NaNoWriMo 2024 - Thoughts?

[A. E. Lowan]

I know I won't be participating this year. I've got family stuff as well as book stuff stealing my time. But yes, I'm also concerned about the Ai issue. I don't want to run the threads if we're not all racking up the word counts without using our own brain sweat. Or I may simply intrinsically not get this.

 

[Finchbearer]

Correct me if I’m wrong but you don’t submit your work like in a competition to nano wrimo, so who would know if you have used AI or not? I can see it would easier to make that word count goal by using AI significantly, but given that it’s self motivated, the question arises of ‘does it really matter’?

I’m more put off by the child grooming.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I'm not participating in NaNo this year, since it doesn't fit my project. I've got 20k words of editing left in my WiP, so that's the plan for November for me.

Having said that, there have always been two approaches to NaNo. The first is to write a novel, and try to get to 50k words at a minimum. The other is to get to 50k words at a minimum and try to write a novel.

They're two very different things. In one, you aim for quality first (as far as possible in a first draft). The other is simply about getting words down on the page. And it doesn't matter what those words are or in which order they are. Plenty of people on the NaNo forum (the few times I visited), advocate for including warm-up excercises or stream of conciousness gibberish into your NaNo project simply because they're words and having them helps you get to 50k.

The use of AI then is just the logical conclusion of that. It's not my thing, but it's a way to get words. It feels pointless to me, but each to their own I guess. After all, plenty of people want to have written a novel, and that's the way for them to do it. It won't be great, but it might be finished...

 

[Rexenm]

I go for the theory that short stories are preeminent to long ones. But I don’t get them. Sure, they are old to the eye mature and all that, but is it the difference between a stand alone book and a collection? The reality is if it gets you prepared to write a chapter, then you probably wouldn’t finish a book in a decade.

 

[dollyt8]

I'm doing the challenge, but I've decided not to participate with the organization itself, mainly because of the controversies but also because I don't see the value. Apparently they shut down the forums, so the community is inaccessible. I don't need the badges to try to incentivize me to meet my goals. I've also been told you can use Trackbear instead if you want to track goals. It's kind of too bad though, because this would have been my first year participating.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I've participated for a very long time. And I love it. I've never won, but I loved it all the same. I honestly don't know a whole lot about this scandal other than something about the showrunners taking up the AI flag and some adults being inappropriate with young writers. Thus, this thread.

Now, before this even warms up, we're all friends here. No need for heated debates or dying on any hills.

 

[pmmg]

Seems to me, the challenge has always been about personal integrity, cause the goal is to 'honestly' write 50K words in one month. But there has never been a way to assure the words written actually occurred during the month, and no one was ever going to check.

The badge was just a feel good thing. If getting the badge was most important, anyone could cheat and get it and no one would know.

Bringing in AI is really the death of integrity for this. It would not matter what they made the word count, with AI, I will be finished as soon as they say go. Make it 50 million words, and I am still done on time. No accomplishment there.

Without personal integrity, nothing about Nano has any meaning.

I know myself. I could not write 50K words in 30 days if I wanted to, and I have no desire to try. I am having no issues writing novels, so....this has never been anything I needed.

I don't anticipate ever doing this, and don't see the need. It feels artificial to me anyway.

 

[ThinkerX]

I will be busy doing the final prep work for publication from last year's NaNo

 

[Mad Swede]

Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have entered NaNoWriMo, simply because being severely dyslexic I don't write that fast. But having read their justification for the use of AI and their defence of that justification I would now never enter. I don't appreciate the implication that I somehow need help to write because of my disability. I'm quite capable of writing by myself, and I'm quite capable of writing well enough to get a publishing contract - I've proved it. It is a real insult to those of us with disabilities (and by insult I mean derogatory, demeaning, ableist and patronising) to suggest that the only way we can write and maybe get published is to use generative AI.

 

[dollyt8]

I've participated for a very long time. View attachment 3838 And I love it. I've never won, but I loved it all the same. I honestly don't know a whole lot about this scandal other than something about the showrunners taking up the AI flag and some adults being inappropriate with young writers. Thus, this thread.

Now, before this even warms up, we're all friends here. No need for heated debates or dying on any hills.

