Challenge May Is WIP Month!—Sign On Up!

Hey, everybody! Did you know . . .
May is WIP Month!

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(Previous WIP Months: February 2020, June 2020, April 2021, October 2021, September 2022, September 2023, May 2024)

So, what is it?
A challenge for finishing (or at least making progress on) WIPs, of course! The concept is adapted from the WIPtober challenge hosted each October by http://wipweek.tumblr.com. Participants commit to getting a certain amount done on their WIPs, report regularly on their progress, and then share their completed work at the end of the month so we all can enjoy it! Plus, during JCF Fanfic’s WIP Months, you can also support your fellow writers by committing to review a certain number of the WIPs being worked on. And you get rewarded for either!

As in the past several WIP Months, writers will be able to choose any combination of small goals, medium goals, and/or large goals from the list below, depending on what they feel they can manage. Here are your options:

Small Goals
100: Write 100 words on a given WIP.
300: Write 300 words on a given WIP.
500: Write 500 words on a given WIP.
Finish Scene: Finish a certain scene in a given WIP.

Medium Goals
1000: Write 1000 words on a given WIP.
2000: Write 2000 words on a given WIP.
Finish Chapter: Finish a chapter, post, or other major section's worth of writing in a given WIP. Can level up to Large: Finish Multiple Chapters with two or more!
Finish One-Shot: Finish a given single-chapter WIP. Can level up to Large: Finish Multiple One-Shots with two or more!

Large Goals
5000+: Write 5000 or more words on a given WIP.
Finish Multiple One-Shots: Finish more than one single-chapter WIP.
Finish Multiple Chapters: Finish more than one chapter of a multichapter story.
Finish Multi: Finish a given multichapter WIP!

Sounds great! How do I take part?
Easy-peasy! First, post in this thread before 11:59 pm (23:59) PST on April 30 specifying which small, medium, or large goals you choose to take on for WIP Month. You may choose any number of goals, and they can be from more than one of the size categories, as long as you don’t have more than one goal relating to the same story (more on that below. For example...

• Writer1 chooses a Finish Scene in order to finish the Sith temple scene of "Story X." They also take a 200 for "Story Y."
• Writer2 opts for a 100 on "Tale1," another 100 on "Tale Two," and a Finish One-Shot on "Tale III."
• Writer3 takes a Chapter to finish chapter 10 of "Epic the First" and a Finish Multi on "Epic the Second."
• And Writer4 goes with a 300 on “Triple-Drabble-A-Go-Go."

I’ll add the relevant to the challenge index below (post #2). After that, it’s kind of like a word race: you can report on your progress throughout the month, and I’ll update the challenge index with that information accordingly. As you go, you may share links to the works or chapters of works you finish. Links of works whose goals have been achieved will be shown in bold in the index.

How do I take part as a reviewer?
That's easy, too. Simply post in this thread before April 30 specifying how many of your fellow participants’ WIP stories you commit to reviewing during the month of May, in a multiple of five (5). (You don’t need to specify the specific WIPs, just a number.) I’ll add you to the reviewers’ portion of the challenge index. Then, when you post one of your reviews, share the link in this thread, and I’ll record it in the list.

(Please note: your review has to be on one of the stories from the writers’ challenge index in post 2 for it to count. Also, you’re committing to reviewing a certain number of individual stories, not to writing a certain number of reviews. Reviewing different chapters of the same story unfortunately doesn’t count.)

Are there prizes?
Yes, most definitely! They are, of course, different depending on which type of goal you take on.

• For each small or medium goal you achieve, the relevant story will be promoted in a special edition of the Reader’s Choice thread at the beginning of June 2024, in celebration of the wonderful work that I know will be done during this WIP Month!
• For each large goal you achieve, you will receive 72 hours of colors! (Thank you mods for allowing this once again!)
• If you participate as a reviewer, you will receive 24 hours of colors for every five (5) stories you review.

Important Rules to Note:
1. The deadline for signing up, for both writers and reviewers, is April 30. (So you have just over two weeks from the posting of this OP.)
2. Any member of JCF may sign up, but please don’t sign up both yourself and a sock. Honor system, and all that.
3. You may sign up as just a writer, just a reviewer, or as both.
4. You may sign up for any number of goals. You may sign up for more than one size goal (e.g., more than one Medium goal) and/or more than one of the same type of goal (e.g., more than one 500, more than one Finish Chapter, etc.):

• Correct: “I commit to writing 300 words on ‘Padawan McGillicuddy’s Best Day Ever,’ writing 300 words on 'Padawan McGillicuddy’s Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Day,' and 300 words on 'Happy Life Day, Padawan McGillicuddy.’” (All three goals are the same type of small goal.)
• Also correct: “I commit to writing 500 words on “Quintuple Drabble-a-Reno,” writing 2000 words on “Vignette One,” finishing the one-shot “Vignette Two,” and finishing a chapter of “Padawan McGillicuddy and the Shadows of Mindor.” (There are one small goal and three medium goals here.)

