When NaNoWriMo turns ugly.
posted by voh 15:16, 19 November, 08
Every region in the world that's large enough in participants, has an ML - a Municipal Liaison, someone whose task it is to whip their regional participants into shape and throw NaNo writing get togethers and whatnot.
When one of those ML's gets a bit too free about her choice of words, bad things happen. Bad things that piss off NaNos who already have a lot of frustration ahead of them, and certainly do not need. What exactly happened is below the break.
In a 'pep' talk sent yesterday, the following passage was included, which I've translated as carefully as I could, to English.
Quote:
"And now.. FOR THOSE WHO QUIT IN WEEK TWO...
You're losers.
Literally.
You lost. Not because you didn't reach the 50k, but because you started something and couldn't even keep it up for 4 lousy weeks.
---
Unless you broke your legs or your water in week two, but I can tell you that there are people who'd keep writing even in those situations, and even made it to the end too. But if you don't have such an extreme excuse then you're probably someone who more often quits things which he or she starts. In other words: a loser."
Now, I understand what she's trying to say. Don't quit - there's two weeks left to work your magic and see how far you're going to get. But this is not a positive way to get people to give it another chance. This is a surefire way to add frustration to a process known to cause a good couple of headaches and sleepless nights.
NaNoWriMo is a challenge - calling those who don't make it losers is saying that over 70% of all NaNos are quitting, whiney bitches.
But they're not. EVER. The moment they decided to try writing a NaNo book, they are heroes, in my book. Because even if you quit after two weeks, and you've only written 10.000 words, that's 10.000 words more than they'd normally written in that time.
In my case, 10.000 is pretty much what I normally write in a timespan of 2 weeks, and during the past two weeks I've written significantly less. Does that make me a loser?
Does it?
If your answer is yes, you're either not a NaNo, or an enormous dick. If you're not a NaNo and would say yes, come back when you've tried a NaNoWriMo. If you are one and say yes, you need to re-evaluate why NaNo is what it is.
The point is to write. The 'goal' of 50k is only there to serve as a goal. It's arbitrary and if you ever listened to Chris Baty, you'd know that. From the NaNoWriMo FAQ:
Quote:
We realize that people can cheat and upload something that's not a novel and still "win." But since the only real prize of NaNoWriMo is the self-satisfaction that comes with pulling off such a great, creative feat, we don't really worry too much about people cheating.
And from Chris Baty's own pep talk email sent not too long after that not-so-nice one:
Quote:
There's a special noveling window open now that will makes passage through your story easier now than it will be at any other time of year. Sadly, the window closes on December 1. If you're absolutely, positively sure you can't make it to 50K, reset your goal to 25K, and write towards it with everything you've got. Your adventure is not over. Your story awaits.
Now, having made my point, I'll go and write some more. I've got a deadline to reach, knowing that if I don't, I'm still a fucking winner.
Zachary Lewis (mail/url) @ 19/11/2008 - 20:04
Psh... loser. <3
odd (mail/url) @ 30/11/2008 - 19:40
On the other hand, you are working now, aren't you?
Would you have been had the douchbaggery failed to occur?
Don't answer that.
ben (mail/url) @ 29/12/2008 - 14:30
how'd it go actually?
yes, shamefully late in asking this, but i've not heard you talk about it since your previous post when you outlined your plan...
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