The NaNoWriMo Dare Squad – Season Two! // some basic info,dare board reveals, and a few smol polls for y’olls

good morning, cyberspace!

Today is a very exciting day for me, you guys! NaNoWriMo — the single-most glorious writing event of the entire year — is finally returning! In just 8 short days (or less or more, depending on where you live in this great, big, beautiful world), writers from all over the planet are going to whip out their pens, their pencils, their notebooks, their laptops, their clay tablets, their typewriters and write 50,000 words in a single month.

Or, you know. . .as many words as you’d like to write, I suppose. There is no judgement here, folks.

Some of us will be rebels. Some of us will be traditionalists. Some of us will go above and beyond and pump out a whopping 100k in less than thirty days. (I will not be among these few, of course.) Some of us will fail. Some of us will win.

However, no matter what this month looks like for you — whether you’re writing 50k or 30 — I want this NaNoWriMo to be one that none of us will ever forget. And how do I plan to do this, you ask?

Easy. We’re going to be playing a game.

And if you happened to be among those who read my last blog post, you will know exactly which game I’m talking about. . .

That’s right, folks! Today we’re going to be talking about ALL OF THE THINGS pertaining to the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad!

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THE NANOWRIMO DARE SQUAD — SEASON TWO

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I talked a lot about the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad — what it is, how it’s for rebels and traditional NaNoer’s alike, how to sign up to participate — in my surprise blog post on Friday. So while there are going to be quite a few things in this post that are slightly copy-and-paste from last week, there are also going to be some minor rules, regulations, and also some polls !!!! for you guys to participate in today, so that hopefully this season of the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad runs as smoothly as is physically possible for everyone involved.

unlike last time. ahahahahahahahaha.

However, before I dive into everything, there is something I’d like to share from last year’s Dare Squad! And trust me. If you’re a Dare Squad newbie — or even a veteran (mwahahahaha) — this is something you’re going to want to see.

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. . . THE NANOWRIMO DARE SQUAD, SEASON ONE — THE DARES . . .

*okay, so I did my best to track down all of the NaNo dares, but I can’t seem to find them all? If your name is not appearing on this least, please please please contact me so that I can add your name and dare to this list! I want everyone to be included, and I feel awful I can’t find all you guys… :(((

Kirsten — Dare No. 9 . . . Write a 1,000 word (or more) live-action blooper reel based upon the worst, most embarrassing scene from your NaNoWriMo project!

Kate — Dare No. 6 . . . Create a playlist for one of your characters! // Dare No. 3 . . . DOUBLE WHAMMY! Share your biggest writing from your current project and how you’re considering fixing it — AND share the first chapter / 1k of your project! Mwahahaha!

Jethan — Dare No. 3 . . . DOUBLE WHAMMY! Share your biggest writing from your current project and how you’re considering fixing it — AND share the first chapter / 1k of your project! Mwahahaha!

Jem Jones — Dare No. 4 . . . Publish at least one chapter (or section) of the most embarrassing novel you’ve ever written

Gail — Dare No. 6 . . . Create a playlist for one of your characters!

Kenzie — Dare No. 7 . . . Thou Must Pretend To Have Become Engaged And Announce This Engagement On Thine Blog For All The World To See And Thou Shalt Not Delete The Post Or Admit To Its Being False For At Least A Week Or I Shall Roast You. The end.

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All right! Now that we’ve got last year’s Dare Squad fun out of the way, I believe it’s finally time to start talking about this year’s Dare Squad! And first up on my list are the rules.

I know. It’s disgusting. But alas, with any type of game like this, there have to be rules, and I figure it’s easier to go through them now than in the middle of November. So buckle up broncos! This will be over shortly, I promise. . .

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. . . NANOWRIMO DARE SQUAD “RULES” (and other things) . . .

THING ONE . . . I am a terrible person. You know this. I know this. The cat down the street knows this.

And since I am nothing if not extremely difficult in every situation possible. . .ALL OF THE SUBMITTED DARES FOR THE NANOWRIMO DARE SQUAD SHALL REMAIN UNSEEN (except by me, of course, mwahahaha) UNTIL THE 19th OF NOVEMBER.

So if you were hoping to get a good feel for what the dares would be like this year before jumping on board the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad train, well. . .better luck next time, my friend.

I actually kept the dares secret until the 19th of November last year, and that seemed to work pretty well, so I mean you can’t really fix what isn’t broken, amiright? (shoutout to the person who sent that to me in their NaNoWriMo Dare Squadian Submission Form. You rock, sir. XD )

So yes. Dares will be kept secret until the 19th. Only until we’re WEEEEEEEEELL into the month of NaNo will we find out whether or not we’re about to die a most gruesome death.

