About NaNoCoMotition

[Beladara]

Inspired by a friendly challenge put to myself and DameBoudicca by our very own maitressekatje, we bring you NaNoCoMotition!!


Here's the basics:

When is NaNoCoMotition?
NaNoComotition, for now at least, occurs once a month and the stages of it (mostly preparation in its current form) are spread over the course of that month.


What is the goal?
To write as much as possible on a certain topic in 30 minutes.


What is the topic?
The topic is decided by vote every month and could range for anything to everything. The only stipulation on it, for now, is that the topic must be suitable for all ages. If there is a demand for it then an Adult version of NaNoCoMotition may be ran in parallel in the future.

Topics can be suggested by anyone. Judges, non-competitors and those intending to complete. They can also be voted on by anyone as well.


Who judges NaNoCoMotition?
Two judges are voted in from a list of nominees/volunteers. If you are nominated to be a judge you don't, of course, have to accept the nomination. You will only be a judge if you wish to do so. Also, as I'm sure it goes without saying, judges are not permitted to participate in the NaNoCoMotition they are judging.

In the event of a tie with the two judges, one of us admin will act as a tie-breaker. With that in mind, there will always be at least one admin who is not participating in the competition.


How are the winners decided?
Currently there are two categories for winning:

1) Most words in 30 minutes
2) Most entertaining story on given topic

The winners are chosen at the judges' discretion. Their decisions are final. We ask that you do not pester the judges in regards to their decision and - especially so - that you keep in mind that this is all in the name of fun.


Are there any prizes?
Glory! Immortalisation in the NaNoCoMotition Hall of Fame! Money? No. it's all for a bit of fun - though you will get rewarded with a certificate for your efforts. Also, feel free to treat yourself to cookies and/or cake and instruct all your buddies to pat you on the back (you might like to ask them to put down their cookies and cake first though, or it could get quite messy).


You said that there were stages of it over the course of the month. What is the schedule?
Week 1: Judge Nominations/Volunteering and Topic Suggestions
Week 2: Topic/Judge Voting
Week 3: Competition Registration
Week 4: Write for 30 minutes on The Topic and submit to both judges via PM or EMail by midnight (local time) of the end of week 4.

Week 3 is your chance to sign up. You may see the topic and think you can't do it or feel inspired to suddenly decide to do it. Either way, if you don't put your name on the list of participants during week 3, you can't compete.

Submissions will be read and judged, with a decision made within a week of the closing date.


How do judges decide what story is 'most entertaining'?
Creativity and Cleverness - Break the mould! Manage to write a unique spin on the topic with your story and earn more points. This includes twists and plot creativity within the story itself. 20 points.

Entertainment Value - How enjoyable is the story? Is it exciting? Or is it a 30 minute essay on the drying of paint? 20 points.

Staying on Topic - How close to the topic are you? Easy enought o get full points in this one. 20 points.

Writing Prowess - Spelling. Vocabulary. How well written is the story? Remember, you're allowed a small amount of time to 'edit' the story once you're done, so long as you don't effect your word count in doing so. 20 points.

Completeness - Pick up extra points for 'wrapping up' your story. This doesn't have to be a climactic ending, nor does it need to be something grand and special and thought provoking. However, if you can give a certain feeling of 'closure' to the story, you'll get more points for this. 20 points.

This gives a total out of 100 points. Those with the most points wins!



I think that more or less covers it for now. Any other questions can be posted her or PMed to me or DameBoudicca. We'll respond to you directly and - depending on the question - add it to this FAQ.

[Anna-wa]

Oh no.

Don't tell me this is going to replace National Novel Continuing Month?

[phoenix.writing]

From what I've read here, NaNoCoMotition is another NaNoCoMo challenge--like the 20-minutes/per day war that you proposed, Anna-wa--that NaNoCoMo-ers can choose to participate in or not as they desire. Aside from voting on the topics, etc., it actually only involves one 30-minute war in the month--leaving plenty of time for us to be writing whatever we desire and still trying to meet our own monthly goals

[DameBoudicca]

Yes Phoenix is right, this is another challenge - after all the only amount of time spent on writing for each month would be 30 minutes and we're guessing you will be writing more than that in a whole month!

