Anybody doing NaNoWriMo 2024?

[Avery Moore]

Hi all! Was wondering is there is anybody taking part in NaNoWriMo 2024? Fully prepared for radio silence and tumbleweeds considering NaNoWriMo went and got themselves involved in about a million different controversies over the past year and everybody seems to be drifting away. Still crossing my fingers though since I'm super hyped to take part for the first time this year (I've been planning on taking part for the past 2 years running and ended up having to drop out at the last minute due to family emergencies.) But since the forums are all down, I'm really struggling to find a group of people that are still taking part, or even any accountability buddies.

 

[Diana Silver]

We could always just go back to the basics of setting a daily writing goal for a month and letting each other know when we stick to it. I've been on a writing spree these past few months so I definitely feel up for the challenge. We could just make it a threat on it on this forum if people don't like to support the official platform.

I am generally unaware of most controversy that plays itself out on the internet, so your mention of it is my first time hearing about it. What a mystifying idea... a month of the calendar getting itself involved in controversy. Could write a surrealist story about that.

 

[Ned Marcus]

Accepting AI entries makes reaching 50,000 words easier. But it seems to devalue NaNoWriMo. They've lost many people over this.

 

[Finchbearer]

I tried it last year and it gave me somewhat of an insight into what it takes to consistently write, and to write lots of words, but it didn’t give me enough to make me want to do it again. I wouldn’t have time for it either this year.

Was the controversy something to do with bullying?

*after reading some of the controversies I will say that I will not support an organisation that lets those sorts of things happen. I actually think it needs to be cancelled altogether.

 

[Ned Marcus]

I tried it last year and it gave me somewhat of an insight into what it takes to consistently write, and to write lots of words, but it didn’t give me enough to make me want to do it again. I wouldn’t have time for it either this year.

Was the controversy something to do with bullying?

*after reading some of the controversies I will say that I will not support an organisation that lets those sorts of things happen. I actually think it needs to be cancelled altogether.

The controversy was that they decided that AI-generated stories were to be included in NaNoWriMo, and when people complained, they accused them of being ableist and classist. One senior executive left; others have withdrawn their support. Since then, they've tried to walk it back a little bit.

 

[pmmg]

Well...if I can use AI, I am done with Nano already.

 

[Finchbearer]

The controversy was that they decided that AI-generated stories were to be included in NaNoWriMo, and when people complained, they accused them of being ableist and classist. One senior executive left; others have withdrawn their support. Since then, they've tried to walk it back a little bit.

I’ve read other more disturbing things.

 

[Ned Marcus]

I’ve read other more disturbing things.

What things?

 

[Mad Swede]

What things?

Specifically that documented accusations of a moderator grooming young people were not only ignored, they were deliberately covered up and the accusers thrown off the discussion groups. This was about a year ago, and the NaNoWriMo board have been trying to rebuild their reputation since then. Frankly the latest controversy risks finishing the organisation completely.

 

[Mad Swede]

The controversy was that they decided that AI-generated stories were to be included in NaNoWriMo, and when people complained, they accused them of being ableist and classist. One senior executive left; others have withdrawn their support. Since then, they've tried to walk it back a little bit.

Too little too late. And I write that as a disabled and traditonally published author with severe dyslexia. There's nothing ableist about condeming AI, and suggesting that I and other authors like me need help from AI to get published is grossly offensive. You can write without AI, it just takes a little longer. At the end of the day, it is your own personality and creativity which defines what you write and how you express it. That is what makes your work original and and interesting to others. Not the use of an AI trained on plagiarised works.

 

[Ned Marcus]

Specifically that documented accusations of a moderator grooming young people were not only ignored, they were deliberately covered up and the accusers thrown off the discussion groups. This was about a year ago, and the NaNoWriMo board have been trying to rebuild their reputation since then. Frankly the latest controversy risks finishing the organisation completely.

If true, it's really bad. Perhaps they are finished.

 

[Diana Silver]

It's just that I can muster exactly zero fucks about what people on organization commitees do and don't do... I just like writing. I say let's grassroot the concept back in our own hands if we like it.

 

[Avery Moore]

*after reading some of the controversies I will say that I will not support an organisation that lets those sorts of things happen. I actually think it needs to be cancelled altogether.

Well, NaNoWriMo as an event is something that a lot of people take part in. The organisation on the other hand, nobody supports anymore.

 

[Avery Moore]

What things?

Besides the covering up child grooming allegations and making a statement saying that "Condemning the use of AI is classist and ableist" there's also controversy surrounding the fact that they promoted and accepted sponsorships from companies like Inkitt and Manuscript Press that essentially scam authors out of the publishing rights to their novels, get the authors to actually pay for the novel's publication and essentially give them nothing in return.

There's a whole bunch of other stuff too but to list it all would take days.

 

[Avery Moore]

It's just that I can muster exactly zero fucks about what people on organization commitees do and don't do... I just like writing. I say let's grassroot the concept back in our own hands if we like it.

Exactly! We shall call it Novel Writing November and it shall be wonderful and everybody will be happy and exactly 0 children will be groomed.

 

[Incanus]

No NaNo for me.

I never really understood the idea, and it doesn't fit with my writing habits.

 

[Mad Swede]

It's just that I can muster exactly zero fucks about what people on organization commitees do and don't do... I just like writing. I say let's grassroot the concept back in our own hands if we like it.

We all love writing. That's why we're here, and that's why we get so upset when things like this happen.

And it does matter what the Executive Directors (or an organisation committee) do or don't do. If you're going to have an organisation with an ethics policy, if you're going to have an organisation which is aimed at young people, then you also have a responsibility and, for the young people, a legal obligation to ensure that the organisation is safe and ethical in it's practices. We as members of groups like that also have an obligation to raise issues when we see them - especially if people are being harmed. That applies even in a grass roots organisations. Writing, and our love of writing, doesn't take away any of these responsibilities.

 

[pmmg]

I think it should be pointed out that the accusation of something does not necessarily mean the occurrence of it. Perhaps it was looked into, was found to be nothing, and that was that. It would not be professional of them to make public false accusations, and release names and such, and to not do so may look like a cover up. So...without any special knowledge, I'd hold fire on that.

But...I don't care about NaNo anyway. Its not for me.

 

[Diana Silver]

We all love writing. That's why we're here, and that's why we get so upset when things like this happen.

And it does matter what the Executive Directors (or an organisation committee) do or don't do. If you're going to have an organisation with an ethics policy, if you're going to have an organisation which is aimed at young people, then you also have a responsibility and, for the young people, a legal obligation to ensure that the organisation is safe and ethical in it's practices. We as members of groups like that also have an obligation to raise issues when we see them - especially if people are being harmed. That applies even in a grass roots organisations. Writing, and our love of writing, doesn't take away any of these responsibilities.

I can see you feel about this very strongly and I respect you for that. At the same time, I personally have other things to spend my energy on that my caring-about may actually affect, in however small a way, so I'm going to leave this fight to others better positioned to fight it. Meanwhile, I'm going to roll with the notion that setting self-imposed daily goals in the month of November together with other writers, is not now somehow a morally charged thing to do.

 

[Diana Silver]

Exactly! We shall call it Novel Writing November and it shall be wonderful and everybody will be happy and exactly 0 children will be groomed.

Novel-writing Month that shall not be Named