NaNo and Beyond: Writing Our Way through the Year
A safe haven for writers with disabilities
Journal created:
on 18 October 2009 (#23494750)
Updated:
on 3 November 2010
Name:
Write_Able
Membership:
Open
Posting Access:
All Members , Moderated
Description:
NaNo and Beyond: a comm for disabled writers
Welcome to 
write_able.
Welcome to a safe place for writers with disabilities and novelist care-givers. Anyone who identifies with a chronic illness or a disability is welcome, be it invisible or visible. And of course, we're all writers here -- whether completely novice or best-seller.
This group was founded because of National Novel Writing Month 2009, but we hope to stay open after it too. For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write 50,000 words of one piece, be it novel or non-fiction, in the month of November. After November, we won't have a set goal for the comm, and even in November we welcome anyone who wants to join, even if they don't do NaNo. Just be prepared for many posts from people doing it.
Rules:
1. Be polite. We cannot stress this enough. No ableism, no picking on certain disabilities, no flaming. We don't mind joking around but crossing the line to disrespect is not okay. Be tactful and respectful of other members is all we're really asking.
2. Try to stay on topic. What "on topic" means we're going to leave up to you for the most part; however, we are disabled and writers, so posts should generally be about writing and/or how disabilities play a role. Whether this is writing about a character with a disability you don't have, or being exhausted and wondering how to get energy to write or even help with a plot -- all on topic. General disability ranting or news is off topic. If you still feel like you need to post something like this, email a mod. Once the mod has okayed your post, write "okay-ed by Mod X at the top of the post. That way both the members and the other mods know you have permission.
3. We are not medical professionals. We don't diagnose people and we don't care if you have a diagnosis. We know how challenging it can be sometimes to get one. To your mods, if you identify as disabled, then you are welcome here. There will be absolutely no flaming or comments about how someone does not count as disabled, or how a particular illness or condition is not a disability. You will be automatically banned if you do this. All disabilities are equal here.
4. If you post an image larger than 100x100 pixels, please place it under a cut. If you post anything longer than 100 words or ten lines of poetry. This does not include your header, of course.
5. We allow content of all ratings and members of all ages. This means that we respectfully ask you to warn and cut all material above a PG-13 rating. We also ask that you add a trigger warning above a cut for any material that may be triggering. This includes but is not limited to child abuse, rape/non con, dubious con, self harm, suicide and eating disorders.
6. Have fun. Seriously, we created this group to not only be a resource, but also to be a place to relax, chill out and get good advice from people who know what it's like to juggle writing and a disability.
While not a "rule" per se, if you post graphics, please underneath write a description of the graphic. This is a polite and helpful thing to do for members who use screen readers, which are unable to read graphics.
We allow fan fiction. We allow non-fiction. We allow fiction. We allow poetry. If you
want to draw artwork of your characters* then that's fine too, as long as it is under a cut.
While mods will be posting discussion posts, this does not mean members are excluded from making discussing posts. We encourage it, actually. Also feel free to post your own prompts, challenges, hints, woes or questions. We're a writing support group -- the point of the community is to support and help each other.
*This does not mean it's a free-for-all for fan art. Twenty pictures of Harry Potter is not okay, but a picture of Harry and Hermione for your HP fan fic is okay, or any pictures of original characters. But stay in reason and the mods reserve the right to modify this at any time.
We encourage you to use headers when posting excerpts.
Suggested format:
Title:
Author:
Genre: (or Fandom)
Characters:
Rating:
Warnings:
Copyright/Disclaimer:
Summary:
AN:
Regardless if you use a header: You must post a rating and possible warnings. Any piece of writing that does not have a rating or has been rated incorrectly will be deleted.
Also, one excerpt a day. This might be changed during the course of November but at the moment, we are willing to see how it goes. If you are caught posting more than one excerpt a day, we will delete the later post and take further action if required.
Whatever you post, please tag it. It makes it much easier for other people to find your post.
We wish you a lovely time and we welcome any comments or suggestions.
Your mods,
in_excelsis_dea, jupitersings and layrenelement
write_able. Welcome to a safe place for writers with disabilities and novelist care-givers. Anyone who identifies with a chronic illness or a disability is welcome, be it invisible or visible. And of course, we're all writers here -- whether completely novice or best-seller.
