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Post by Siana Blackwood on Jun 23, 2014 5:15:00 GMT
Greetings, Stevians! Coming up in JulySo, July brings us to two big events on the wrimo calendar - Camp NaNoWriMo and JulNoWriMo. Camp NaNoWriMo: Set your own goal above 10,000 words. Write in a blue tent, a cabin full of people with similar interests to you or (new this year) a cabin full of your best writing friends. JulNoWriMo: Write 50k in July. Start a PPT, chat with fellow JulNo'ers and track your word count ranking. Both events are WIP-friendly and accept people who work on something other than the first draft of a novel. It's fine to count the same words towards both events. Also in July: Ellen Brock's Novel Boot Camp. This is a free workshop running from June 30 to August 1. Rather than writing from scratch, the focus is on editing a completed draft. You can also participate with a first draft nearing completion. Week one will be all about beginnings. Stuff about JuneBack to June for a moment. In June, Steve ran 'CampNoPlanMo', a series of workshops designed to help everyone plan out their Camp project. * Week one: Daily Plot Bunnies - come up with seven new ideas in a week. * Week two: Frankenbunnies/Roleplay - either combine several of your week one bunnies into a single, more complex idea or head to the roleplay board and learn more about your characters. * Week 3: Freewriting/Draw Your Characters - flesh out your chosen story idea or draw seven characters in seven days * Week 4: Synopsis/Design a Cover - write a detailed synopsis or design a cover for your next book. If you like the sound of any of these activities, week 4 is about to start or you can still jump in on any of the week 1/2/3 workshops. Now, the part where you have to tell us stuffThe easiest way to answer these questions is probably to visit the thread we've set up in the 'Feedback, Problems, and Questions' section of Steve: [(Insert link here when the thread exists)]. 1. What did you think of June's activities? If you didn't take part or if you quit, explain why.2. Anything you'd love us (i.e. the staff) to set up for the final week of June?3. What are your plans for July? Camp? JulNo? Something else?4. What do you think should happen on Steve during July? Camp/JulNo activities? Something focused on non-Campers?5. Anything else you want to say?
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Post by Siana Blackwood on Jun 27, 2014 5:02:02 GMT
1. What did you think of June's activities? If you didn't take part or if you quit, explain why.I sort of accidentally did week 2 in week 1, which gave me some new ideas for a few ongoing projects. After that I wanted to concentrate on sorting out this new stuff and the workshop activities didn't really fit in with what I was planning. I sort of just wandered off and did my own thing instead of trying to keep the workshops going. Also, I'm not much good at drawing and my computer doesn't like talking to my scanner. 2. Anything you'd love us (i.e. the staff) to set up for the final week of June?Trying to answer this question feels weird . Pretending to not be a staff member for a minute, I'd like some kind of activity that would help me nail down what the heck I'm going to do next month. I have no idea what this activity would be, of course, or I'd already have set it up for myself anyway. 3. What are your plans for July? Camp? JulNo? Something else?I have no concrete plans yet, but at the moment I'm probably not going to do Camp or JulNo. 4. What do you think should happen on Steve during July? Camp/JulNo activities? Something focused on non-Campers?Yes, if there's demand for it. This is probably with the 'staff' hat back on, but what I'd like to do is appoint a sort of 'team leader' for each activity. One person doing Camp/JulNo who's responsible for setting up wridays and such. Maybe a person who's editing and could set up tasks to help that process along. One person in charge of the roleplay board for the month. ...and so on. For every activity that at least one person wants to do for the month, there's a 'team leader' in charge of butt-kicking for that activity. 5. Anything else you want to say?I'd like to repeat the point that Steve is for everyone. Anyone can make a thing happen. If you have a thing you want to happen, you can start it yourself, PM a suggestion to the staff, post a thread asking if anyone else would be interested, mention it in the daily progress reports... [insert other (probably obvious) options I can't think of here ]. Also, remember this forum is okay with massive walls of text about worldbuilding, plotting or angsty ranting. Not only is it okay to post stuff like that, it's even likely that other members will read it, commiserate and probably ask questions.