This video from Avery Moore explains the controversies pretty well:

It's cool that you've had an opportunity to participate so long! I just don't necessarily see the benefit for me personally, and in light of all the controversies I don't see it as worth it. I am curious what the appeal is though. Is it just that it helps motivate and track progress?

 

[A. E. Lowan]

This video from Avery Moore explains the controversies pretty well:

It's cool that you've had an opportunity to participate so long! I just don't necessarily see the benefit for me personally, and in light of all the controversies I don't see it as worth it. I am curious what the appeal is though. Is it just that it helps motivate and track progress?

Sweetness! Thanks for the video. I'm very visual, so this is going to help. <3

The main draw to NaNo, for me at least but for a lot of others as well, is the community of writers who every year come together to find inspiration and come out with new friends, new pages (or whatever) to edit, and new stories to tell. It's the same reason I play MMORPG's like World of Warcraft. Sure, it's a good game, but that's not why I've been playing for 20 years, and not why I've been active here since 2012.

The main draw is the relationships we make along the way, and to me that's a beautiful thing.

 

[ThinkerX]

This video from Avery Moore explains the controversies pretty well:

It's cool that you've had an opportunity to participate so long! I just don't necessarily see the benefit for me personally, and in light of all the controversies I don't see it as worth it. I am curious what the appeal is though. Is it just that it helps motivate and track progress?

1 - What a mess.
2 - Last time, my focus was entirely on writing and word count. I had a backburner project that needed to be written. Then again, I always saw the forums and extras as 'occasionally useful distractions.'

 

[A. E. Lowan]

1 - What a mess.
2 - Last time, my focus was entirely on writing and word count. I had a backburner project that needed to be written. Then again, I always saw the forums and extras as 'occasionally useful distractions.'

You could meet really interesting people in those forums. Lots of established authors make themselves available for NaNo.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Seems to me, the challenge has always been about personal integrity, cause the goal is to 'honestly' write 50K words in one month. But there has never been a way to assure the words written actually occurred during the month, and no one was ever going to check.

The badge was just a feel good thing. If getting the badge was most important, anyone could cheat and get it and no one would know.

Bringing in AI is really the death of integrity for this. It would not matter what they made the word count, with AI, I will be finished as soon as they say go. Make it 50 million words, and I am still done on time. No accomplishment there.

Without personal integrity, nothing about Nano has any meaning.

I know myself. I could not write 50K words in 30 days if I wanted to, and I have no desire to try. I am having no issues writing novels, so....this has never been anything I needed.

I don't anticipate ever doing this, and don't see the need. It feels artificial to me anyway.

Very well put, and in my mind an accurate summation of what's been bugging me about AI, too. It's integrity.

 

[dollyt8]

You could meet really interesting people in those forums. Lots of established authors make themselves available for NaNo.

But aren't the forums closed at the moment? It looked like they are closed indefinitely from what I could find online.

 

[pmmg]

Networking is one of the keys to success, I fear. Its never a bad time to have new connections and new friends.

But there is only so much energy and so many forums I can devote too. I've got enough forums already.

 

[pmmg]

Very well put, and in my mind an accurate summation of what's been bugging me about AI, too. It's integrity.

I've not been kind to AI since it appeared. Its always been about that.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

But aren't the forums closed at the moment? It looked like they are closed indefinitely from what I could find online.

There's a good FB group that's a fun place to be between events. I haven't been in it in a while, but it's worth checking out.

Log into Facebook

I've not been kind to AI since it appeared. Its always been about that.

I agree completely. I just couldn't make the 3-legged hamster powering my squiggy little brain bring back the right word. "No, not that one. Or that one. You don't even know what this one means. Wait. 'Sesquipedalian?' Are you high?"

 

[ThinkerX]

Networking of Facebook is a good way to draw scammers out of the woodwork.

I had one pop up and offer to do a book trailer for $150. I said I couldn't afford her services (though her pitch includes 5-6 other trailers, a couple of which were pretty good.) She says I can pay later. I repeat - 'I cannot afford your services.' Then she tells me the trailer will be done in a few days. That could get interesting... (it also got me looking into how to make a book trailer....)

And then there are all the paid review people...

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Yeah, with FB groups your milage may vary. I curate where we participate with an iron fist. And so far, we've been making great friends, learning more about the writing community, and finding out how well word-of-mouth really works.

I deal with scammers with an iron fist. I don't play.