Word Wars & Sprints

a.k.a increasing your word count for fun and profit. Okay, perhaps not profit. Not on a first draft, anyway.

If you're new to the forums (and perhaps even if you're not), you've probably seen people talking about wars. And sprinting. And they're talking about it enthusiastically. What the heck's going on? Aren't wars a bad thing? Isn't sprinting only done by those crazy energetic types?

When it comes to NaNo, the answer to all those questions is a resounding NO! In NaNoLand, wars are awesome, and not just if you're writing about one. And sprints are just as cool.

What follows is my interpretation of word wars and sprints. You may find some definitions that differ slightly, but in the end it's just terminology. Use whatever works for you.

What is a Word War?


A word war is a competition between two or more wrimos (or regions, or clubs, or unicorns, or plot bunnies) in which you try to write more words than your opponent in a specific time frame.

Word wars are great because they spur us on to write more out of a dogged sense of determination and a desperate need to win. Word wars between wrimos are generally fairly short (10 minutes - 30 minutes or longer), although you can of course challenge someone over the full duration of NaNoWriMo.

A wrimo word war example: @magependragon challenges @NaNo_Bot (your Cape Town MLs) to a 30-minute word war.

@magependragon: Prepare to meet your doom!

@NaNo_Bot: Never!

They set the timer, sweat starts to form on their brows. And they're off... *30 minutes of frantic writing* ... TIME!

@magependragon: I wrote 1603 words. Beat that!

@NaNo_Bot: Curses. I wrote 1599 words. Next time, pen, next time you shan't be so lucky.

Word wars are often a hallmark of a regional Write-In, where everyone wars against each other (breaking news: Cape Town will be having some small prizes for word war winners this year), but word wars don't have to take place in person. They can happen over email, IM, and of course, the NaNoWriMo Forums. Word Wars, Prompts, & Sprints is your one-stop shop for word wars, sprints, and inspiration.

Regional wars generally take place over the duration of NaNoWrimo. In fact, if you look in your home region under "Regional Info", you'll see a leaderboard comparing word count totals for your region and other selected competitor regions. Judging by this thread, we're going to have some rocking intercity competition in South Africa this year!

Okay, so what's a sprint then?


A sprint is like a word war, but you're only really competing against yourself. You (or someone else) sets a specific start and end time, and you try to write as many words as possible in that time frame. Word sprints are as great as word wars as they focus you on your writing for a definite amount of time. If you like the idea of word sprints, but also want some company (without necessarily declaring war on them) then head over to Twitter and follow @NaNoWordSprints. The awesome interns at OLL run regular sprints, though these admittedly happen when the Americans are awake, however you can probably catch a few at night or early in the morning.

So that's my take on word wars and sprints. Have a great day, wrimos. Less than three weeks to go! Woo hoo!