CONTEST -- SoSuWriMo 2013

['Souls Assemblage]

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SoSuWriMo!

What's this?? Some of you may be familiar with NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, an open challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days during the month of November. This is a relatively daunting task, but the whole point is to just get it out! Lots of people have ideas and want to write stories, but they never get around to getting them penned. As such, NaNoWriMo is about quantity over quality, where word count matters more than content or theme or plot or whatever else. Editing can always come later, but you have to write the words first! In a similar spirit, SoSuWriMo is 'Souls Super Writing Month! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write 50,000 words worth of posts in 31 days from midnight EST January 1st to 11:59 pm EST January 31st. At an average of 350 words a post, that's a little less than five posts a day for thirty-one days. c: (Past participants may notice that we're going for the full 31 days of January instead of the 30 days from the 1-30 or 2-31. This is on purpose.) How will this work? If you intend to participate, please reply to the participants thread once and only once. For the duration of the month, keep track of your word count per post for each thread, link each thread, and your overall total. For players with multiple characters, all characters' posts are counted. In years past, many people made use of Google Docs Spreadsheets to keep track of posts and word counts, and a tutorial on how to do that is provided below. Though NaNoWriMo champions reckless abandon in terms of quality, for SoSuWriMo, we highly encourage you to try and maintain quality while still busting out hardcore for quantity. After all, whereas novel-writing is a one-person task, roleplaying is a collaborative effort and it would be unfair for your thread partners for you to sudden skimp on quality. FAQ Do posts in LASKY count towards SSWM? Yes. Can you thread with yourself/write read-only posts? Yes, but it shouldn't make up a majority of your posts. After all, roleplaying is supposed to be interactive! When's the next SSWM? SoSuWriMo is an annual event held every January. Are we allowed to write up posts beforehand and then post within the time period? No. That would be considered cheating. The point of the event is to write as much as possible within the stated time period, not to simply post as much as possible in the stated time period. Pre-planning plots, threads, and other ways to reach your word goal is allowed for SoSuWriMo; however, every word contributing to your 50,000 should be written in the month of January. Obviously, we have no way to really enforce this, but this has always been an event dependent on players' honesty and we give you the benefit of the doubt. However, if cheating becomes pervasive, we won't be able to continue sponsoring events like this, so please don't do it! Prizes All participants that manage to net 50,000 or more words during the month of January will receive the following: Special SoSuWriMo Champ icon A Sparkling Lazurite OOC Catacombs Skull 'Souls Tangible Prize Pack (requires shipping address) Winners' Signature Banner Custom title Custom Experimental Kiritar

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['Souls Assemblage]

(This tutorial is provided courtesy Marit!)

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Google Docs Spreadsheet for SoSuWriMo