[phoenix.writing]

A few questions:

Are we allowed to proofread after our 30 minutes? Literally just to fix typos? Or do we have to build that into our 30 minute time if we want to check it for spelling?

Do our submissions have to include the word/topic that is chosen, or can they be simply inspired by and theoretically actually not mention the topic directly? (I've no idea how likely that is, but you never know.)

Do you expect something reasonably complete after thirty minutes, or can it be incomplete?

Will any/all submissions be posted afterwards?

[Beladara]

Some good questions, phoenix!!

Are we allowed to proofread after our 30 minutes? Literally just to fix typos? Or do we have to build that into our 30 minute time if we want to check it for spelling?
Yes - spell checking is permitted after the 30min gap. However anything that would affect the word count is not, in the name of fairness.


Do our submissions have to include the word/topic that is chosen, or can they be simply inspired by and theoretically actually not mention the topic directly?
Mentioning the topic directly isn't essential unless the topic is (as some have been suggested so far) a kind of quote or 'line' to work with. I would allow these to be manipulated slightly to fit better, so long as they convey the same idea.

As for the more generic topics: they don't need to be mentioned directly, but I would expect the story to be pretty easily connected to the topic. Judges have the right to disqualify anyone who doesn't meet the topic.

Obviously, the closer you are to the topic the better for you.


Do you expect something reasonably complete after thirty minutes, or can it be incomplete?
Completion is far from essential. Perhaps an unfinished challenge will even become something more?


Will any/all submissions be posted afterwards?
This is 100% at the discretion of the author. I plan on having a kind of 'hall of fame' where submissions can be seen. However if an author doesn't want their work shown to other members then there is no necessity for this to be done. No pressure will be put on the author to do one or the other.

[phoenix.writing]

Excellent. Thanks

[phoenix.writing]

Erm, just to check:

If Thursday is the last day that we can sign up, then Friday must be the beginning of week four. Are we supposed to be doing our thirty minutes this Friday the 23rd?

And we're to PM them to the judges? E-mail them?

Just want to make sure that I know what's going on

[Beladara]

Phoenix - you ask some of the best questions!

If Thursday is the last day that we can sign up, then Friday must be the beginning of week four. Are we supposed to be doing our thirty minutes this Friday the 23rd?

Precisely.

And we're to PM them to the judges? E-mail them?
Can't believe I didn't cover this one already. Thanks for asking!! Submissions can be done by either PM or EMail (by clicking the email link under someone's post).

[phoenix.writing]

Thanks

So by midnight my time on the 23rd I will e-mail/PM my submission to you, Beladara, and to Dave, right?

[NutmegAngel]

Does it matter if I do it early or possibly slightly late (just a day, I should be able to do it Saturday if I can't do it Friday)? It's a little crazy with exams, but I need to write a short story for the school newspaper, so I may as well do it for this as well as the newspaper.

[zDave40]

I'll be looking for them. I will get an e-mail announcement if you PM them, so I will find it here on the site, or in my e-mail, either one.

I'm glad I read this. I wasn't expecting any until next week, but I guess they could arrive as soon as Friday.

I'm working Thursday through Monday because this is Memorial Day weekend, sort of like your Victoria Day, I guess. Every one of the other guides is rushing off on a mini-vacation , leaving the two of us with the least seniority to lead all the tours for five days. But all the bosses are away, too!

[rayelynnlee]

Checking my understanding here...we can do the 30 minutes starting on Friday but we have until the end of wk 4 to do it right? Like we don't have to do it Friday, just by the end of the week. Right?

[phoenix.writing]

I'm pretty sure we have to do it on Friday according to the rules, because the rest of week four is supposed to be for the judges to judge them....

Maybe since there's been a bit of confusion about this first one, Beladara would fudge the rules a little...? Give everyone 'til Sunday night at midnight, say? Because then, since May has 31 days, the judges would still have six days to judge?

[Beladara]

The principal is, as Phoenix says, more to give the judges plenty of time to review the submissions and come to a decision.

On the basis that: 1) there are exams and 2) there is some confusion, I'll extend it to Saturday this time around.


On that note, this is the first run of this. I expected glitches and relatively bumpy running. If a 2-day window is too tight for all participants to write in, I have other ideas in mind that we can explore