#ywp nanowrimo

[the-nanowrimo-chronicles]

What the fuck Kilby

So there was an email.

RIP to the YWP.

The fact that regional forums and affinity groups are going to be the only places for writing related questions that can’t be handled in discourse’s discord-style format and require their own thread is idiotic. So if you live in a rural area and don’t have a ML willing to take on mod duties, and you’re not LGBT+, disabled, neurodivergent, chronically ill or of colour, you’re fucked.

The new ML situation is. A whole thing. But I don’t think I can go public with that yet. But TLDR: it’s fucked up.

Nano this is why we’re done with you.

#antinanowrimo #nanopocalypse #nano #nanowrimo #nanowrimo controversy #so fuck nanowrimo #nanowrimo ywp #RIP YWP #Fuck Kilby I swear to god

[full-of-malice]

hello, it's me, a random small tumblr account here to bring you some interesting details about a potential candidate for project for awesome and why you should Not be voting for them.

project for awesome is happening this year from february 16th to february 18th, so this is exactly a month ahead to warn you why you should not be voting for a potential candidate, the nanowrimo organization.

they have been a candidate over the years and they do not deserve being a candidate at all especially with their more recent fbi cases and child predation issues. the constant endangerment of the userbase is frankly ridiculous, and the amount of testimonies i can find and the amount that i have had to make myself is outrageous.

here is a short video that goes briefly into each of the issues and allegations [some of these are not confirmed and are only allegations or speculations. some of these i have seen firsthand. the information in this video is provided at random and some has more evidence then others] that the nanowrimo organization has had [there is a trigger warning at the beginning for child abuse, assault, predators, racism, ableism, terrorism, bombings, abuse]

issues and allegation including child grooming [from both mods and unchecked users who were creeps], incompetent moderation, emotionally abusing position of power over minors, banning and silencing users who would try to speak out, ableism, making light of terrorism

all this and it isn't touching on half of the firsthand accounts and the rampant racism and bigotry that was allowed on the nano forums, both for the young writers program and the official nanowrimo forums

if anyone wants screenshots, firsthand accounts, the child predation callout twitter thread, the tiktoks, or tumblr posts feel free to reach out to me or ask for them in the comments. i have so much shit on and against this organization it's not even funny

#project for awesome #p4A #p4a2024 #nanowrimo #nanowrimo ywp #youtube #video #important #actually important #nanopocalypse #Youtube

[nanowrimo]

Four Realistic Ways to Generate Ideas For Your Novel

Coming up with ideas can be pretty hard! With November right around the corner, YWP Participant Sahasra Nistala has some practical advice for writers looking for more material!

A long time ago, I decided I wanted to write a book. So I searched up “how to come up with a novel idea” and was immediately buried under piles of plot generators, mile-long lists of prompts, and creative flow frameworks I didn’t understand. When I went to my fellow writers for help, their advice usually went something like this: sit down and write anything. You’ll start writing something good eventually. But as we Wrimos know, there’s nothing more daunting than staring at a blank page, especially with the clock ticking down to the end of the month. Plus, we’re really busy—we don’t have time to write just anything.

Years later, after three false starts and long periods of “writer’s block,” I finally came up with an idea I couldn’t imagine letting go of. Here are some tried-and-true, realistic ways to come up with ideas for your next novel.

1. Think tropes. Write down a list of your favorite tropes and think of ways you can make them fresh and interesting. What if the Chosen One had overprotective parents and a bunch of jealous siblings? What if the person organizing the gala was actually in on the big heist? When you’re finished with your list, take whichever ones seem interesting and find a way to connect them.   2. Brainstorm elements. In a notebook, doc, or something else you won’t lose, write down a list of random elements and scenes you want in your novel. Want your MC to have an epic battle at sunset with their hair billowing in the wind? Write it down. Want your MC’s hoodie to be green? Write it down! Don’t worry about connecting these things to your decided trope—you can do that later. For now, just write down things you’d love to see in a novel and make sure to include them in yours.