And (minor spoiler) if any of the dares I’m receiving in my inbox have anything to say about it. . .you are most definitely going to be dying a most gruesome death, ahahahahahaha #i’mnotevensorry

THING TWO . . . All dares shall remain anonymous until November 30th — a.k.a. the very last day of NaNoWriMo

So if you hop onto the blogosphere on the 19th to see what dares await you lest you fail your NaNoWriMo goal. . .PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do NOT tell everyone what dare was yours. I mean, there’s literally nothing I can do to stop you if you decide to do it, but part of the fun of last year’s Dare Squad was the delicious uncertainty of wondering who on earth came up with which devious dare.

And also having everything be anonymous until the very end of the month caused a lot of people to begin guessing who was responsible for which dare in the comments, and it is seriously a TON of fun to pretend to be aloof about which dare is actually yours.

it also caused extreme levels of distrust and more than a few mental breakdowns but I mean ??? it was fun, guys, i swear.

So yes. On the very last day of NaNo, I shall be uploading a post with everyone’s name connected to their dares, but until then. . .everything shall remain anonymous.

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA–HACK.

THING THREE . . . You will have exactly 10-ish days to roll for your dare, beginning on November 30th

Once November 30th winds to a close, and you are absolutely CERTAIN you have or have not completed your goal, you will have until the 10th of December to roll a pair of dice and determine which dare you shall receive.

Now I know this thing in particular may seem a little weird, but it will help a TON when it comes to some of the later plot twists that may or may not come into play. Last year there was a Switch-A-Roo on the Winner’s Board, which meant that any winner who rolled that number was able to switch dares with ANY Squadian of their choosing. Now, I’m not 100% sure this is going to be an option for this year’s Dare Squad, but just in case, it’s really helpful to have a solid deadline to have all the dares sorted and arranged by so that everyone can start preparing to complete their dares.

. . .and this sort of goes along with three, but finally we have. . .

THING FOUR . . . All dares must be completed AFTER the 10th of December, 2018 and BEFORE November 1st, 2019

The reason you should probably wait until after December 10th to complete your dare is because — again — it would make it really complicated to switch things up and fling dares at each other’s faces if everyone has already completed their dare.

I believe this is the way we did things last year, and it really did work out rather well, so I’m hoping that doing the same thing this year will help keep everything kind of neat and tidy.

That being said, the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad is pretty much the epitome of everything not neat and tidy, so I mean I’m pretty sure this could fall through at any moment.

THING FIVE . . . All Squadian submissions for the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad must be filled out and turned in by midnight on October 31st

The reason for this isn’t because I’m stingy and don’t want you submitting, or something. It’s simply because having everything submitted and taken care of before November makes it SOOOOOO much easier for me to focus on my own NaNoWriMo novel during the month of November, rather than fiddling with Dare Boards and participant names and goals and what have you.

HOWEVER. THAT BEING SAID — if you literally JUST found out about the Dare Squad, and we’re already well into the month of November, and you’d still really love to give it a go this year, I’m pretty sure I can make a couple exceptions to this “rule”.

And also it would never hurt your chances of getting in with a late submission if you offered me some cookies in your submission form, so. Just a quick tip for you late peeps out there.

And finally, last but never the least. . .

THING SIX . . . If every single Squadian completes their NaNoWriMo Goal EXCEPT for me. . .I shall perform EVERY. SINGLE. DARE. on the dare board.

And if that isn’t enough incentive for you all to work together to take down the Great and Powerful Kenzie during the month of November, I really don’t know what will.

So if you want to see me publicly humiliated for all to see. . .complete your NaNoWriMo goals, peasants.

And also you’ll need to find a way to keep me from writing 50,000 words next month, but I mean? You can totally do this.

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Okay. So now that we’ve covered the “rules” for the Dare Squad, it’s time for me to get into some of that copy and paste stuff I mentioned earlier. If you were among those who read my confession/announcement post last Friday and already know the who-sits and how-sits of how to become a Squadian, please feel free to skip this entire section until you see the submission form. However, if you are new and have no clue what I’m talking about, here are the four easy steps I need you to take in order to become a member of the Dare Squad!

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STEP ONE . . . Decide on what your NaNoWriMo Goal is going to be for the month of November

Whether it’s writing a journal entry or a poem every single day, tapping out the normal 50k, or penning that tale about how a hippopotamus saved your life, your goal can be literally anything you want it to be.

As long as it’s writerly related, of course. That’s kind of the whole point, anyway.

STEP TWO . . . Come up with a writerly dare that can be performed on a mortal man’s blog

This is probably the most confusing and difficult step (there was a bit of confusion last year, but I’m pretty sure it’s just because I explain things so poorly. aha.) so I’m going to give you guys some examples as to what on earth I’m talking about here.

Examples of Writerly Dares That Will Be Accepted Include, But Are DEFINITELY NOT Limited To. . .