5. However—and this is a new and MOOIE, MOOIE IMPORTANT RULE added as of May 2024—you may not sign up for more than one goal relating to the same story:

• Incorrect: "I commit to writing 500 words on ‘Padawan McGillicuddy and the Mindharp of Sharu’ and finishing a chapter of ‘Padawan McGillicuddy and the Mindharp of Sharu.’”
• Correct: "I commit to writing 500 words on ‘Padawan McGillicuddy and the Mindharp of Sharu’” or “I commit to finishing a chapter of ‘Padawan McGillicuddy and the Mindharp of Sharu’” (not both).

6. This challenge only counts work done on WIPs during the month of May. Again, honor system.
7. ALSO MOOIE, MOOIE IMPORTANT: If you are participating as a writer, whichever goals you choose, you may NOT add goals or WIPs to the challenge index after April 30. (This is to encourage people to stick with what they commit to at the beginning of the challenge. It kind of defeats the purpose if people can just add whatever extra plot bunnies happen to pop into their minds during the month of May.)
8. The maximum amount of colors anyone can win is one week’s worth, whether you are signed up as a writer, a reviewer, or both.
9. If you end up not being able to keep your full commitment for any reason at all, don’t worry! Just do what you can, because you can still win and be recognized—and have a good time while you’re at it, which is the main thing!
10. Any further questions, feel free to ask right here in the thread!

Good luck, and may the WIPs be with you!

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Index of Participants and Goals
Completed goals will be checked off with a check mark (√).​

Writers
ViariSkywalker

• Large: 5000+ words on All These Broken Pieces
• Large: 5000+ words on Beneath the Gods of the Bright Sky

Gabri_Jade

• Large: 5000+ words on Reclamation
• Large: 5000+ words on The Path Behind (unposted)
• Medium: untitled Corissa/Julian Renewal one-shot, unposted
• Medium: untitled 70s Space Music Challenge mini-games one-shot, unposted
• Medium: untitled Angsty Settings Roulette angst challenge one-shot, unposted
• Medium: untitled Andor one-shot, unposted
  
• Large: 5000+ words on Coming Home, unposted

devilinthedetails

• Small: 100 words: Diary of an Over-Friendly Werewolf [Wednesday Fandom]
• Small: Finish Scene: Godric's Squire [Harry Potter Fandom]
• Medium: 1000 words: I Conquer Ba Sing Se and Other Earth Kingdom Adventures [Avatar: The Last Airbender Fandom]
• Medium: Finish Chapter: Henry from the Hollow [Harry Potter Fandom]
• Large: Finish Multi: Fire in Her Veins [Avatar: The Last Airbender Fandom]
• Large: Finish multiple oneshots

ConservativeJedi321

• Medium: Finish One-Shot: A Longful Farewell (unposted)

amidalachick

• Medium: Finish one-shot for Obscure Sorrows Bingo challenge

Findswoman

• Medium: 1000 words on Kessel Run long story
• Large: Finish multiple one-shots: Sensational Muppetational Quote Challenge (tentative title "Of No Tone"), Angsty Settings Challenge (possibly combining with the Tudor Challenge), possibly one more (Space Music?)

Chyntuck

• Large: Finish 4 chapters of Outsiders
• Large: Finish multiple one-shots for Outcast and/or The Family Holos and/or The Whispurr Omnibus and/or The Life and Times of the Dancing Gamorrean

WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

• Large: Finish Multi: Coming Together Again (DDC)

earlybird-obi-wan

• Large: Finish Multi: Stellar Express diary
• Large: Finish Multi: Unnamed Angst challenge in the Jungle setting

Force of Light

• Medium: Finish One-Shot: Finish Kessel Run long vignette
• Large: Finish multiple one-shots in the UDC challenge

Mira_Jade

• Large: 5000+ words on [Victoria] A Kingdom Where My Love Can Stand
• Large: 5000+ words on [Tolkien] So Lights the Night
• Large: Finish multiple one-shots

vader_incarnate

• Small: Finish last 5 drabbles for my 2023 drabble challenge thread (On the Creation of Monsters) (500 words)
• Medium: Finish one-shot: Angst challenge in cemetery/mausoleum
• Large: 5000 words on Inheritance
• Large: 5000 words for Black King (not posted)

Reviewers
devilinthedetails: 10
WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: 20
amidalachick: 5
Findswoman: 10
Chyntuck: 15
ConservativeJedi321: 5
earlybird-obi-wan: 15
Force of Light: 5
Mira_Jade: 10
Kahara: 30

 

I'm always so excited to see the return of this event!



It gives me great motivation to work on some of my more neglected longer stories and to review the wonderful works of my fellow fanfic writers

I'm thrilled to announce that my WIP month goals this year will be:

Small:
100 words: Diary of an Over-Friendly Werewolf [Wednesday Fandom]
Finish Scene: Godric's Squire [Harry Potter Fandom]

Medium:
1000 words: I Conquer Ba Sing Se and Other Earth Kingdom Adventures [Avatar: The Last Airbender Fandom]
Finish Chapter: Henry from the Hollow [Harry Potter Fandom]

Large:
Finish Multi: Fire in Her Veins [Avatar: The Last Airbender Fandom]
Finish multiple oneshots

Reviewer:
10 reviews on different stories

Eager to participate and to see what everyone else will write for WIP month

 

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for the great response—I can tell we’re going to have a fantastic WIP Month. Sorry to be late in replying to everyone and making the updates; I’ll try to catch up as best I can right now.