3. Record things your way. When I first started to write for fun, lots of people told me to get a diary and write everything from my feelings to my “observations.” That way, I would have an endless supply of ideas whenever I wanted. Needless to say, I didn’t keep it up for very long. Things got better when I stopped trying to write daily entries and switched to something that was satisfying to create — comics! With two years of my life laid out in a simple narrative, it became easier for me to notice the differences in people’s habits and personalities. This inspired some characters. For the rest of Preptober, try recording your life in different ways, from voice memos to full-on essays analyzing your family members’ choice of breakfast. Trust me, you’ll find something that works for you. 4. Expand as much as possible. Once you begin to get a general idea of where you want to go, expand on that as much as possible. If you’re a pantster, that might mean creating a Pinterest board or playlist to match your novel-to-be’s atmosphere. If you’re a plotter, you might want to think of major plot points that incorporate the scenes you already have in mind. 

Doing these four things really helped me come up with a great idea I’m definitely going to write come November (okay, maybe I’ve already written a little!). There is no cure for writer’s block, but having an idea before you start writing definitely helps. Good luck and have a great rest of Preptober!

Sahasra Nistala is a sophomore in high school. Her interests include writing (isn’t that crazy?), speech and debate, incessantly sampling new books in hopes of finding the perfect one, and making comics. During NaNoWriMo, you can find her fiddling around with title generators, filling entire pages with just dialogue, or doodling in her notebook. Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

#nanowrimo #writing #amwriting #ywp #young writers program #by nano guest #sahasra nistala #writing ideas

[almightytuba]

I’ve been putting this post off for a while now but it’s becoming increasingly more important as the situation progresses.

I have been a part of the NanoWriMo YWP for four years now. I joined at a generally bad time and found some wonderful companions via the site. In my years there I have made connections, found community, improved and renewed my love for writing. That is not to say that the experience was entirely good, however. I will be forever grateful for the friends I’ve made and the outlet it gave me in rough times but I have been left disgusted overall by the site.

This site is promoted for anyone under 18, the forums available to anyone 13-18. The program is not only readily available with no moderation as to verifying users (allowing for many spam accounts and ‘backups’, as I will address in a moment) but is promoted in schools nation-wide. Without any protection and moderation on a global site, the YWP creates a breeding ground for predatory behavior in a place advertised towards children and teens. It’s my firm belief that yes, the YWP is a fantastic concept- most teens are not able to find supportive communities or allowed to express themselves and the site acts as such, This is a horrifying notion but it’s realistic when children are continuously and purposely overlooked for the purpose of ‘saving face.’ The YWP has done exactly that. It has failed not only me, but my friends, teachers, and schools.

I have been present for a mere fraction of the garbage the site allows to fester within it. I cannot speak from experience in all events but what I can speak for with certainty, I will.

1- Predators and predatory behavior. One of the greatest flaws of the site is that what could have been avoided genuinely avoided if its users taken seriously or given an ounce of respect. Predators being allowed to run rampant is not in the least new to the site and it’s almost entirely up to its users to keep themselves safe. Mods have continued to err on the side of perpetrators. Perhaps if this happened once, it could be excusable by some great reach- but this is repeated behavior from the people entrusted to the site. Time after time I have engaged in “flagging battles”- the only thing users have virtually with no in-site blocking system- against users telling teens to kill themselves, to doxx themselves, to engage in sexual activities. Let me remind you that YWP is a writing site for children- and if accounts can that simply lie about their age, I can assure you there are users younger than the 13 minimum roaming around the site.

2- Harassment and bullying. As I said above, anyone can make an account. This includes troll/spam accounts, and sheer amount of repeat offenders on the site is repulsive. In the rare case mods do anything about what occurs in-site (rather than ban users that are self-moderating and genuinely trying to help), users are just able to make a new account. The sheer amount of times I have seen backup accounts log made for the sake of spamming “KYS” is almost astonishing. I could talk for ages on this; how the same user has come back and perpetuated racism, sexism, homophobia- anything just to ‘piss people off’. The YWP is allegedly a ‘safe space’ for its large queer community and a neurodivergent populous. With this rampant behavior the site only works to perpetuate hate.

