Camp NaNoWriMo- April and July

Camp NaNoWriMo is basically the summer version of the usual NaNoWriMo that takes place in November. This year, it's taking place in April and July. I'm already trying to think of what I'm going to do (mainly as far as a plot goes and figuring out the details) for April. I'm determined to do it this year, even though I might do it unofficially if they don't improve things on the site (which, it doesn't sound like they will) with the way you interact with other participants.

So I want to know:

-Who else is participating, either officially or unofficially (i.e. if you're going to be a rebel and continue a story)
-What you're thinking of writing
-If you're going to do one or both months
-If you've started figuring out what you're going to do.

Right now I'm definitely going to do April. Whether or not I participate officially or unofficially has yet to be determined. I MIGHT be a rebel and use my NaNo 2011 for it, depending on whether or not I can figure out how to fix the plot up by a lot and how to end it.

If I DON'T do that...I don't know what I'm going to write yet. >.> It mostly depends on what I figure out between now and April.

Both months depends on how April goes.

I'm starting to figure things out but I don't have a plot or much of anything yet.

 

So a new feature this year that I'm really liking is that they're letting us having flexible word count goals. So we can shoot for, say, 25k (and 10k at the lowest) but if during the month of April (or July) we reach 25k and want to keep going, we can bump it back up. I really, reaaally love that, because I know the chances of me getting to 50k aren't super high but something like 25k if I find the write plot is more doable....hopefully.

 

Well, the "cabins" are basically mini message boards where you only get to interact with the people who you either choose (assuming the generator or whatever that they use actually puts you in with all of the people you list that you want to be with) or who have things in common with you (or a mix of both but there are only like seven spots total for specific people for you to list and only a certain amount they allow per cabin). Unfortunately the only people you get to interact with in your cabin are your cabin mates that you choose/get put in there with you. Any other interaction is done on the NaNo forums.

The other unfortunate thing is that once they select people to put in your cabin with you, that's it. You don't get to choose anyone else. So if half the people barely even post anything (which I think happened to me the first year they opened Camp, like two years ago?) then you get screwed out of having anyone to actively interact with. The other thing I remember is that it's easy to miss that people post messages because of the way they have it set up.

The idea of the cabins is nice in theory but it kind of sucks in practice, and unfortunately it doesn't sound like they'll change it. They don't have the funds to do a whole separate message board from the NaNo boards and don't think they should have a separate one when they can just make a section for it on the NaNo boards for people to use.

 

I'm really annoyed because today is the day they did cabin selections and I didn't have any info about my story up because I don't know what I'm writing. I only had one person I wanted to be in a cabin with, which I did end up with them, but I think everyone else in my cabin isn't in my genre, and I think that's because I didn't have any novel info up, outside of the genre it's in. There's an "opt out" option but I'm afraid if I were to select that I wouldn't have a way to get back into a cabin at all.

So basically the lesson I learned is to make sure I have my cabin settings the way I want them before they start sorting people into cabins...though I can't remember if you get to change who you're with once April ends because of the Camp in July or not. :|

 

Yeah, I think they do it every 24 hours or something. If you go to your cabin, you can check and see who else got sorted into it. Maybe you'll end up with other people you want to be with, like at least people in the same genre as you. I don't remember the settings I had but I I'm 99% certain that I had it set the way I wanted. And so far I'm the only one who's said anything in my cabin.

 

Awesome! Welcome to Camp NaNo then. ^_^

 

Holy crap, I JUST realized that there's a week left because you said as much. Aaaaaah! Ooh, but the good thing is that the 31st is a Sunday and I always have Mondays off (and I shouldn't have to work on that Sunday anyway) so I'll be able to stay up late the 31st to start writing.

 

How's everyone's NaNo coming? I basically as of 1 AM last night/this morning decided to rebel and just write scenes that might not have anything to do with each other so that I can try and just get myself back into writing more (or rather, writing that doesn't involve RP posts). I posted the very first scene I wrote last night in the showcase section just now. I think I'm going to work on expanding more/developing the characters of that scene.

Initially my goal was 25k but I dropped it down to 15k...which I'm not anywhere close to reaching at the moment, but meh. It's only almost day three.

 

The official months, I believe, are April and July, so it's already started (though if you feel like you can catch up, you can easily still participate, especially if you have a lower word goal). You can do it in June but it won't be "official." Heck, you can do it any time in the year, it just won't be an official NaNo event. So yeah, you can easily start in June and do your own thing.