NaNoWriMo Shutting Down

[Zweit]

As many RP enthusiasts are also authors in some capacity, I wondered how many folks were also surprised to hear that the organization behind one of the most prominent writing events of my formative years has announced that they're shutting down for good.

theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/02/cre…

The general consensus seems to be that they were already struggling financially (as non-profits are wont to do), but that there were also a ton of mishandled issues including misbehaving staff, but then also their open acceptance and promotion of AI generative text in writing that was the final nail in their coffin in a lot of writer's eyes.

It's unfortunate to hear. Especially in a time of plummeting literacy rates among both children and young adults.

[Qia]

It is quite sad. I participated in it last year, and it honestly somehow encouraged me to get back into working on the book I started during the pandemic. I think it's because I was able to convince myself that hitting that word limit isn't as great as a feat as my mind had convinced me it was.

[Carlyle]

I'm not too worried. I'm certain that there'll be many groups still out there taking up the umbrella/writing every November even without the parent organization. Perhaps even the guild could commit to running something in the spirit of Nano. It'd certainly breathe life into the writing contest section since there are quite a few people who have taken part in Nano once upon a time hanging out around here on the forum.

[ErosSense]

It really upset me. I used to use it all the time! While I am upset, I'm not necessarily worried... though a few of my friends are teachers, one of which is a middle school English teacher, and Nano competitions were some of the only ways she could incentivize her students to write for fun.