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SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: July 30th, 2017, 10:11 am
by Ani-Mei
The general chat thread for this year's SimNaNoWriMo.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 4th, 2017, 10:38 am
by itsjulie
Okay so I want to take part in this ... but never having done it before I'm unaware of the rules and what each update needs to qualify

I've looked around and can't find anywhere that explains :hmm:
I'm being told different things by different people ... so can someone please clarify it for me.

how many pictures and many words per update / chapter??

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 4th, 2017, 2:28 pm
by Ani-Mei
This came up before, and the general consensus was that 20 pictures/slides was enough to make a update. It was manageable for everyone to only do 20 per update. Word count varied, I think for most they settled on between 500-1500 words I went with the 20 slides for my updates and it worked for me. I didn't bother to count the words.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 4th, 2017, 2:50 pm
by Jesslb429
Sorry to butt in. I just wanted to say, wasn't it 20 pictures/slides or 1000 words? Either/or kind thing? I think I remember it being that way to accomdate both word heavy/picture light and word light/picture heavy simmers. Again sorry to be a pain and butt into the middle.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 4th, 2017, 3:02 pm
by Ani-Mei
Yeah, actually now that I think about it. But it's not a set-in-stone rule, many people varied. I just found the 20 slides easier and the word count for them was secondary.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 4th, 2017, 3:06 pm
by Jesslb429
Okie dokie. I just wanted to make sure everyone has a fair shot. Especially with so many different writing styles.i get 20 images and 1000 words almost every time I update, but I hoard photos and do post dumps. But again, Sorry for butting in. There is still plenty of time to hammer out the exact details. Again again, sorry.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 4th, 2017, 3:21 pm
by Ani-Mei
No need to apologize, this is why we have a whole month to get things together.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 5th, 2017, 7:20 am
by itsjulie
Okay thanks ...

Slides I take it are Pictures :hmm:

writing wise i tend to get carried away - i do on average 10,000 words for most of my rainbowacy chapters - but obviously they take time - and i have to be careful because I am due into the hospital in September - and have an operation looming
so I think I'm going to stick to a challenge and go by the 20 pictures (something like my 102 rainbow babies) then hopefully I can squeeze it in.

and one more question (which I forgot to ask before) is it a minimum of 10 updates - or just as many as you can get done

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 5th, 2017, 9:16 am
by simfulicious
Julie-

Last year 10 updates got you the top prize...which I think is how they will do it this time too.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 5th, 2017, 10:32 am
by Livvielove
Yeah, I'm with you Julie, my chapters border on the supremely long side (counting for maybe 5-6 "updates" worth in length). I'm going to do some prewriting and see if MAYBE I can get ahead of this curve!

:shifty: hopefully that's ok if I do some prewriting for this...? I'd REALLY like to hit Gold this year and my mind is insisting I pick one of my "story" stories. If not I suppose I could go the challenge route too.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 5th, 2017, 1:19 pm
by Ani-Mei
You can practice all you want, there's no rule that says you can't. That's why we have all month to get ready. Like last year there are new medals for Bronze, Silver, and Gold level updates, Teresa wasn't feeling well so she will get around to putting up the new medals when she's better. I went with the 20 slides/pics because I tend to write a lot too and couldn't be bothered to count or restrict my words. It's better for me that way.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 6th, 2017, 6:32 pm
by Livvielove
I have a random question, but when I was looking at NaNoWriMo it had me wondering... what if we did a sort of "total" rather than "update to update" basis?
Like NaNo isn't "how many chapters" but rather "how many words."

Just a suggestion and that way people like Julie and I can use our big stories and not need to worry about splitting up our big chapters for our main stories!