3- Moderation. I am aware that this is a subject of controversy, many vocal points screaming out at the YWP- “why don’t you just ignore it if you don’t like it?” And to that I ask you if ignoring a prevalent problem truly makes it dissipate. Although the answer clear, we are still told our anger unjustified or methods fear-mongering. This disgusts me. We are justified. We are allowed to be as vocally angry as we wish because we have been wronged and have virtually no other power to do anything about it.

There are endless ways that the mods have failed us. By refusing to listen to the community they only work to make the space less safe, banning those who speak out and ‘hurt their feelings’ or by kicking dirt over incidents of their own failure. This is non-conducive work and I have no idea how it passed for it for so long.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

#nanowrimo ywp #nanowrimo controversy #nanowrimo

[tracey-cauchemar]

Thinkin about local celebrities on the internet.

Like, 99% of people have NO CLUE who Heather Dudley is but she fucking SHAPED my teen years

I think about her sometimes. It’s November. How’s her NaNoWriMo goal going this year?

#journal #nanowrimo #ywp

[sol1loqu1st]

since everyone is talking about dr. who hey remember when night of the doctor dropped and all 4 people who liked paul mcgann before that went absolutely buckwild and screamed and sobbed about it for weeks. i do

#nate astriiformes and i on the nanowrimo ywp in 2013 assigning the 1996 eighth doctor tv movie as homework #to everyone just trying to talk about rose tyler in the dw thread

[apocalypse-alpaca]

*sobs and pumps fists*

#like #i know it's not the full 50k #but this is the same amount I did last year #and it was so much easier for me this time around #this is also the second version of this story and i love it so much more than the first draft already #pls pls pls send me asks about my story/ my OCs i love answering them and i helps with worldbuilding #pls pls pls #writer #i write shit #apocalypse alpaca #nanowinner2023 #nanowrimo #nanowrimo ywp #personal #tags tags tags

[serenfire]

logging onto nanowrimo for the first time in a couple years and i'm looking through my project history that dates back to 2009... 🥺 maybe i truly am a writer

#...anyone want to be buddies on nanowrimo? give me 24 hours to put words on paper to actually Commit myself to doing this #and then if you can see this we should be buddies on the nano website. and also in real life. #remembering 2012 when i wrote 120k words in a month. brain to fingers filter was unmatched in middle school #i remember the ywp website mods messaging me and specifically telling me that with that many words the website counter might glitch out #nanowrimo

[ahecktonoffandomsinoneblog]

DOES ANYONE HAVE A NANOWRIMO ACCOUNT AND WANT TO BE WRITING BUDDIES WITH ME

#ive got both a YWP and official account #pleaseee #i want writing buddies #nanowrimo #camp nanowrimo

[shadelorde]

Hello,

I’ve been a participant of NaNoWriMo for six years now, and a forums participant on the Young Writer’s Program for three years.

You might be wondering what’s happening on the forums, either on the YWP or the main NaNo site.

As far as I’m aware and have been involved, we brought up some concerns about neglectful moderation behavior on the adult site. Several adults supported us, and came out with their own allegations about neglectful or abusive moderation (for example, a moderator luring teens to a fetish website, who was fired but not banned, another one posting openly about porn who is still a moderator, and similar concerns.) On the YWP, our moderators, Rob Diaz and Marya Brennan have allowed open bullying and instead tone-policed those who fought back. They have allowed predator behavior on the site in several circumstances under the statement of “it does not explicitly violate our Codes” (despite it being open predatory behavior), and Rob Diaz has said racist things to another user in response to a Thanksgiving PSA.

The Board of Directors has now said that they did not know there was a separate YWP forum in the first place.

On the YWP side of things, the forums are being shut down indefinitely, and we are awaiting another response from the Board of Directors.

Please do not donate to NaNoWriMo.

Contact local schools and make them aware of the situation, and discourage advertising the YWP to kids.

I will reblog other posts from my fellow YWP users that h give more specific details.

