This year, I've asked a region of a similar size as us if they were interested in having a Word War. Turns out the closest to us in wordcount last year was New Zealand. As in, the whole thing. Past year they were only out by one thousand or so, compared with the next closest folks who were up ten thousand. Or one million. I forget.
I've taken the liberty of sending an inquisitive nanomail to one of their MLs, and it seems like they're interested. Now the question is: does Vancouver have game? ;)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE 29/10: Now taking volunteers for positions in Team Vancouver. We're going to start with 20 and extend if we have enough for both sides. The exact scoring details of the war is still to be decided. To sign up as part of the team, send me a Nanomail letting me know. We are seeking a team Captain for some cheerleading and such.
UPDATE 02/11: We have 19 people on the team, but NZ still has a queue! Do the Hobbits really have that much more writing spunk than us?
UPDATE 03/11: Word war tracker available: http://www.vancowrimo.ca/wctest/ It doesn't seem to refresh all the time and isn't completely accurate, thanks to the Nano API being full of fail lately. Oh well, it's better than nothing, I guess, and saves me having to make a new one. =D
UPDATE 08/11: Word war chart moved to production, non-test-y place. Now available here: http://www.vancowrimo.ca/wordwar/
Team Vancouver
Captain: Xore
- achooo
- Aibi
- pwinkle
- rilwyn
- jesskabear
- MysteriousAges
- txr13
- techno_writer
- Sue___b
- Jennerosity
- Shamera
- Lady Kabe
- Tweetyiscool29
- ReikoOhashi
- jamtjr
- abulia
- highnez
- Tanessa
- SheaKoshan
- elcgraney
- itmustbecarly
- Dia Star
- cmiller27
- TheScienceNerd
- Drakkonn
- SheerPurity
- William.T.Stanley
- Crowsfoot
Wait list - Pending numbers confirmation. (I really should find a team-tracking tool. | :)
Wait list non-empty
----------
ML for Canada :: BC :: Vancouver
10,875 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 21 46
I will sit out this year. I didn't enjoy the battle against the Toronto spam-bot last year.
Those with a fire and competitive spirit I really encourage to participate though. Its a great motivation to push out a few thousand extra words a day.
0 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 21 54
how does a word war work out? I don't really understand it, the out by 1000 bit... Is it like we were only 1000 apart from being tied with New Zealand?
It sounds interesting though! Where do we sign up? Here? Or do we go to the New Zealand region to do it?
50,201 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 21 55
I've asked if they'd be willing to try a different format: average wordcount per wrimo. I didn't sign up last uear because I was worried I would run out of steam halfway through again. This way, everyone's words count and anyone can make a difference.
----------I'd like to hear what you guys think of this idea.
ML for Canada :: BC :: Vancouver
43,011 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 22 15
I'm in. Regardless of the format we go with.
I'll make at least 50,000 words but I'm aiming for closer to 60,000.
For the newbies - last year we did two types of word wars.
1) We took part in a challenge with Toronto. Participants signed up and at the end of November we tallied their word countsto see which city wrote the most words.
2) The other type of word wars was local and a lot of fun. We have an IRC channel where you can join the online conversation with other writer's in Metro Vancouver. During the conversations anyone can start a word war. they usually run 15-20 minutes and the goal is to write as many words as you can before the bot calls times-up. It's a great tool to use when you're running into a story-block and can't think what tho write next. There's no time to think, you just write and the stuff that comes out is incredible.
30,500 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 22 37
Because I know there are a lot of new participants this year, I thought I'd do a quick overview of the reasons for word wars and the different formats they take. (I had a much more witty and well thought out post but an errant click on my laptop made it go disappear). Many people find that word wars are a fun way to integrate competition into NaNoWriMo thus increasing the motivation for reaching or surpassing 50,000 words in November. It can also provide you with an opportunity to get to know participants in other regions when you go over to their regional forums to
talk smacksay a friendly 'hello' and deliverfailedstunning ascii art creations, like I did last year :DSign up method
Like Sue said, we did this last year against Toronto. You get an equal number of participants to sign up and then you pit your team's collective word count against the other team. Were it not for an aberrant teenager who shall remain nameless, the challenge would have been much closer between Vancouver and Toronto. But, in the end it's all ok. After all, they are stuck with the Leafs.
Average method
With this method, everyone who is homed to your region participates and the area with the highest average word count wins.
Those are pretty much the basics. Some regions like to add on some other fun stuff like side wagers - losers sing the winning regions song, make a donation in the name of the other region, etc. Some areas also have a particularly enthusiastic participant volunteer as a "Word War Captain" to help cheer people on, but I think that's probably mostly relevant when you have a team approach.
What do you guys think? I'm totally in for it this year, though I think I'll be steering clear of all attempts at art, ascii or otherwise!
----------I'm only happy when I'm plotting!
35,914 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 22 53
Ah ha ha! angrysunbird here, one of Wellington's MLs here to administer the first of the cross-Pacific tauntings! Come on if you think you're hard enough! You don't scare us with all your trees and wolves and loons and your loonies and your hokey and tooks and poutine! We have trees and hobbits and kiwis and the All Blacks and we're all gonna be extras in the Hobbit!
He, actually, we took on Chicago last year and got handily beaten. So I can sympathise with your nursing a blow after a fight with Toronto. But anyway, I hope you accept the challenge, otherwise we'll have to go pick a fight with the Bahamas or Malta or something.
Feel free, by the way, to come and administer a taunting on our thread. These challenges are a great way to chat t writers from across the globe (you know, we're like, the next day, so it is like talking to someone in the future. It means we get a day's head start but you guys get a whole day to meet and match our score.
PS - we're totally gonna kick your ass.