• Write a short story that includes a lawyer with a peg leg, a parrot named Sally, and three apricots that may or may not be poisonous.
• Write a poem using the words “apple”, “cranberry”, and “pumpkin pie” in every single line.
• The dared being must write a sappy ode of adoration about said being’s least favorite food — Submitted by Gail in 2017
• Publish at least one chapter (or section) of the most embarrassing novel you’ve ever written — Submitted by Kirsten in 2017

Examples of Writerly Dares That Cannot Be Accepted Include, But Are Also Not Limited To. . .

• Read the absolute WEIRDEST book you can possibly find at your local library
• Run a 500 mile marathon (is that even possible…..)
• Fling 15 cookies at your neighbor’s face and then run away screaming with limbs flapping akimbo

Now, the reason why the above examples I’ve just given you are technically considered “bad” is because every single one of them is absolutely impossible to document on a blog.  And that’s basically the whole point of the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad. You wantthe person you’re daring to suffer through having to post something relatively embarrassing to their blog.

And while the second two dares I listed up there are essentially able to be caught on camera, not every participant is going to be willing to post a video of themselves onto the great and terrible cyberspace for all to see.

However. Let’s take a closer look at that first bad example, shall we? While it is technically “impossible” to document the fact that you read a severely weird book from your library on your blog, what if we changed the core of the dare just a little bit? What if we could switch it up a bit and make it into something embarrassing to do on your blog? Something a little along the lines of —

• Read the absolute WEIRDEST book you can possibly find at your local library and write a raving five star review about it entirely in Pig Latin

Now that, my friend, is an acceptable dare. Not only are you giving the person you’re unwittingly daring something fun to do — read a really weird book from the library — but you’re also making it an experience that they can document for all of posterity on their blogs!

So in conclusion, when you’re trying to create your dare, think of it along the lines of, “is this something that can be documented in words? And if not, how can I makeit documented in words?”

I know, I know. It’s super confusing, but that is literally the best way I have found to explain it, guys. If you have any questions about what on earth I’m talking about, please feel free to reach out to me through the Suggestion Desk! I’ll be happy to answer any and all questions you may have!

STEP THREE . . . Fill out the form below!

Name (or pen name if you prefer!)(required)

Email Address(required)

Website (a.k.a. your blog address)(required)

Your NaNoWriMo Goal(required)

Your Dare!(required)

Submit

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And there you have it, folks! You’re all done. It’s as easy as Snap, Crackle, Pop — BUTTERED BISCUITS. After you fill out the form and send it in, you should receive an email very shortly that verifies I’ve received your dare and goal and will have it all ready to go by the time the Dare Squad boards are created.

If you don’t receive an email from me stating I’ve received your form (and probably squealing over your dare, mind you) within a couple days, please feel free to send another form, or just pop on over to the Suggestion Desk and fill out the contact form over there to ask me if I’m still alive. Hopefully the answer will be yes, but I mean ??? you never know in this day and age.

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OKAY YOU CAN STOP SCROLLING NOW!!!!!

Okay! I think everyone’s caught up now. I’ve given you guys the basics of how the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad works, showed you how to enter, and also provided ample example as to why you should enter through splatting your faces with all of last year’s dares. . . (if you need even MORE incentive for why you should answer, there’s a glorious little list found in my blog post from last Friday, so I’d highly suggest checking that out if you’re still on the fence).

Hmmmm. . . What’s left. . .

Ah yes, that’s right! The happy little announcements! Or shall I say. . .THE HAPPY LITTLE DARE SQUAD, SEASON TWO BOARDS!!! (and also a fun little blog thing for all the participants because I am nice and I love you, obviously)

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Now, I don’t know if you guys are aware of this or not, but I was insanely proud of last year’s Dare Board. Like. . .a little too proud. The whole thing was sharp angles and ninja stars and basically it looked like a real-life superhero had vomited on my screen by the time I was done with it.

So when I had to sit down this year and try to find a way to somehow top that. . .I was kind of nervous. Because I loved that board, guys! I’m used to that board. But with a little brainstorming, a little tweaking, and a bit too many circles, it is my greatest pleasure to unveil this year’s very own NaNoWriMo Dare Squad Participant and Dare board!!!!!!

ASDFGHJKL I’M SO EXCITED.

And, because I am nothing if not super nice, I have also taken three minutes a very solid and painstakingly long time to create a super cool little bloggy button for all you participants out there! Because bloggy buttons are fun and I mean??? It’s kind of like a consolation prize in case I genuinely stab you in the back with a plot twist within the next month. Aha.

But anyway! If you’re a Dare Squad participant and you would like to proudly proclaim it to the world (and also maybe give the Dare Squad some promo while you’re at it) then I would absolutely LOVE it if you took one of these little badges for your own blog! Or  your social media account! Or for your stylish new hat because you’re just that cool, apparently.