This group was founded because of National Novel Writing Month 2009, but we hope to stay open after it too. For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write 50,000 words of one piece, be it novel or non-fiction, in the month of November. After November, we won't have a set goal for the comm, and even in November we welcome anyone who wants to join, even if they don't do NaNo. Just be prepared for many posts from people doing it.
Rules:
1. Be polite. We cannot stress this enough. No ableism, no picking on certain disabilities, no flaming. We don't mind joking around but crossing the line to disrespect is not okay. Be tactful and respectful of other members is all we're really asking.
2. Try to stay on topic. What "on topic" means we're going to leave up to you for the most part; however, we are disabled and writers, so posts should generally be about writing and/or how disabilities play a role. Whether this is writing about a character with a disability you don't have, or being exhausted and wondering how to get energy to write or even help with a plot -- all on topic. General disability ranting or news is off topic. If you still feel like you need to post something like this, email a mod. Once the mod has okayed your post, write "okay-ed by Mod X at the top of the post. That way both the members and the other mods know you have permission.
3. We are not medical professionals. We don't diagnose people and we don't care if you have a diagnosis. We know how challenging it can be sometimes to get one. To your mods, if you identify as disabled, then you are welcome here. There will be absolutely no flaming or comments about how someone does not count as disabled, or how a particular illness or condition is not a disability. You will be automatically banned if you do this. All disabilities are equal here.
4. If you post an image larger than 100x100 pixels, please place it under a cut. If you post anything longer than 100 words or ten lines of poetry. This does not include your header, of course.
5. We allow content of all ratings and members of all ages. This means that we respectfully ask you to warn and cut all material above a PG-13 rating. We also ask that you add a trigger warning above a cut for any material that may be triggering. This includes but is not limited to child abuse, rape/non con, dubious con, self harm, suicide and eating disorders.
6. Have fun. Seriously, we created this group to not only be a resource, but also to be a place to relax, chill out and get good advice from people who know what it's like to juggle writing and a disability.
While not a "rule" per se, if you post graphics, please underneath write a description of the graphic. This is a polite and helpful thing to do for members who use screen readers, which are unable to read graphics.
We allow fan fiction. We allow non-fiction. We allow fiction. We allow poetry. If you
want to draw artwork of your characters* then that's fine too, as long as it is under a cut.
While mods will be posting discussion posts, this does not mean members are excluded from making discussing posts. We encourage it, actually. Also feel free to post your own prompts, challenges, hints, woes or questions. We're a writing support group -- the point of the community is to support and help each other.
*This does not mean it's a free-for-all for fan art. Twenty pictures of Harry Potter is not okay, but a picture of Harry and Hermione for your HP fan fic is okay, or any pictures of original characters. But stay in reason and the mods reserve the right to modify this at any time.
We encourage you to use headers when posting excerpts.
Suggested format:
Title:
Author:
Genre: (or Fandom)
Characters:
Rating:
Warnings:
Copyright/Disclaimer:
Summary:
AN:
Regardless if you use a header: You must post a rating and possible warnings. Any piece of writing that does not have a rating or has been rated incorrectly will be deleted.
Also, one excerpt a day. This might be changed during the course of November but at the moment, we are willing to see how it goes. If you are caught posting more than one excerpt a day, we will delete the later post and take further action if required.
Whatever you post, please tag it. It makes it much easier for other people to find your post.
We wish you a lovely time and we welcome any comments or suggestions.
Your mods,
in_excelsis_dea, jupitersings and layrenelement books, characters, chronic illness, criticism, critique, dialogue, disability, disabled, disablities, drama, fairy tales, fan fiction, fantasy, fiction, handicap, horror, invisible disabilities, invisible disability, invisible illness, literary fiction, literature, memoir, mysteries, nano, nanwrimo, non-fiction, novel, novel writing, original fiction, paranormal romance, plot, poetry, practice writing, prompts, publishing, romance, sci-fi, science fiction, short stories, the art of writing, urban fantasy, verse, writer's block, writing, writing prompts, writing technique, young adult