----------2003: St Augustine's Chickens (w)
2004: Arcanagencia (w)
2005: The Exile War (w)
2006: The Exile's Return (w)
2007: The March Beyond Progress (w)
2008: The Monarchs of Paradise (w)
2009: Displacement
43,058 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 07 22
I like the average idea... and will definitely do my best to help bring up the regional average. ;)
40,388 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 08 20
I don't know about having game, but I'm in.
So, when do we leave for New Zealand? What? We don't get to go there for real, only virtually? That's no fun!
oh well, I'll write anyway.
;-)
42,150 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 16 23
I'm game for a nice cross-Pacific word war. Sounds like fun. :-)
----------58,061 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 16 26
I'm in for cross Pacific and the cross canada if it's on.
42,494 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 10 14
I'm enthusiastically in favour of either option! I've never done the sign up option before though. I like the wager idea too.
43,011 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 12 22
Meh - I've been to Wellington - they're not so scary :) Except for that rogue wave that attacked me while I was watching the surfers over near the airport.
Hmmmm....Pehaps I've discovered their secret weapon....
30,825 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2009 - 22 13
Regional average sounds like a cool way to go... maybe with some IRC word wars between teams as well? Just to add to the fun.
And wager for sure... I don't plan on having to pay up ;)
63,414 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2009 - 01 30
I'm in too, no matter the method. Last year was pretty fun ;)
----------"Was here any more wretched existance than the life of a writer who had run out of words?"
-Cornelia Funke, Inkdeath
5,075 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 15 21
I'm definitely in for a Word War. This is just what I need to make sure I don't drop off half way through. Because I couldn't abandon a team, right? :)
----------We sit and listen and are enthralled anew. For good stories, it seems, never lose their magic. -A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray
114,000 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 19 18
Have I signed up for this yet? And if I didn't, would I have been put on the list anyway?
----------Last Novel: Raven Project
Current Novel: Looking Glass Saga: Return to Wonderland
Excerpt a day
5,655 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2009 - 22 07
do you want to challenge Edmonton too? we-err they may be smaller but they are noted for having some wordcount heavy-hitters... (one that has a higher wordwar cout with handwriting than some of the faster typists.)
----------Body count:
Times used TSOD:
Nearly fell into an R-rated scene: 1
25,319 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 21 45
Hello all,
I was in the word war last year with Toronto and ended up with over 192,000 words - loved the motivation and challenge. Was a bit frustrated with some of the large numbers Toronto were pulling but hey, it pushed me farther than I had ever thought I would go.
I'm in again this year if you are still looking for members.
IJ
----------"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say." Anais Nin
213,240 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 01 05
Hey guys, somewhat official team captain for New Zealand here!
It was suggested in our forum that we do this two ways: both with a team each of 20 or so novelists, and with the total region wordcount or average word count. Does that sound cool to you guys too?
We can do head to head short word wars cross tasmen too with the smaller group as well when we need the motivation.
=)
hope you're ready to get your canadian butts kicked =P
----------But good luck for Novemeber anyway!
50,201 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 07 37
I actually sent a NanoMail to phyntosia on the 25th about the format of the war... seems she's been... out or something. The format I was proposing was this:
Here is the format that I'm proposing we use for the war.
Three ratings: one is Regional Average Word Count, Total Words for Regional Teams (X persons per team) and an Average Words for Regional Teams. We could also do an average word count on the team as well.
The reason I'd like to do it this way is something like this: Last year, I didn't sign up to be on a team against Toronto because I was afraid I'd run out of steam halfway through and bugger up our chances. Using a regional average, I can still affect the average (for better or worse) so I'd want to keep pushing onwards. The team is kept because there are still those people who really want to be on a team of writers, and pummel someone to bits. The less competitive people also on the team will be able to concentrate more on the team average.
I figure it's more motivating this way for everyone involved, even those who might ordinarily not want to join on with a warring team. I'm open to suggestions if you have any. ( :
Does this sound reasonable to everyone here?
(cross-posting on New Zealand thread as well.)
----------ML for Canada :: BC :: Vancouver
116,033 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 12 47
Sounds to me like both teams think alike! ;)
----------..... Aaaaaaarrgggh!
58,061 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 13 38
sounds reasonable to me - when we kick ass it will be great for everyone to be involved in some way. Do you have the list of people for the team?
44,293 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 20 17
I'll sign up again this year. Last year's was... frustrating to say the least. I don't want to be rude but seriously, it got a bit ridiculous by the end with the wordcounts shooting straight up.
50,320 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2009 - 17 08
Count me in!!!!!
----------6,748 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2009 - 18 06
I'll sign up if there's still room on the team. I've never done this before and I don't really get it, but what the hell? Team Beaver is gonna TAKE team Kiwi!!
----------Jess
37,675 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2009 - 18 49
I love a little competition. Count me in.
----------Easiest scenes to write so far: Propaganda
Hardest scenes to write so far: Childbirth and Death
It's easier to write what you know.
50,201 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2009 - 20 16
Update!
----------We are now taking volunteers for positions in Team Vancouver. We're going to start with 20 and extend if we have enough for both sides. The exact scoring details of the war is still to be decided. To sign up as part of the team, send me a Nanomail letting me know. We are seeking a team Captain for some cheerleading and such.
ML for Canada :: BC :: Vancouver
110,200 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 16 04
I'd like to join the Vancouver team~ XD Maybe that will keep me on track with at least 100k this year.
30,500 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 18 40
Yup, add me to the list too!
----------I'm only happy when I'm plotting!
63,414 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 20 31
I sent you a PM as well, but if there's still space (ie if you haven't recieved so many PMs as to fill up all the spots), I'd like to join :)
----------"Was here any more wretched existance than the life of a writer who had run out of words?"
-Cornelia Funke, Inkdeath