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 6th, 2017, 7:01 pm
by Bailee
Hmm, this might be the motivation I need to actually finish a challenge, aha. Maybe I'll try with the story I have in the works right now.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 6th, 2017, 7:13 pm
by Ani-Mei
@Livie:

What exactly do you mean by total? NaNo is about words and SimNaNo is more like seeing how you can post updates within a set parameter. For me I went with my Rainbowcy which was already on its seventh generation when SimNaNo began. I managed to finish it with 15 small updates, sometimes long word heavy stories can get too long and breaking it into smaller parts still gets the same story out, it just takes a little longer. Think of it like writing for a 30 minute episode of a show, a huge movie length script would be too much for it. It's a challenge to see if you can condense your story but still include in everything you want.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 6th, 2017, 8:00 pm
by Livvielove
@Ani-Mei
I mean that I don't really write challenges. I actually write stories, and my chapters are, on average, 5,000 words in length and ~30-80 pictures.

So, in theory, you said there's 10 "updates" needed for gold, which would be roughly 200 pictures, I could accomplish that in roughly 2-3 updates (which usually take me longer), than someone just doing a challenge that may do it more in 10 updates or more. I usually update my stories once or twice a month (and average about out to that number)... so couldn't we fairly just say "if you hit this many pictures/words" by the end of the month (regardless of update size) that you could technically qualify for a bronze/silver/gold medal?

It's merely just a suggestion, but if you want an example I can tell you I managed five (somehow) updates last year and my totals were 25,561 words and 409 pictures.

So technically that's the same effort as someone who would do 10+ chapters for the NaNo that was only doing ~1000 words and 20 pictures each go, actually that's double.

I just thought that maybe if we did something like that it could appeal to writers like me (and maybe others, I just don't want to list people off the top of my head) who write stories with longer, larger chapters and more pictures... because not all of us do the challenge format and if anyone else is anything like me, they're not eager to cut their chapters into 3rds or 4ths just for the sake of having more updates.

I mean, I'll understand if it's still a no-go; it just feels a little unfair towards those with chapters like mine.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 6th, 2017, 8:57 pm
by Ani-Mei
Well I'm not quite sure what to say, I mean last year there was more help in getting things organized and the mods would talk among themselves to work things out. This year was halfway over before I realized that no one had said anything about setting it up again this year. So I'm kind of on my own here and I'm not sure how the longer pictured chapters were balanced with the update requirements for the medals.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 6th, 2017, 8:59 pm
by Mpart
@Ani-Mei and @Livvielove
Personally while I'm aware this isn't my place as my main story is currently on hold and the little one I'm writing fits within the rules for SimNaNoWriMo currently, I do tend to write more stories than challenge-based writing these days. Stopping a huge chapter in the middle in order to fulfill the update quota can feel a bit obnoxious on the readers end and in some cases, not make any sense. While I'm all for the idea of twenty picture updates counting as one, it puts writers like Livvielove at a disadvantage who write longer chapters due to the content inside of them. It's not about the fact she just doesn't want to split up chapters to manage more update for SimNaNoWriMo; it's that she's not able to with it still making sense to the readers.

EDIT: Sent that right after I refreshed the page. Whoops. If there was any possible way I could help with SimNaNoWriMo, I would be happy to! If you need any help and I could do it, please just ask.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 6th, 2017, 9:03 pm
by Livvielove
@Ani-Mei, well if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know!

I just wanted to put the suggestion out there so that the net could maybe be a bit wider for those who want to participate.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 6th, 2017, 9:16 pm
by Ani-Mei
Help would be nice, I would appreciate any ideas you guys have about managing the longer chapters to balance it with the updates. When I did it I managed, barely, to contain my story to the 20 slides/pics I had to break the story up for some and I didn't really want to.

Re: SimNaNoWriMo 2017 General Chat

Posted: August 6th, 2017, 9:29 pm
by Livvielove
Well, a good way we can go about it is by setting a general limit like...

Via 300 screenshots
OR
12,000 Words
OR
10 updates

(edit to add - we don't NEED to use these numbers, I just pulled them off the top of my head, and that would equate to "gold" and we could break it into 3 and then say 100 pictures/4000 words/1-4 updates = bronze and so on)

I already log my word count when I do my stories, but for people who don't there's really easy ways you can drop your chapters into word counters to check (if they choose to go that route) otherwise just keeping track of your screenshots/updates may work for others!
Also, where else can I help? Would you like me to jump in and help with general set-up? Create a general list of rules? I'm more than happy to! I just don't want to step on anyone's toes! :shifty: