Novella-November
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Well. I have a feeling I’m about to have a million new followers. (March 31st, 2025; not an April Fool’s joke, unless Nanowrimo has very poor taste and timing)
Here’s a link that explains in long video format the whole entire thing in detail:
and to sum it up:
This blog was made as an Anti-Generative AI to Nanowrimo, as well as a way to actually build a friendly, low-pressure, helpful community of aspiring writers, without the hard-fast-do-it-or-die pressure brought on by nanowrimo.
There is no official “contest” – only a community coming together to inspire each other to write, help out with motivation by setting community goals, keeping participation motivation via Trackbear.app, etc!
The most popular writing challenge is still November for most people, but I myself have also started to keep a year-round, daily writing goal of 444 via the website 4thewords, which has been an extreme help in getting me to write a little at a time.
This year has been very hectic for everyone what with the election results so I haven’t been very active on tumblr (I think everyone can understand that) but I was originally planning on also having each month of the year being a different themed writing / art challenge but got a bit distracted real life.
So, what is the Novella November Challenge?
It’s a fun challenge where writers come together to write 30,000 (or your own personal writing goal!) words in 30 days, sharing tips, writing advice, plot ideas, accessibility aids, and committing to having fun while explicitly fighting back against Generative AI by using our own words and disavowing the use of scraping and generating to take away the livelyhoods of artists of all spectrums, and proving everyone who insists “generative AI is an accessibility tool” wrong by committing to our creative visions and making it easier for everyone to find the tools they need to succeed by sharing tips, free programs, and finding a like-minded community to support you! 💙
There is no official website, there is no required place to show your participation, this is a community initiative that will never be monetized by predatory sponsors or dangerous moderators abusing their power.
This blog is here to inspire everyone, regardless of experience level, to write and create the story they want to tell, in their own words, while striving to remain a fun, low-pressure challenge that doesn’t turn into a stressful spiral, like often happened with Nano.
Want to start writing but not sure how? Don’t have money to spend on expensive writing programs? Have no fear!
- LibreOffice: An always free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Word (and Microsoft’s other office suits)
- 4Thewords: A website (both desktop and mobile web browser) that syncs your writing cross platform to the cloud, with built-in daily word goals, streak tracking, and you can fight monsters with your word count to game-ify writing!
- Trackbear: A website dedicated to tracking your writing, setting custom goals, and creating leaderboards for community participation; you can join the year-long community leaderboard with the Join Code “f043cc66-6d5d-45b2-acf1-204626a727ba” and a November-limited one will release on November 1st as well.
Want to use Text to Speech to dictate your novel?
Most modern phones have a built-in option available on your keyboard settings which can be used on any writing program on your phone, and most modern PCs that allow a microphone (including headphone) connection has some kind of native dictation function, which you can find by opening your start panel and searching your computer for “Speech to text” or “voice to text”.
Want to write while on the go, but don’t want to / can’t use the small phone keyboard to type, or speech to text?
You can, for as cheap as $40, buy a bluetooth keyboard that you can pair with your smart phone or tablet and use to write in any and all writing applications on your phone – this allows you to write on the goal (especially using cross-platform websites or services, like 4thewords or google docs) , and the small screen can also help minimize distractions by muting notifications in your writing time.
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Hey i’m a fashion design student so i have tons and tons of pdfs and docs with basic sewing techniques, pattern how-tos, and resources for fabric and trims. I’ve compiled it all into a shareable folder for anyone who wants to look into sewing and making their own clothing. I’ll be adding to this folder whenever i come across new resources
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16uhmMb8kE4P_vOSycr6XSa9zpmDijZSd?usp=sharing
Updated just now with new hand sewing resources (mainly buttonholes) and textbook pdfs on fashion history, fashion illustration, and thinking through designs!
OP I owe you my life
OP you are the greatest person currently in my life. You beautiful, thoughtful creature.
(via autismmydearwatson)
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a scene can start wherever you want it to
writing isn’t real life. You don’t need to set up a character walking into a room or two characters greeting each other and talking about the weather or what-have-you in order to lead into the conversation you actually want them to have. just start at the conversation.
hell, start in the middle of the conversation. you could even start at the end and then have one of them leave and the other one left behind to reflect back on what just happened.
writing gets easier when you open yourself up to writing the parts that are interesting, to starting where it’s easy instead of where you think you should start.
if it ends up not working? that’s okay. you tried it, and sometimes just getting something out of your head is a necessary first step to getting the words right
(via mrlonelynobody)
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how i’m handling my students using AI to write papers:
-don’t accuse them on using AI from the get-go and instead ask them to informally define all the huge words that they used in their essay which i know they don’t know the meaning of
-ask to see their original file where they “wrote” the essay. go to version history to see if it was just copy and pasted and then just edited a bit. i keep an eye out for the shit like “certainly! here’s an essay about….”
