30k, or 50k), then shoot for writing at least 200 to 500 words over your goal. Because everyone uses different word counters, we want to ensure that the final word count in Google Docs won't rob you of your awards. Besides, what harm could writing a little more really do?


WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU

NaNoWriMo is my favorite month of the year. I try and challenge myself every month, but I'm a competitive person and I love competing against other members. However, it isn't just about competition. If you choose to take on Aeipathy's NaNoWriMo contest, then you are also making a commitment to your plots, your partners, and you're reaching for goals you may not have in months previous. However, I'm not going to just set you free and tell you to wing it on your own. This year, I want to do something a little different.

I would like each member who is actively participating toward a word goal, any goal at all, even if it isn't part of our overall awards at the end, to send me (Urit), a DM with what their word count goal is. As I track you over the month, I will let you know how you're doing on your goals and ask if you need a little bit of help or an extra little push to get you there. I will help you reach out for new plotting opportunities, match you with the matchmaker, or facilitate discussions that might help you moving forward if you find that you need them.

If you reach your goal and you still have time left in the month, I'll even sit down with you and see if you want to increase your goal. I want this month to be as painless and as fun as possible for everyone, especially amid all of the chaos going down around us. NaNoWriMo is a challenge, but it is also a way for us to kickstart our minds, start new things, and make new connections both in canon and as community members.


THE PRIZES

The awards this year are the same as last year! In addition, you get to have bragging rights and show off your new award in all of your character accounts on the site.




THE DEADLINE

NaNoWriMo will end at 11:59pm EST on November 30th, 2020. A few days after the end of the month, I will come out with the winners and the awards for the month will be added to the next Broadcast. So just remember: pace yourself, set yourself attainable goals, keep writing, and have fun!