History MediaNotes / NaNoWriMo

* ChandlersLaw: "If all else fails, have a band of ninjas attack somebody" is ''official'' advice for writers at a loss for material to further their novel's word count.
** or Mr. Ian Woon [[SignificantAnagram (which is an anagram of "[=NaNoWriMo=]")]].
** or [[ShovelStrike The Traveling Shovel of Death]]
** or a [[SiegeEngines Trebuchet]]
** or [[DeathTrap drown someone in ketchup]]

* DisSimile and {{Metaphorgotten}}: Two of the ways that Nanoisms can manifest in a novel.

* IJustWriteTheThing: A common discussion topic on the forums.

* KnightTemplar: [[GlorySeeker Knights of NaNoWriMo]]

* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: ... actually, no one really cares if you do, either. There is even a forum just for "Nano Rebels". In a sense, [=NaNoers=] are actively ''encouraged'' to "cheat" by artificially inflating their wordcounts--''No Plot? No Problem'', the semi-official handbook by Chris Baty, [=NaNoWriMo=]'s creator, offers several tips on how to do this.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Nanowrimo, as an exercise, rewards the high energy and creative abandon of a "Performer" mindset, but this difference is still present in the "Planner" and "Pantser" camps. Planners [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin completely plan out their novel in advance]], and their creative energy goes into filling out their outline with vigor. Pantsers will "fly by the seat of their pants," perhaps with a couple of ideas in hand, but mainly charging forward on November 1 with no idea whatsoever of what they will create. There's a third camp between the two called "Plantsers," which are people who have a few of the big beats and general idea of a story's direction planned out, but how it's going to get there is going to be made up on the fly. And most Nanoers are happy to change their strategy if it helps them win or seems more fun.
* TheInsomniac: Most [=NaNoers=] become this pretty quickly!
* [[ForumSpeak Thread Hopping]]: When the quick reply method was still around, some users would just read the first post, scroll to the quick reply section of the page, and reply without reading any of the other responses, especially for threads of the "share with the group" nature.

* DumbBlonde - Bea and Carol.
--> '''Jen:''' Haven't you always wanted to write a book?
--> '''Carol:''' Not in a month.
--> '''Bea:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Not while I'm single.]]
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Victoria says this about her fellow ML Andrew, and even her ''real'' boyfriend Dave makes fun of her for it.
* HumanityIsInsane - At least the part that is devoted to [=NaNoWriMo=] (which is all of the cast except Dave).

* MinimalistCast - In 2010, only four characters are ever named: Dave, Rob, Jen and Victoria the ML.
** Averted in 2011: now we also see [[AliceAndBob Andrew, Bea]] and Carol.
* MissingEpisode - A good deal of 2010 daily [=NaNoToons=] are hosted only on [[http://www.torontonano.org/v2/?tag=nanotoons the Toronto NaNo website.]]
* PiratesWhoDontDoAnything - The 2012 [=NaNoToons=] joke that the characters don't seem to be writing very much.
* TwoGamersOnACouch - Dave and Rob.

The idea behind National Novel Writing Month is that many of us have at least one book inside of us, but we're too lazy to spend the time to write it, or simply get overcome by the scope of it all--so it ultimately never materializes. [=NaNoWriMo=] challenges that, by encouraging participants to throw caution to the wind and [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants write without revising]], without obsessing over what they're writing, but to just get the words ''out''. (There'll be plenty of time to edit it after the month is up.)

[[http://www.nanowrimo.org Official site,]] a project of Creator/TheOfficeOfLettersAndLight.

%% The referenced link is broken since they switched to their new website design. This is being commented out for now, but can be easily un-commented later when they get the kinks of the new website worked out.
%% The Nano website has a list of [[http://www.nanowrimo.org/published-wrimos published NaNoWriMo Novels]].

%% Note that because Nanowrimo completely reboots/relaunches their site every October, any URLs to Nanowrimo pages (e.g. forum posts) get broken in the process. URL's from previous Nanowrimo years may still work, but they're archived under

* PiratesWhoDontDoAnything - The 2012 NaNoToons joke that the characters don't seem to be writing very much.

* TheWikiRule: The (unofficial) [[http://www.wikiwrimo.org/wiki/Main_Page WikiWrimo]] wiki.

** Some users set a personal goal of a "Double Nano" (100,000 words in 30 days!) or more -- 200,000? 500,000? Yup. So far, the absolute record is someone writing ''1,500,000'' words in November 2014, which quite literally amounts to writing 50,000 every '''day'''. It was so high, the counters on the site plain refused to show that.

