NoAltWriMo
A far from complete list of NaNoWriMo alternatives
Image by EFF Photos, used with a Creative Commons license
Introduction
I'd already been looking for NaNoWriMo alternatives because of last year's clusterfuck (CW: Predatory behavior of a moderator towards minors, among other nasty things) but this year's AI bullshit has pushed me to get off butt and actually look for other things to do. This is what I've turned up after a couple of weeks of searching around. It's mainly pulled from fediverse tags, tumblr, r/Naniwrimo, and some random internet searches. I'm not on Bluesky, Twitter, or Threads, and I'm not very active on Discord, lemmy / kbin, or Youtube, so I'm probably missing some stuff from those places.
Since the AI bullshit happened recently, some of these alternatives aren't up and running yet. If you're interested in them, I'd bookmark them and check in on them every so often. If you know of an interesting community, event, or tool that's not on the list, leave a comment to let other people know about it!
The Story So Far
- The Great NaNo Clusterfuck of 2023 - Many, many CW's, check the r/Hobbydrama thread for a full list
- The associated r/Hobbydrama thread
- The Great NaNo AI Fuckup of 2024
- How to Delete your NaNoWriMo account
Word Trackers
- Trackbear - A free, privacy-centric word tracker app. While it doesn't have forums, it does have leaderboards, which can be used to track writing goals for a group of friends or a community.
- Nano by Brena (@brena@mas.to) - An ad-free, private goal tracker.
- Pacemaker - Another tracking website. Most features require a paid subscription, though it has a free tier.
- Wifebiter's DIY NaNo Spreadsheet - A simple, Google Docs-based tracker spreadsheet that can be copied to your drive.
- NovProg - An open source, offline word tracker for Windows and Linux.
- Alex Penland's worksheets
NaNoWriMo Counterprogramming
Novel / Novella Writing Challenges
- WritingMonth.orgby Amin (@amin@polymaths.social- UNDER CONSTRUCTION! An alternative to NaNoWriMo, with goal trackers and a community focus. Will include alternate goals, such as writing a novella, or writing a blog post every day. Will use the fediverse tag #WritingMonth.
- Your November Novel - Another alternative, this one aimed at the tumblr writing community. Has a sign-up form, a word tracker spreadsheet, and (eventually) an official tumblr community.
- Novella November - Spend November writing a novella, (or a comic, or video game, or -) in your words, any way you can. This blog hasn't been around very long, but it already has tons of prompts and ideas for community challenges.
- Writing 100k words in Q4? by Kate Cavanaugh Writes- A longer but less strenuous alternative to the usual 50k words in a month - 100k words split across October, November, and December.
- Writing Month Of (WRIMOO) - A semi-annual writing challenge. Two big writing events will take place each March and September, with smaller challenges year round. Community is Discord / Instagram based.
- Rough Draft Month - Spend November making a rough draft of your work. Has communities across multiple platforms, a choice of word goals, and a trackbear leaderboard.
Alternative Challenges
- Queer Winter Writing Challenge - Less a writing challenge, and more a "develop healthy writing habits" challenge, aimed at queer writers. Will run from Nov 1 - Jan 31.
- November Write More Month (Tumblr / Substack) - Will publish encouragement and writing prompts every day in November.
- 5 NaNoWriMo Alternatives! by ShaelinWrites - Five alternative challenges, including writing a poem a day, a short story a week, and the half NaNoWriMo.
Articles and Megalists
- 16 alternatives to NaNoWriMo to help you write more (article)
- Mega Thread 2.0 for Nano Alternatives from r/Nanowrimo
- NaNoWriMo alternatives to keep you writing in the off-season (article) - This is aimed more at NaNo participants, but can still be used to create a personalized writing goal for any month of the year.
Communities
Websites amd Forums
- r/Nanowrimo - The unofficial NaNiWriMo subreddit. Since the scandals of the past three years, also a good place to find NaNo alternatives.
- Absolute Write - A traditional internet forum aimed at writers.
- Plotterati - UNDER CONSTRUCTION! - Once complete, will have community forums and various writing events.
- Agora - UNDER CONSTRUCTION! A newish site that offers a writing forum and anonymous writing feedback.
Finding Communities
Note: There are tons of writing Discords and forums out there. I don't have the time or energy to go through all of them, so this is going to be more about the process of finding a community than recommending any particular one. If you know of any good communities, leave a comment so other people can find them!- Shut Up & Write - Allows you to search for In-Person and Zoom meetups.
- NoNoWriMo.org - Not the Official Novel Writing Month - UNDER CONSTRUCTION! - Links to independent (unaffiliated with NaNo) regional writing groups.
- WriNow - Another site for finding regional writing groups.
- DISBOARD - A searchable public discord list.
- Matrixrooms.info - Search through public Matrix rooms.
- Tumblr post from a former NaNo ML (Regional Organizer) about finding groups for your region
- R/Nanowrimo thread with a bunch of writing Discords
- Rant: Looking for a New community - Another suggestion / advice thread about finding communities.
- how to find a writing community so you don't feel alone by charlee rae writes - Video discussing why you need a writing community and how to find one.
This post originally appeared on City of the Singing Flame