NaNoWriMo: Pokecharms-style?

[Linkachu]

This has been bouncing around my mind for a few days, so time I brought it up to the rest of you lot.

I'm sure the majority of you have heard of National Novel Writing Month? Summed up, it's a month (November) where people attempt to write a complete story within the span of 30 days. Quality is scarificied for quantity in an attempt to get people writing. To quote the website:

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

Now, I'd like to try something similar here but in a way that's appropriate for Pokecharms. Naturally if we said "just write a bunch of pages without worrying about the quality" we might get people spamming it up, but we might also get people posting stories who'd otherwise never post anything out of fear that it's not up to 'snuff. We wouldn't necessarily have to stick to the same amount of text that NaNoWriMo uses either, nor keep it at a month limit. A 50 paged story written from scratch (give or take) could work just as well for our needs, just as long as it was a full story.

What do you guys think? I'm just brain storming here so all ideas are welcome. If this doesn't fly with anyone at all, I might attempt something else...

 

[Cody]

Katie, I kid you not, I decided to do NaNoWriMo yesterday xD

As such, I'm totally for the idea. Though I wouldn't be able to jump on the fifty-page version you might set up (which is a great idea) as I'd need about a hundred more xD

But really, it's a great idea ^^

 

[Shiny Motley]

I really do like this idea. Heck, I was totally planning on doing this myself, like Cody here. XD

I was thinking that, since this place /is/ 'Charms, we could have it so that you can write Pokemon related-only stories or stories that include 'Charms or something? That does seem to limit creativity quite a bit, though, so maybe not.

 

[Freta]

I'm in. I love writing and if it's only fifty pages, I can finish it for sure. I think I'll do something like a prequel to Bloodstone Academy that can explain how the magic works and the status of different races.

I also can't wait to see what some of our high-quality RPers come up with.

 

[Rex]

This seems interesting. I might try it out, just to see if I could actually pull it off.

I'm willing to use only Pokemon characters, but what I write might be a bit out of place for the rest of you. I'd much prefer to be allowed to write what ever I want. Quality might be getting sacrificed, but we do have a bit of a standard to keep up to. Also, how would we post these? Would we each make one topic and write a story each, posting them there, or make a regularly updated topic of our own? And by 50 pages you mean 50 pages of Word .doc, right? Not a 50 paged topic.

 

[Kerauno]

Best idea ever!~

Seriously, I could do this. Fifty pages? No problem. It's good for self-expression, and creativity, and fun too, so why not? But, eh, we won't see the best work of the writers; Quality goes out the window to make sure the job is done. But fresh ideas are made, new doors opened... I could do a sequel to this one story of mine... Or just start fresh. Either works.

What about poetry? Isn't there a National Poetry Month or something?

 

[Mandychuu]

To be honest, I've never written 50 pages of anything. I've always struggled to finish writing projects, but I've done one-shot fanfics from several different fandoms. Some were several pages long, but I'd actually like to take part in this myself. Writing a story like this would definitely help me figure some stuff out about my own trainer character and force me to practice my English even more. Besides, it will keep me busy and not bored. I'm so in!

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

Hmm ... I am currently balancing a buttload of stories and roleplays, but ... This does indeed sound interesting. I may take part in it, and try my hand. ^_^

 

[Linkachu]

Cool. Thanks for the comments, guys. ^^

We'd definitely keep our basic grammar rules and it'd need to be novel format, but we wouldn't be overly critical about other things. Plot holes would be expected, tenses won't be perfect, there will be poor wording and random errors, etc. The purpose would be to get people writing something from scratch beginning to end and have fun doing so, not to make a masterpiece. Sometimes it's nice to allow yourself to make mistakes.

@Shiny: I don't think I'd place any restrictions on what people wrote about. If I took part in this (which was kinda the plan if it goes through XD), I wouldn't be writing a Pokemon-related story - and Charms related stories can only go so far. The point is to get people writing whatever way they can, so I'd leave it open to all ideas.

@Rex: People would post their stories in their own thread and just label them as being part of this thing. I'd probably also keep an index somewhere that linked to everyone's story so we could easily keep track of who's taking part. Also, the pages would go by word doc, not forum pages.

@Cody and everyone else: The 50 pages thing was actually just a random number I threw out there and wouldn't need to be what we settled on. I'm pretty sure that NaNoWriMo goes by text amounts, too, and that'd probably make more sense considering people like to write in different font styles/sizes. Either way, that 50 paged limit is totally flexiable and I'm open to suggestions.

@Kerauno: Not sure about the poetry thing, but I'd stick to stories myself. Someone else could do poetry if they wanted. XD

 

[Sir Red]

This sounds very interesting, and I'd enjoy to take part seeing as it would pretty force me to stop being lazy and write, however school will be really busy throughout November, so I don't think I'll be able to. I might still try though.

Or I might even try this during December, seeing as I have the whole month off. :x

 

[Sem]

Bumping this since tomorrow is the first day of November. Are any of you still interested in doing this? I think it's a great idea, so it'd be awesome to see even just a few of you taking part.

 

[Sir Red]

I'll try and take part. I have an idea for what I'd like to do, but it really comes down to how much time I have in the coming weeks.

If my idea gets off the ground, but I don't have enough time to write all I can in the month, I'll probably carry it over into December. But yes, I plan to take part. :3

 

[Linkachu]

Whoo. I'm glad Sem and Cody reminded me. XD

I'm going to attempt writing up some solid guidelines tonight and shooting them off to Sem for him to put together. Tonight's kinda busy for us both, though, so I apologize if it doesn't get sorted until midday tomorrow.

The best thing I can tell you now is, keeping with the spirit of NaNoWriMo, your stories must be from scratch (meaning nothing you've already been working on in the past) and your major goal is to write a complete story. While we expect everyone's grammar/punctuation/etc. to follow Pokecharms rules, you're not writing a masterpiece. Don't stop to do mad proof reading. There will be plot holes, your plots & characters may be horribly cliche, and you might find yourself winging a lot of it - and that's okay. Hell, we expect it.

Good luck to everyone who takes part! And yeah, check back tomorrow for a more specific update regarding your writing goals, deadlines, how to post your stories, etc.

 

[Sir Red]

Would a collection of short stories about a character and his Pokemon be allowed? Like each installment is a few pages and tells about different Pokemon and isolated incidents, as opposed to a story with an actual plot?

Although, as I go along some of them might have a continuing plot, but I really don't know.

I've been wanting to write little stories involving my competitive Pokemon for a while to give them depth, and this way I could kill two birds with one stone. So just wondering if this would be allowed in the rules?

 

[Linkachu]

While I love the idea (and have done it myself with one of my characters XD), I'd prefer it if your entry for this was more of a story. Since it's important to have a definite ending, whatever you write should have a beginning, a climax, and an ending.

One alternative is writing this story with your character, but laying out the chapters so that they each follow a different Pokemon/isolated incident/etc. Maybe as you progressed it'd slowly come together for a climatic moment, and thus a conclusive ending?

I'll let you decide, but my vote is still to go for a single story - however you can work one with your ideas.

 

[Sir Red]

Hmm...I certainly could do that. I really just want to write something rather light-hearted and fun. X3 I'll try and come up with some form of a central plot for my little stories that strings them together and give things a definitive ending. (Although I'll probably continue on with different ideas using my Mon's after November. ;3)

 

[Chibi]

I've had this idea bouncing around my head for quite while now. My only restraint is that it'd take much longer for me to write an entire novel, me being the way I am.

 

[Linkachu]

http://www.pokecharms.com/forums/http:/ ... ic.php?t=2

Official thread is up. Direct all further interest there. Thanks guys!