(i would also like to give a huge thank you to my mom for helping me with the very insane font issues I was having whilst creating this. she’s gonna say i don’t need to thank her, but like. . .i’m totally still thanking you, mom. you’re the best. <333)

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And finally — now that I’ve gone through every single thing I can possibly think of on this crazy list of ALL THE THINGS I wanted to go over today, there is one last thing on my agenda that I would like to receive some feedback on.

Now, I could just ask you guys some questions and have you answer down in the comments, but like. . .that is so lame. I much prefer having people click things, so listed down below are a couple polls for you all to take. (you know. if you want to.)

SO! I’ll just present my current issues here, and then you can get to the voting in a minute. Let’s dive in, shall we?

ISSUE ONE . . . How To Keep In Touch With Other Squadians

So. As I’m sure anyone who participated last year can attest, there was a lot of communication going on between the 10 Squad members (and even some of the non-squad members, which I would greatly like to keep under consideration because it was so awesome last year) during the month of NaNoWriMo.

However, all of those conversations were pretty much taking place entirely in the comment sections of my weekly pep-talk posts throughout the month of November. And that’s pretty much how I assumed it would be for this year, as well.

But. But but but.

But then I got some messages from a couple of you, asking me just how we Squad members are going to keep in touch with each other. And this, my friends. . .this got me thinking.

Because while I absolutely loved having everyone joke and laugh and be genuinely terrified down in the comment sections throughout the month of November, maybe that’s not the very best way to do things? Maybe there could be a better, more convenient way for all of us to stay connected throughout the month of November.

And this is something I want to get you guys’ feedback on. Because even though I kinda created the Dare Squad, I’m most certainly not going to try and dictate how we all stay connected.

So to get the ball rolling, I’ve compiled a list of potential ideas for how we could stay connected throughout the month of November. Included in this are a few suggestions from you guys, as well, so hopefully we can find a way that’s easy and right for everyone involved.

 

And the second poll is, unfortunately, a little more confusing.

While I seriously enjoy the whole “roll your doom” aspect of the Dare Squad (wherein we use dice to determine which dare we’re alloted) it made for some rather confusing scenarios.

A lot of people were rolling two’s, guys. A LOT. (or was it three’s???) And at the end of the whole shenanigan, there were some dares that were sadly left forgotten, because no one rolled them.

And I really really really don’t like this. Because each and every dare is so clever and intuitive and I want as many as physically possible to be chosen. And while I do understand that not everyone is going to have to do a dare probably, it would be seriously lame if there were only three losers, and each and every one rolled, say, a two.

THAT JUST ISN’T FAIR TO THE OTHER DARES.

So I seriously want your input on this one, guys. I’ve got a poll sort of started out here, but if you have any better ideas as to how we can use as many dares as possible, I would love to hear it. And if you happen to click the “Only allow each dare to be rolled once” option down there, I would greatly appreciate it if you could also leave a comment down below to tell me how we could keep track of this, because with the way the Dare Squad works, everyone will be rolling their dares at different times due to schedules and time zones and whatnot. And if everyone is rolling at different times, that means once a lot of people have rolled, there will only be so many dares left over for everyone else to choose from.

(so i mean if you want the dare squad to become the Hunger Games this would be phenomenal but like. . .this could get bloody. aha.) 

So basically any and all feedback on this little predicament of mine would be seriously, seriously appreciated, guys.

And that, my friends, is all I’ve got for you today. I hope you have a glorious, wonderful Tuesday. Once again, if you have any questions at all about how the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad works, please feel free to leave me a comment down below, or contact me through the Suggestion Desk, and I shall get back with you as quickly as possible!

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TALK TO ME, PEASANTS!

So this post was massive. . .again.

Aha. Sorry about that. But I mean there was SO MUCH to discuss today!! Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything, but seeing as though I’ve written this in literally one day. . .I‘m pretty confident I’ve forgotten something, peasants But in a nutshell — I AM JUST SERIOUSLY EXCITED ABOUT THE NANOWRIMO DARE SQUAD, OKAY, GUYS???? It’s going to be absolutely fantastic.

But now it’s time for us to hear from you! What are you most excited about when it comes to the NaNoWriMo Dare Squad? Are you participating? And if so, are you going to be taking one of those happy little badges for yourself? What do you think of Season Two’s Dare Board? Does it look cool? Does it look lame? Are you slightly disappointed? (i mean i kinda like it, but if everyone hates it i could change it probably. . .maybe. . . :(( ) Do you have any ideas whatsoever as to how we can all stay connected throughout the month of November? and most importantly. . .

ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE?

As always, until next time. . .

*flings cookies in the air and disappears*