#nanopocalypse 2023 #nanowrimo #nano23 #nano update #nano 2023 #nanowrimo 2023 #please boost

[moreyachtsforgrant]

In case anyone was wondering regarding the state of the NaNoWriMo organization, well, it's still entirely fucked.

To address some of the misinformation floating around out there, in a format that will essentially reach twelve people, if I'm lucky, I would like to clarify that Mod X (the alleged groomer) is not, and has not been involved with the situation and toxic culture that has developed on the YWP forums.

Why do I call it toxic? Simply put, it is. It is a toxic environment that has forced teenagers to bear the burden of mental health support for other teenagers. The sheer amount of trauma bonding I've witnessed as these teens have come forward with their stories is alarming. This is not the fault of the teens. It is the fault of the staff members assigned to moderate them, the same staffers who absolutely failed on every possible count to protect their charges.

The Board is continuing to "investigate", which I have to actively choose to believe means they're sifting through the data they've been sent and are hoping to supplement it with their own findings. The forums (both the main site and the YWP) are still shut down, outside of the one thread in the board section. It's pretty much perpetually off-topic, anyway.

It is hard to see any future where the forums are allowed to continue. That is not entirely the fault of us, the community. The blame rests on HQ and staff refusing to acknowledge there were problems and on the moderators for being reactive instead of proactive.

The drama has reached some less than savory parts of the internet, as well, and concerns raised to the Board via email regarding a possible influx of hateful and dangerous people have thus far gone ignored.

To anyone who sees this post and uses the NaNo websites, I urge you to remove any personal information your profiles may have. Switch your attached emails to burners, if possible. I have been assured by former moderators in regards to the supposed "data breach" that Mod X did not have access to any passwords or email addresses, and only maybe could have seen username changes, but I will reiterate:

NaNoWriMo is not safe. They have not protected you. They aren't protecting you. You will have to protect yourself.

May your whisper networks be free of hateful rhetoric, and may your off-site discussions not turn to negativity.

I wish you all well.

-Definitely Not Grant

#nanowrimo #nano 2023 #national novel writing month

[the-nanowrimo-chronicles]

I’m seeing a similarity here

Okay this is gonna be a feelings post not an information one. Heads up!

When people talk about forum alternatives, about how the forums were inaccessible to some users following the 2019 changeover, it’s been mentioned a few times that there isn’t a situation that works for everyone. Some people can go to come write ins. Some people can’t. Some people can use the regions. Some can’t. And there’s a whole post about how disability and safety and comfortability here but it won’t be this one.

It reminded me of how the YWP was when we got shut down in October. We scrambled and we got offsites, but it wasn’t the same for everyone. Someone’s tumblr. Someone’s Pinterest. Someone’s email. And then the discord. And we got the discord and it’s great but it’s not the forums. It’s physically darker. And it’s still so bright but there’s not as many stars as there really should be. We’ve lost traditions. We’ve lost games. Count to 10 till the mods show up. Cos the mods just didn’t show up.

I miss it. Saw screenshots and almost cried. Because as much as I love what we’ve got now, I’ll never get the childish joy of the forums back. Even if a miracle happens and the forums return before I’m 18. Don’t think I’ll go back. The idea makes me sick.

But it was fun while it lasted.

#antinanowrimo #nano #nanopocalypse #nanowrimo #feelings #nanowrimo ywp #boy I’m tired now

[nanowrimo]

Back to School: Interview with Sarah Lile, Young Writers Program Educator

NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program helps over 85,000 kids, teens, teachers, and families set creative goals and tell stories they care about. We asked some of our amazing YWP educators to share how they take on the NaNoWriMo challenge in their classroom. Today’s advice comes from Sarah, a middle school ELA teacher in Richmond, Virginia.

Q: What grade/ age level do you work with? What type of NaNoWriMo group is it (whole class, club, homeschool, elective, etc.)?

A: Whole classes, grades 6-8

Q: How long have you been doing NaNoWriMo with your students?

A: Since 2019

Q: How do you structure the entire project (for example, do you start prepping in October and write in November, do you have kids work on it all year, etc.)?

