NaPoWriMo - National Pony Writing Month - Short Story Edition

[Jeric 46,765]

 

NaNoWriMo / NaPoWriMo 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Authors and Potential Authors - Sharpen those pencils. 

 

 

What the hay is NaNoWriMo?

NaPoWriMo is one of the cooler traditions I have seen come from this fandom. What is it? How will we be modifying it? Why am I hearing these questions in my head when I am still writing this post? Welp, while I deal with that existential crisis let me explain. NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is a month long marathon of writing that tries to motivate authors to complete an initial novel manuscript draft in 30 days. The point is not to make a finished and polished novel, but to write furiously and end up with a complete story. The official mission statement of NaNoWriMo is this 

 

Quote

National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November.
 

NaNoWriMo believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.

 

 

It is a crazy challenge to write 50,000 words of anything coherent, but it does help some writers learn how to craft a story. It also is a strange challenge that can drive you to fall in love with the idea of writing and creating your own stories. I know a few who took it up just to say they did it, only to have the wordsmith bug bite them. 

 

 

 

What the hay is NaPoWriMo then?

Glad you asked random purple words on my screen! This is the pony version of the famous writing challenge, with several changes. Gone is the minimum of 50k words. No novel. Also we are going to have a list of theme's or prompts to help you all focus on something cool. We all lead busy lives, and writing 1700 words a day for 30 days is daunting for any writer. Not only that, but who wants to write up something original from scratch when you have a wonderful fantasy world sandbox to play in!  Okay that last one was hard for me to say with a straight face, but you get the idea. Write a short pony fanfic. Yeah there are specifics but that's basically it. 

 

So here is the rundown in simple to read bullet points. 

• Write a short story at least 250 to 10,000 words. 
• Start the story on November 1, 2019 and finish it by the end the month. 
• This should be a complete first draft only. Do not worry about editing or revision it. Just get your story done. 
• The story does need to follow a theme and stay without that theme (this will be revealed on Halloween)
• The story must be Pony related
• The story cannot be a clop fic or have saw level gore. That said, there is a difference between sexy romance and porn fics. 
• The story must have an end, or rather can stand on its own as a complete work. It cannot be a serialized part of a larger story. 
• It must be something new that you started
• Collabs are acceptable as long as both are credited. 
• Don't troll create a story and call it done. 
• Don't plagiarize or I send a swarm of flyders to your house! 

 

We are going to have more fic related activities like this going forward, and I personally hope that a few of you decide to take up this challenge. For those that complete this challenge in November you will be given a special award badge. This will be a limited version of this and will be custom to each individual. Remember, this isn't supposed to be for the seasoned fic author alone. There is a saying that everyone has one good story in them waiting to come out. What's yours?

 

Theme will be posted in a few days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Early Sunsets 2,096]

Is 10,000 a hard cap on the maximum word count, or is there room for play? I struggle with word counts because I tend to drag out my stories a lot. For example, I'm working on a fic that was originally supposed to be 75k words, and I'm up to 150k right now and it's barely halfway done.

[KH7672 1,598]

Hmm, well I did have an idea for the short story finale thread a few weeks ago that I never got around to fulfilling. Maybe this will be the chance to tackle it once and for all. We'll see how much my schedule allows but who knows maybe keeping to a strict schedule and with only 300 at most a day won't be too bad.

May finally be time to make "My Fair Pinkie" a reality 

[Cash In 18,678]

And that has got to be the most absurd name I've heard in a long time. Anyways, I'd love to give this a shot, though November is bound to be very busy for me. We'll have to see what happens.

[Shadicus 18,937]

Oh man... I’m really tempted. But unlike my visual art I’m like... SUPER self conscious about my writing. My drawings are great! My writing is... ehhhh...

Hrmmmm... 

I really wanna...

3 hours ago, Beetlejeric said:

Don't plagiarize or I send a swarm of flyders to your house!

LOL! That is the perfect punishment for all art thieves.

Edited October 28, 2019 by ShadOBabe

[Lord Valtasar 12,651]

certainly something i'm interested in, i've been waiting for this for quite a while, don't know if i'll find the time to go all out, but i'll try and have at least a short story

[Totally Lyra 34,889]

I may have to give this a shot. There's a fanfic idea I've had for a while now that might finally see the light of day... if it fits the theme of course.

[Goat-kun 2,421]

And thus the pungent knob pressed timidly against the swollen fruit, warm and succulent. Sweet seed of innocence the fruit had stored within its velvet depths, yet the sleeping sprout could only be teased out by searing fierceness of a sin most dire.

 

Yeah, I'm probably gonna pass.