Yes! I talked about this with my mod colleagues, and we are all fine with adding Finish Multiple Chapters as a Large goal. If you look in the OP above, you’ll see it’s been added and highlighted in yellow! (This answers your point of curiosity too, @ViariSkywalker.)

This was a tougher question that took some discussion for us, as we’ve allowed this kind of thing in past Word Races. For this challenge, though, since it involves determining specific story goals (which is difficult, if not impossible, to do for a challenge that hasn’t been announced yet), we would prefer to count only narrative text / prose related to those goals. When we do our next Word Race, however, outlines, concepts, character sheets etc. will totally count in that—since in that challenge the goal is just to get any kind of words down. Hope that helps for now!

While we're on questions, another one that came in was whether participants could "level up" multiple Medium: Finish One-Shot and Medium: Finish Chapter goals to their Large: Finish Multiple equivalents, and I say that is completely fine! I have updated the list of goals in the OP accordingly, again with yellow highlighting.

So, again, a quick summary of the new additions to the OP:

Medium Goals
Finish Chapter: Finish a chapter, post, or other major section's worth of writing in a given WIP. Can level up to Large: Finish Multiple Chapters with two or more!
Finish One-Shot: Finish a given single-chapter WIP. Can level up to Large: Finish Multiple One-Shots with two or more!

Large Goals
Finish Multiple Chapters: Finish more than one chapter of a multichapter story.

Any questions, please ask!

And now continuing with replies:

You got it! Those sound like great goals, and I've got them in the list now.

I think one of the reasons it hasn't come up before is simply because we haven't had a lot of folks working on stories of that size for this challenge lately, or at least not the last few times we've run it. But you and Viari are both right that it would be useful to have that among the Large categories, so it's been added.

Sounds good! Got them in the list now. Thanks so much for signing up!

Thanks so much, and so glad to have you on board as always! Those goals sound great; you're really shooting for the stars and moon here, which is a great way to use this challenge! I've got them in the index now.

Sounds good! Every little bit counts, and it's good to have you on board. Just added your goal to our list!

Sounds good! I'll sign you up for 15 reviews. If you're completing the diary in May, about how many chapters/entries do you think you have left? Just one, or more than one? Or would you like to set a goal in terms of word count? Do let me know, and we can sign you up with whatever goal best fits.

Thank you for being part of this challege again; it's great to have you on board as always! I've got you signed up in the index now.

And finally, while I'm here, I'll set a few goals for myself:

Reviews: 10 (because I need to get back into the groove!)

And the following writing goals:
Medium: 1000 words on my long story from this year's Kessel Run.
Large: Finish multiple one shots: Sensational Muppetational Quote Challenge (tentative title "Of No Tone"), Angsty Settings Challenge (possibly combining with the Tudor Challenge), and possibly one more if I can manage it.

And with that I think we're up to date now; whew! Any other takers?

 

Sounds fantastic, and you and anyone else are welcome to be as specific or as unspecific as you want with these goals! I've got those in the index now; thanks so much.

And @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha , with 3+ entries left, let's put you down for Finish Multi. How's that?

 

Yay! WIP month is such an inspiring part of the year, and I am so excited to take part again. (And thank you so much for hosting this yet again, @Findswoman ) This year, I am going to try for . . .

• Large: Finish 5000+ words on [Victoria] A Kingdom Where My Love Can Stand
• Large: Finish 5000+ words on [Tolkien] So Lights the Night
• Large: Finish multiple one-shots

And please, sign me up for 10 reviews.

 

Certainly! Any number of reviews is appreciated, and they do so much to make this community really a community—that's why they're part of this challenge too. Got you signed up!

Sounds great! Got you in the list and glad once again to have you on board!

Excellent! Got both your reviewing and writing goal in the list now; I'm so glad to see you decided to do both. Thanks for signing up!

Woohoo! Those all sound absolutely fantastic, and I've got it all in the list!

Thank you all for being on board! Any other takers? Or, if anyone wants to make adjustments, additions, or subtractions to their goals, there's still ample time.

 

To both @Chyntuck and @ConservativeJedi321:

Totally fair enough! And there’s always next year’s WIP Month and the Word Races and things like that, too, so there will be ample opportunity and incentive for projects going however far forward you like.

Sounds like a great plan, shooting for the moon is always good! Got that one in your list now.

You got it! There’s still ample time to think over what WIPs you’d like to work on, so take your time; we’ll be here!

OK, that video is just about the funniest and on-pointest thing ever! (As is the “Maycember Medley” by the same group.) I shall say that the situation has become marginally better now that Findsboy is in high school, but we still very much experience the same things with sports banquets and end-of-year performances. All this to say, I totally understand how it can be! I’ve got you signed you up and wishing you all the best in completing your goals!