A: We don't do much prep and I always regret it. Students use class time to write throughout November. Some students already have an idea of what they'd like to write, others are pantsers like me!

Q: What does a normal NaNoWriMo day look like for your students?

A: Arrive to class and settle in, open laptops and begin feverishly typing!

Q: How do you set and manage word-count goals?

A: I allow students to set their own goals, though I've started to require no less than 7,000 words.

Q: How do you manage grading? Do you grade?

A: I ask students to submit an excerpt of their novel each week and post them on the wall in the classroom. This helps with accountability and sharing.

Q: How do you approach revision/ publishing (if at all)?

A: I don't grade their novels, instead they revise an excerpt for a grade and a public reading.

Q: Any NaNoWriMo tips or tricks to share with other educators? Hard-won lessons? Ah-ha moments?

A: Every year I wish we had done more prep.

It's more fun when I write WITH them.

Students really like it when I read their work, so the excerpts are key.

My writers always hit a wall at some point, but I trust the process (and tell them to just keep typing) and the NaNoWriMo tools and they always get through it! They are natural-born storytellers.

Q: Have you ever run into resistance from your administration about doing NaNoWriMo, and if so, how did you manage it? What do you say to people who don’t see the point of having students write novels? 

A: Thankfully, no. I do send the Common Core standards to parents and admin so they see how this aligns.

Q: What are the most meaningful things you or your students take away from the project? What's your best NaNoWriMo memory?

A: That they CAN DO IT! The first class that participated set their own goals and wrote feverishly every class period and during the weekends. One student was out of town for the last couple days, sick in a hotel bed, and stayed up to meet her goal. Her parents were absolutely amazed at her commitment.

Q: Anything else you'd like to add?

A: In order for this to really work, students need to write everyday. It's hard to keep momentum over weekends and especially over a week-long Thanksgiving break. I'd love advice on how to keep students writing at these times—maybe set short term word count goals?

Sarah is a middle school ELA teacher at Sabot School in Richmond, Virginia, a progressive Reggio-Inspired school for children ages 2-14. She is a wife, mother, dog-mom, writer, food-lover, and amateur potter.

#nanowrimo #ywp #nanowrimo ywp #back to school #by nano guest #sarah lile

[npdvamp]

What's the drama with nanowrimo that you were talking in reblog ? I never heard about it and found nothing after searching for it

it’s not publicized or anything and they do their best to keep it quiet but the mods for the main website are notoriously shitty (racist, allow bullying to occur, so on) and one of them was recently fired after years of service for calling her fellow moderator a “diversity hire” (the mod who said this was white and the one she called that was black, for context). the mods for the main site are also mods on the YWP (young writers project) which is like a version of the main forums but for kids 13-18. it’s super active (i’ve been part of it since i was 13) and they’ve let so much shit slide, including several incidents with actual child predators who were pretending to be kids in order to groom users. it’s a whole thing. i could go on about it for hours, and i was there for a lot of the drama when it happened (some is still happening rn, actually) but this is the basic summary.

#moethoughts #they’re rlly bad at their jobs #they have no training on how to handle anything ngl #i remember being 15 and having to basically do their job for them on the ywp to keep younger users safe #that was a time

[callixton]

feeling grateful again to the kind teenagers on the ywp nanowrimo rp forms who patiently answered my questions about how to write trans characters a couple years before i realized anything about myself. they were never judgmental of clumsy wording and helped a confused kid feel a little more safe exploring and were also my first exposure to a lot of nonbinary identities in general and honestly thank god

#i think abt finding info on tumblr/that being my intro to queer ideas #but it wasn’t. i didn’t sign up for an actual account until like eighth grade #but i used various blogs as resources after being introduced to stuff largely in rp communities and wanting to know more #ted talks

[sol1loqu1st]

like i have absolutely made friends online in other ways that don't involve "being active on the ywp nanowrimo forums in the 2010s," several of whom i consider very close friends, but like. it wouldn't have happened if i didn't follow my ywp nanowrimo friends to the spaces i met them in ya know. how the fuck are people just making friends On Social Media. god i miss forums