NaNoWriMo Participates: Sad it is gone? Found a replacement?

[tiff524]

Hiya Tapas Writing Community,

Did any of you used to participate in NaNoWriMo over the last several years. I'm sad to have seen it go. It really helped pick up my writing speed, and the encouragement on social media along with everyone else doing the same thing made it almost like a joint project. I got several good starts on some projects, and did actually finish a 50K novel once and won.

But now that National Novel Writing Month (which often happened this month in November) is no longer, the website and organization is gone and bankrupt, have you found any replacement? Did you actually participate and get any writing done?

[riddp]

StoryForge has similar event going on now, I haven't participated in it though!

[tiff524]

Yes. I'm seeing other platforms picking up the slack from the loss of NaNoWriMo. Wattpad is having some theme for November. I think they're calling it: "30 Day November Novel Writing Challenge." At least the spirit of NaNo is living on.

I do miss having the website to list your project, put in the text and have it counted. There was something about making the meter go higher that felt like you were accomplishing something. And before Twitter was X, there were all the hashtags to connect with other authors.

I was trying to find something on Tapas, and didn't find anything. But I'm not drafting this November, but releasing my Kpop Romance, Love Over Kpop. It was a NaNoWriMo project back in 2017. I had an idea I wanted to do, and just getting butt in chair and going for it helped. I got it started that November. Now, it is a finished serial novel.

Read Love Over Kpop | Tapas Web Community

[Ashekente]

I miss it too! It was what got me going a lot. I have a habit of falling into an editing black paralysis where I'll edit, then edit, then edit, and never move on. Doing NaNoWriMo broke me of that habit and got me moving forward.

I won once myself, though I've never thought of putting that work on here. It's a super niche style murder mystery and I don't think that it would work. Though my secondary work I have on here came from an idea I had during one year's attempt.

I miss having all the encouragment and seeing so many people piling up their word counts was motivation!

Truthfully I even got the writing program I use, Scrivener, from their promotion on NaNoWriMo back in the day.

[tiff524]

I started using Scrivener, because of NaNo too. There were so many positive things I got out of it. But I am starting to warm up to the Tapas community. This community feels a lot like the earlier years when I was on Wattpad writing. I'm still on there. But it's not feeling the same. I also was in a message board community called Kboards.com. A lot of people did NaNo there too.

I even went to San Francisco for the "Night of Writing Dangerously". That was an in-person celebration to do a night of doing your 1,600 word count in November sponsored by NaNoWriMo. I think their headquarter offices were there. To meet other writers was so cool. I even got headshots as part of it. They had an amazing lay-out of a candy/snack bar to graze on as you wrote. It did cost some money to go to SF and pay a fee for the event. I think it was $100 to participate, but a lot of writers either got a sponsor or paid for it yourself like I did. I still have pictures from it. It was great to just be around other writers in person. They had guest speakers of traditionally published authors that had done NaNo. It was pretty awesome in the heyday.

[Ashekente]

Oooh! Lucky you! I so wanted to go to that, but I couldn't get the time off work. I'm starting to step out into this community too. It seems pretty welcoming and positive so far. I have high hopes!

[tiff524]

Me too. Writing is such an isolated passion. It's nice to be able to talk to other writers. I also was in a writing board message community quite a bit before the pandemic. It got sold off and changed, destroying the community. It has slowly rebuilt, but not the same. So hard to find supportive folks as a writer. I'm hoping that this could be a new place to seek writing support.

[smilingworg]

Sorry I'm getting in on the thread a little late. Yes, I had been doing Nano since 2009, and I was sad to see it go. I was disappointed in their stance on AI, so I'm not surprised the group had to close shop.

A writer friend of mine recommended a site run by ProWritingAid that had all the feel of NaNo, including word count trackers and badges. It had most of the feel of NaNo as was a huge help. I think the browser bookmark I have goes to my account dashboard, so I'll try to link the main site itself.

Looks like they already have a 2026 page up and running

Novel November: A 30 Day Writing Challenge

[TheWritingRose]

Not sure if it directly matches but I occasionally use "theprose.com" they do writing challenges and users can post their own challenges and comment and support each other's work. I enjoy using it at least haha.