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Post by Jᴀy V. Aꜱᴛᴇʀ 💀🐍 on Jun 29, 2014 0:19:29 GMT
1. What did you think of June's activities? If you didn't take part or if you quit, explain why.
I loved doing DPBs, because it let me get started organizing my character arcs, and it helped me decide what to do for July. I find that it keeps me engaged when I have a single discrete deliverable for the end of the day. After Week 1, my activity died out, because the workshops we came up with didn't match what I needed. DPBs has a clear strategy, whereas the others were very vague. I ended up doing the Frankenbunny step far earlier than I'd thought I would, and I found it didn't take up an entire week. After that, I hit a wall, and I ended up not trying to keep the workshops going, because I didn't know what to do myself.
2. Anything you'd love us (i.e. the staff) to set up for the final week of June? Er...would it be very snarky if I said that in the final days I'd like us to come up with something awesome for July?
3. What are your plans for July? Camp? JulNo? Something else? I'm going to do JulNoWriMo here, if nothing else. I might do Camp, but only by myself; no cabins this time, because at the rate I'm going, I'd disappear in the middle of the month anyway.
4. What do you think should happen on Steve during July? Camp/JulNo activities? Something focused on non-Campers? Everyone I talked to has either said they're not doing Camp, or are on the fence. I think we should do something here on Steve that everyone can take part in. Those who are doing Camp can use their words for it, but I don't want to force that format where it doesn't fit.
5. Anything else you want to say?
It feels like after Week 1, people either quit, or they all decided to go different ways. It's easier to keep the mometum going and to keep everybody engaged if there is some activity going -- something where people have to not just post their progress, but have to show something tangible at the end of the day (like a plot bunny), so I think we should make a list of strategies that worked this month. I know that they won't be the same for everybody, but I was thinking that in future, after Week 1, instead of enforcing strategy, we could just set a goal, such as 'plot out the beginning, middle, and end for each subplot or character' (or other suitable post-Frankenbunny goal), and then let everyone arrive at it however they want. Those who don't know where to go next could try something off the list, and those who do could do the challenge with a strategy of their own. I know that people won't want to post too many spoilers, but perhaps a few details about the worldbuilding or outlining ('I know who the villain is!') would be good all round. I think the goal should be to always have a concrete goal every day. It should be something structured enough that everyone is on the same footing, but loose enough that if we all decide to go off in different directions, that we're still fostering discussion and interaction rather than disappearing into the void. When we make progress, it'd be good to talk about it, and when we're stuck, interaction is more likely to pull us over it and keep us going. It's what made Week 1 so much fun. It also helps, because sometimes we're too biased to see glaring inconsistencies or weaknesses, and sometimes a well-placed 'but why would anyone do that?' saves months of waffling, wall-hitting, and doom and gloom. Likewise, encouragement really does help a lot with writer's block. (As Siana said, I'd *like* to see more massive word dumps here, even if it's angst!)
We really should come up with something to keep things from getting boring -- boredom can be a challenge's worst enemy!
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Post by Siana Blackwood on Jun 29, 2014 13:57:58 GMT
2. Anything you'd love us (i.e. the staff) to set up for the final week of June?Er...would it be very snarky if I said that in the final days I'd like us to come up with something awesome for July? No pressure, right?
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Kwills
Marvin The Paranoid Android
Learning Plover Steno
Posts: 85
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Post by Kwills on Jul 1, 2014 12:17:43 GMT
Hi. Coming late to the thread, sorry. I meant to respond to the email right away, then, well...
Anyway,
1. What did you think of June's activities? If you didn't take part or if you quit, explain why.
I arrived here mid-June and jumped right in with the character sketch challenge. I enjoyed it, and like seeing other people's art. The cover challenge was fun, too. It's encouraging to have a cover, even if there's not much to go it it yet.
2. Anything you'd love us (i.e. the staff) to set up for the final week of June?
That boat has sailed. I'm waving from the quay.
3. What are your plans for July? Camp? JulNo? Something else?
Camp, JulNo,RoW80 and (maybe) also 50/90. Also sending my edited manuscript off to agents. Also, cutting down on my use of the word 'also'.
4. What do you think should happen on Steve during July? Camp/JulNo activities? Something focused on non-Campers?
It would be nice to parallel the Book Boot Camp in some way. Camp and JulNo have such active forums already that it might be nice to highlight something different. That said, I'm not taking part in the Boot Camp myself right now (I'll probably revisit the posts later, when I'm ready to edit my newest monster) so I will personally be talking Camp and JulNo in my posts this month.
5. Anything else you want to say?
Thanks for making Steve a great place to be. I'm glad I found you so (comparatively) early, as it will be interesting to be around as the place grows and develops. And I *will* be around - even if I seem to disappear now and then.
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