Is NaNoWriMo reputable?

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Pencrafter

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I’m posting here because NaNoWriMo is all about setting goals and meeting them.

I’m considering doing it this year but wary about granting access to what I write.

Does anyone here have experience with NaNoWriMo and the ability to attest to its reputability?



Thank you
 

Stytch

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No one sees what you write in NaNo. It's just a way to say "I wrote some words today/this month" etc. You don't sign anything or upload anything. You just say to yourself, "I'm going to participate," and then you do whatever you want in terms of actually creating a login for the website or showing up at events or whatever. I participated for years simply by focusing on writing (more than normal) for one month out of the year. Last year I showed up at a thing for the first time, did zero writing and just socialized. It's just for fun.
 

Sophia

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The only time you grant access to what you write is when you upload your story for the official word count, and it isn't saved. If you're worried, you can use Find and Replace to change the text to gibberish (not on your only copy!).

Many of us have been doing NaNoWriMo for years. I've never heard of any issue with work being stolen.
 

Stytch

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The only time you grant access to what you write is when you upload your story for the official word count, and it isn't saved. If you're worried, you can use Find and Replace to change the text to gibberish (not on your only copy!).

Many of us have been doing NaNoWriMo for years. I've never heard of any issue with work being stolen.

Wow, people upload stuff? I just manually entered a word count last year and there was a graph thingy? I also never "won" during the year, so maybe I just missed that part.
 

lizmonster

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Wow, people upload stuff? I just manually entered a word count last year and there was a graph thingy? I also never "won" during the year, so maybe I just missed that part.

I think to be a "verified" winner you have to do the upload at the end, but like Sophia says you can rot-13 it or something if you're worried. I always cut and paste, because my word processor counts slightly differently than the NaNo site. I believe them when they say they don't save what you upload, in part because I've never seen or heard any evidence to the contrary.
 

Sophia

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It's just if you want the site to officially recognise that you reached the goal. The verification opens around the 28th, I think. You paste a copy of your text into a box, it counts the number of words (which may differ very slightly from the word count your word processor gives) and then you have officially won. You get a certificate and some extra discounts. They don't keep your work, and as I said, you can replace letters to make the text unreadable before you paste it in -- only the number of words matters.
 

AW Admin

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There's an entire sub-forum about NaNoWritMo here, and I'm moving this thread

But yes, NaNoWriMo is reputable.
 

BenPanced

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Or by the same token, you can find a Lorem Ipsum generator online and have it create a piece the same number of words you've written before you upload. Once it's verified, as mentioned, you get a winner's certificate and a WINNER! designation is applied to your profile.

And I've been doing NaNo since 2004, and can vouch for their reliability and reputation.
 

Pencrafter

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Thank you for the information...15 years with NaNo is a lot of experience!

I may be confused, though...if it’s valid to submit lorem instead of your actual text, what’s the benefit of doing nanowrimo? and how do you get feedback on your work?
 

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There’s no feedback involved (at least directly) through NaNo. It’s a motivation tool for writing. For many people, it’s difficult to write a novel (much less one/50K words in one month), so NaNo is a fun way to motivate you.
 

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It's a no-strings-attached opportunity to discover what it's actually like to complete a novel.

Not just think about it or plan on writing one, but Butt In Chair writing. There's a lot you can learn from it.

And it's hugely fun and motivational for a lot of writers.
 

BenPanced

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The first time I participated in NaNo was also the first time I finished a manuscript. It's touted as "The End of the 'One Day...' Novelist", as in "one day, I'm going to write a novel". It gives you the time frame to write that novel you've always said you'd wanted to start. Kind of like saying, "Well? Why not now?"
 

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Doing NaNoWriMo taught me how to finish a novel. Undid decades of revise-the-first-three-chapters-forever navel-gazing. Did my first NaNo in 2010; sold my first novel in 2014.
 
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