-if they own up to it, they can re-do the assignment for a higher grade even if there will be an automatic penalty. if they don’t, i process it like plagiarism and get my supervisor involved.
And this is much better than the immediate accusations. Some students have a good vocabulary. Stop accusing them of faking their essays without proof, and this is a good way to check.
Fellow students please stop using AI, go back to promising not to kill the school nerd if they do all your homework or something.
(via rjalker)
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so as you might have guessed because I said I was camping in the woods to avoid getting sick:
someone in my household has covid unfortunately but we did manage to get them a Paxlovid subscription. theyâre uninsured, and even GoodRx coupons only brought the cost down to $1,300 USD.
I thought to check the drug manufacturer website and quickly signed up online through its portal and received a pharmacy card by email that lowered the cost to $0
There are also options for insured patients to dramatically lower their copays. Iâm in the U.S., and Iâm unsure whether this is applicable elsewhere, but I wanted to share this info on access to potentially lifesaving medication, for anyone it may help!
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you can click on this button once daily to help palestine and support other causes in the middle east for free. it takes literally 5 seconds and could help save lives so please take the time to click and share this link.
(via vulpinesaint)
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I know this is a joke but like, yeah. It is. I promise you.
See, I had graduated early from highschool and then got my associates in Zoology. But then, from ages 18-23, I was medicated with antipsychotics and (for those last two years) a deadly combo of sedatives due to misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, and then a psychiatrist who was legitimately on drugs and just writing random shit that almost killed me.
Anyway, needless to say, my brain turned to mush and stopped working, and it took me 6 years to get some sort of bachelors degree (in fashion??) and I graduated at the bottom of my class.
And then I got properly diagnosed (the âpsychosisâ was just narcolepsy) and got off all those meds. And I was so afraid my brain was permanently fucked. And it is, cause of the narcolepsy part, but the narcolepsy doesnât kill the parts of your brain where your smarts are.
But I went back to school. Got another bachelors studying sustainable tourism. Turns out my smarts hadnât gone anywhere when my brain turned to mush. I graduated with a 3.98 GPA.
Now Iâm getting my masters in biology studying the intersection of tourism and the conservation of the critically endangered Cozumel raccoon. And doing well. đ¤ˇđťââď¸
Your brain is not a muscle in the literal sense, but it is a muscle in the sense that the more you use it, the better developed it becomes. Not using it might make its usefulness dip for a bit, but that doesnât mean itâs gone forever. You might have to work your way back up, start with easier exercises (puzzles, creative exercises, critical thinking questions) before jumping back into the stuff you used to do, but like a couch to 5k slowly ramp up the difficulty and youâll get there in the end. No oneâs brains are useless, you just gotta meet âem where theyâre at.
(via dishsoapthe2nd)
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more character should have speech impediments &/or stutters. for me. for my specific benefit
not all speech impediments / stutters need “reasoning” btw. sometimes ppl just have them. you dont need to come up with some massive lore element to it lawl
(via anarchistmemecollective)
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From now until May 1, 50% of proceeds from sales of the Re: Dracula Audiobook and Re: Carmilla Supercut will be going to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund!
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hi, a lot of you need a perspective reset
- the average human lifespan globally is 70+ years
- taking the threshold of adulthood as 18, you are likely to spend at least 52 years as a fully grown adult
- at the age of 30 you have lived less than one quarter of your adult life (12/52 years)
- ‘middle age’ is typically considered to be between 45-65
- it is extremely common to switch careers, start new relationships, emigrate, go to college for the first or second time, or make other life-changing decisions in middle age
- it’s wild that I even have to spell it out, but older adults (60+) still have social lives and hobbies and interests.
- you can still date when you get old. you can still fuck. you can still learn new skills, fashionable, be competitive. you can still gossip, you can still travel, you can still read. you can still transition. you can still come out.
- young doesn’t mean peaked. you’re inexperienced in your 20s! you’re still learning and practicing! you’re developing social skills and muscle memory that will last decades!
- there are a million things to do in the world, and they don’t vanish overnight because an imaginary number gets too big
(via oncelerfucker)