* NoPronunciationGuide: It can be pronounced Na-No-Rye-Mo, or Na-No-Ree-Mo. The official FAQ used to state that the former was correct, but the latter was still acceptable.

[[http://www.nanowrimo.org/ Official site]], a project of Creator/TheOfficeOfLettersAndLight.

** Some users set a personal goal of a "Double Nano" (100,000 words in 30 days!) or [[UpToEleven more]] -- 200,000? 500,000? Yup. So far, the absolute record is someone writing ''1,500,000'' words in November 2014, which quite literally amounts to writing 50,000 every '''day'''. It was so high, the counters on the site plain refused to show that.

* FilkSong: [[http://www.wikiwrimo.org/wiki/NaNoWriMo_Songs Complete list.]]

* TVTropesWillRuinYourLife: And your wordcount, too. Seriously, try writing 1,667 words a day when you're already [[WikiWalk spending two hours here]] wondering what, exactly, makes trope X take form Y in scene Z.

* PostCount: Some of the best-known [=NaNoWriMo=] forumgoers are the ones with the highest post counts. The [=NaNoWriMo=] forum has an entire subforum devoted to procrastination, which is filled with games and conversation threads. Some users use these threads simply to increase their post counts.

* ThreadHopping: When the quick reply method was still around, some users would just read the first post, scroll to the quick reply section of the page, and reply without reading any of the other responses, especially for threads of the "share with the group" nature.

* ThreadNecromancy: Strongly encouraged in [[GreatBigLibraryOfEverything Reference Desk]] and [[TipsOnGrammar Writing 101]]!

* CosmeticAward: The first and foremost prize for completing [=NaNoWriMo=] is ... the mere satisfaction of completing one's novel. And a purple word count meter.
** Some of Nanowrimo's ''sponsors'', on the other hand, offer slightly more tangible prizes for winning, such as [=CreateSpace=] offering to print up two free copies of the winner's manuscript, and Scrivener offering a 50% discount off their software's purchase price.

The Nano website has a list of [[http://www.nanowrimo.org/published-wrimos published NaNoWriMo Novels]].

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Nanowrimo, as an exercise, rewards the high energy and creative abandon of a "Performer" mindset, but this difference is still present in the "Planner" and "Pantser" camps. Planners [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin completely plan out their novel in advance]], and their creative energy goes into filling out their outline with vigor. Pantsers will "fly by the seat of their pants," perhaps with a couple of ideas in hand, but mainly charging forward on November 1 with no idea whatsoever of what they will create. And most Nanoers are happy to change their strategy if it helps them win or seems more fun.

** or Mr. Ian Woon [[SignificantAnagram (which is an anagram of "NaNoWriMo")]].

* InJoke: Many, including the terms "nanoism" (bloopers that occur while writing) and "persimmons" (see MemeticMutation). There is also the character Mr. Ian Woon, a SignificantAnagram of "NaNoWriMo".

* {{Portmantitle}}: the official nickname NaNoWriMo falls somewhere between "portmanteau" and "acronym".
* PostCount: Some of the best-known [=NaNoWriMo=] forumgoers are the ones with the highest post counts. The NaNoWriMo forum has an entire subforum devoted to procrastination, which is filled with games and conversation threads. Some users use these threads simply to increase their post counts.

* HumanityIsInsane - At least the part that is devoted to NaNoWriMo (which is all of the cast except Dave).

"NoPlotNoProblem" is their slogan.

** Writing nonfiction, a collection of short stories, a memoir, or a script (they had [[ScriptFrenzy another event for that last one]]).

[[quoteright:143:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nanowrimo2.gif]]
[[caption-width-right:143:Thirty days and nights of literary abandon!]]

* ConstrainedWriting: The entire point of the challenge is to see if you can write a 50'000 word novel in the spank of only a month.

* ConstrainedWriting
* CosmeticAward: The first and foremost prize for completing Nanowrimo is ... the mere satisfaction of completing one's novel. And a purple wordcount meter.

* {{Determinator}}: anyone who actually finishes a novel. Writing 1,667 words a day may not seem very hard, but doing it ''every day, for a whole month'' (especially a month with a holiday and new television season) takes dedication!

* TVTropesWillRuinYourLife: and your wordcount, too. Seriously, try writing 1667 words a day when you're already [[WikiWalk spending two hours here]] wondering what, exactly, makes trope X take form Y in scene Z.

* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: "no plot, no problem" is the semi-official motto.