If you do not know how to make a Google Docs Spreadsheet Log in to your Google account (like Gmail), and look to your upper left corner for a link that reads "Documents". Click it! (alternatively, go to docs.google.com) If you've not used Google Docs before: Enable it, when Google asks you if you want to use this feature. You may have to log in again on this screen. Go to the "Create New" button to the upper left, and choose "Spreadsheet". A blank document will open for you. Quickly save the document with a name so that your changes will not get lost (File - save). To make sure others can see your document, click the share button in the right corner and choose "Sharing settings". Here, click "Change" under "Permissions", and then either "Public on the web" or "Anyone with a link", depending on what you prefer. You can get the link to share your document with in the top bar of the "Sharing settings" menu. Now you're all set! Structure You can use my spreadsheet as an example to look at for what I'm explaining, if you feel like that would help. Click here. (Here is also Zero's completed spreadsheet from last year.) You need to track which thread you posted in, the post count of each post, and your overall total. Go to row 1 and write in some headers (click once to write in it, click twice to edit text already in the cell), in a structure you like. I made my headers: Date, Word Count, Thread Link. The spreadsheet can keep track of your total automatically if you make sure that your word count numbers are all in the same column (look at my spreadsheet if you are confused)! You can adjust the width of your cell by clicking on a wall and dragging it left or right. You should fill inn some example data in your cells (especially in the column where your post count numbers would go), just to be able to see how your mathematical functions work later on. Colors and fonts, if you like shiny The structure of the Google docs Spreadsheet user interface is quite similar to Microsoft Office's old (versions 2003 and back) solution with a toolbar of buttons and a menu bar up top. Marking cells: Shift-clicking will mark more than one cell like with text in Word. To mark everything, hold CTRL and press A. To mark a whole row/column click on the name cell (A, B, C or 1, 2, 3) for that row/column and it will mark the whole thing. To change fonts; mark the cells which you want to change the font of, and go to "Format" in the menu, and choose Font from there. Click on the font you want (Click image for larger) To change background-colors; mark the cells you want, and click on this toolbar button . Choose your color. To change font colors; mark the cells you want, and click on this toolbar button . Choose your color. To change font size; mark the cells you want, and click on this toolbar button . Choose a larger/smaller value. Frozen columns/rows Frozen columns or rows are rows and columns that will not move even though you scroll further than where they are originally placed. Row 1 in a new Google Docs Spreadsheet is always frozen. Try scrolling and see what happens - it is still there, even if you have really scrolled past it. This means that it is great for headers that you would like to see even if you have many, many rows of data. I put my headers in a frozen row, and also the totals cells, so I can always see them no matter where in the spreadsheet I am. I froze row 2 as well, to make room. To freeze more than row 1: Look at row 1. To the left is a pale blue thicker part of the line, below the number "1". Click and hold, and pull it down to below "2" to freeze row 2. Similarly, if you want to freeze column 1, look for the same kind of pale blue line next to the letter "A" in row 0. Click and drag so it's on the line between the letters A and B in row 0. You've frozen column 1! You can always drag the blue line back if you change your mind, and your text and formulas will not be altered. Remember to save! (File - Save) Funky bits: automatic counting ++ Now you have your basic spreadsheet structure laid out, and you want to add the funky bits! You should add some values to your Word Count column to see that the formulas work when you are making them. Also, if you want them to work, you can't write "239 words". You'd need to write just "239". Make a cell keep track of your total count Select the cell you want the total to go in Write the following in it: =SUM(B:B) ...and hit enter. The letter B is the name of the column which you have your words counts in, and in my spreadsheet that column is the B column. If it is the C column in your sheet, the formula should be =SUM(C:C) That cell will now total the numbers you've entered in your "Word Count" column - no need for you to get the calculator out! Make a cell show you how many percent along you've come Select the cell you want the percentage to go in Write the following in it: =D2/50000 ...and hit enter. Replace "D2" with the name of the cell which counts your total for you. If that is E4, the formula should be =E4/50000 Mark that same cell again, which now has a number, and look to your toolbar and click the -button. This cell now shows you how many % you have written out of 50000 words. Make a cell to keep track of how many words you have left Select the cell you want the number to go in Write the following in it: =SUM(50000-D2) ...and hit enter. Replace "D2" with the name of the cell which counts your total for you. If that is E4, the formula should be =SUM(50000-E4) This cell now keeps track of how many words you have left out of the 50000 goal. Sure, you can tell from the total number, but sometimes it can be a real inspiration boost to remember that you're over halfway there, or the number looks smaller than you thought it was! Remember to save! (File - Save)

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An official SoSuWriMo template has been created based on the guide above.

To use it, do the following:

• Open Google Docs
  
• Click on "CREATE" and choose "From template..."
  
• Search for "SoSuWriMo 2012" and click on "Use this template"
  
• Remember to save the document!
  
• The document will be named "Copy of SoSuWriMo 2012". Right-click it in the Home view to rename it if you want.

You may get an error ("We're sorry, your spreadsheet cannot be copied at this time."). Simply try again later, or in another browser :)

[Cassandra Asylum]

As a note, any questions regarding SSWM should be posted here or PM'd to the SA and not posted in the participants topic. :>

[Tyko Amini]

So... who do I contact once Ive finished ?

['Souls Assemblage]

A winner's thread will be posted on the 25th. You should post there when it's up. :)

[Axelle Napier]

Okay thank you :3

[Calla Scott]

How do i make a custom title? D: I just finished but i dont know how to make one..

[Vesper]

If you ask around in Talents, someone would probably be glad to code one for you. ^^ As it is -- if you PM me and tell me what you might want it to say and what colors, I can make one! :3 (This goes for anyone else who might be in need of a code, too!)