[Jeric 46,765]

16 hours ago, Spooker said:

Is 10,000 a hard cap on the maximum word count, or is there room for play? I struggle with word counts because I tend to drag out my stories a lot. For example, I'm working on a fic that was originally supposed to be 75k words, and I'm up to 150k right now and it's barely halfway done.

Not really though at that point that’s a full on novel! If someone wants to go that all out then more power to them 

2 hours ago, Goat-kun said:

And thus the pungent knob pressed timidly against the swollen fruit, warm and succulent. Sweet seed of innocence the fruit had stored within its velvet depths, yet the sleeping sprout could only be teased out by searing fierceness of a sin most dire.

 

 

 

Yeah, I'm probably gonna pass.

 

You sure? That kinda stuff apparently is big money. Fifty Shades of Goat! 

[Jeric 46,765]

13 hours ago, ShadOBabe said:

Oh man... I’m really tempted. But unlike my visual art I’m like... SUPER self conscious about my writing. My drawings are great! My writing is... ehhhh...

Hrmmmm... 

I really wanna...

LOL! That is the perfect punishment for all art thieves.

Go for it. This isn’t a contest where people will judge you or your writing. It’s about finishing up a story. 

[Ganondorf8 10,843]

Even though I have been writing a new story, there is no way it can be finished by the end of next month. Even then, it's the third entry in a series of mine so I guess that further puts it out of contention. Oh well. I suppose in my own mind, I can pretend that I'm taking part even though I can't since my story doesn't fit the proper criteria.

[Goat-kun 2,421]

2 hours ago, Princess of Hell said:

You sure? That kinda stuff apparently is big money. Fifty Shades of Goat! 

One day perhaps. Writing in this style is hard enough, but writing it in a way that won't get it deleted from Poniverse is even harder. I'd just write something that's more in line with my usual stuff, though I suspect the theme will be something about Luna, so I'll just drop everything and go play videogames instead

[PoisonClaw 8,134]

Oooh, this could be just what i need to shake off my writer's block and get writing again. Or flounder horribly, who knows?

[Brony Number 42 8,672]

More like Fifty Shades of Rainbow.

[Snow 5,285]

Better be post apocalyptic

[McFlurryMaddie 266]

Ooooohhh... Seems interesting! Will definitely give it to a shot. I'm probably collaborating with my friend(s) because there's no way I'll get it done on my own. 

[Aribts123 33]

Great stuff I'll be joining.. Got some good ideas ❤️👍🏻

[Jeric 46,765]

Okay so it’s time to get that Theme going right? 
 

It may be Nightmare Night but I It isn’t Nightmare Night themed. Noop. We did that once. Some great horror stuff came from it. But this is November. 
 

There are actually two themes (or rather prompts) for this project, because one will be focused on the last episodes of the show and some of you are behind, I decided to not force people to write into something they may not have seen. Without further ado 

 

Prompt one - Any story with any characters set in the time frame between End of the End Part 2 and Last Problem.

Genre, POV, OC’s, etc are wide open. And yes you may also play around the edges of what is “cannon”. If it wasn’t explicit ... you have free reign. 
 

Alternate prompt - A conversation with a stranger.

You are free to interpret that as you will. Perhaps it is two OC’s that have a silly back and forth at the post office. Maybe a Canterlot Royal Guard and a tourist. Time period and characters are wide open. 
 

Tonight I will be posting the way you submit your story, but if you do not have a FiMFiction account, it’s time to make one. 
 

 

 

[Early Sunsets 2,096]

Ooh, the first prompt works really well for a story idea I wanted to write months ago, but I got caught up in another fic and haven't had time. This is the perfect excuse to get started on it. It's almost certainly gonna break 10k words, though.

[Lord Valtasar 12,651]

ooh! i like both prompts, so i'll probably combine them in one story, we'll see

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,679]

...I'm gonna need time to think this over; I've had an idea for a story since February and I wanna decide whether I can fudge it within the parameters of the second prompt... (Especially when I don't have power at my place...)

[Goat-kun 2,421]

.........................................................

[Totally Lyra 34,889]

I think I'll end up passing on this one unfortunately. The story I want to write when I finally find the motivation doesn't quite fit into either of those prompts. The story itself is mostly fleshed out in my mind already, and bending it to fit those would be just a little more than it can take. This one will see the light of day eventually though.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Ideas. Flowing. Can’t. Stop. Thinking. Head. Hurts. Need. Theme. Now. To. Thin. Out. Cloud. Of. Ideas. 

[Shadicus 18,937]

I think I have a story that can work with the first prompt. Starring Celestia (I’m predictable) and one of the Mane Six (not telling).