As many RP enthusiasts are also authors in some capacity, I wondered how many folks were also surprised to hear that the organization behind one of the most prominent writing events of my formative years has announced that they're shutting down for good.

theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/02/cre…

The general consensus seems to be that they were already struggling financially (as non-profits are wont to do), but that there were also a ton of mishandled issues including misbehaving staff, but then also their open acceptance and promotion of AI generative text in writing that was the final nail in their coffin in a lot of writer's eyes.

It's unfortunate to hear. Especially in a time of plummeting literacy rates among both children and young adults.

It is quite sad. I participated in it last year, and it honestly somehow encouraged me to get back into working on the book I started during the pandemic. I think it's because I was able to convince myself that hitting that word limit isn't as great as a feat as my mind had convinced me it was.

I'm not too worried. I'm certain that there'll be many groups still out there taking up the umbrella/writing every November even without the parent organization. Perhaps even the guild could commit to running something in the spirit of Nano. It'd certainly breathe life into the writing contest section since there are quite a few people who have taken part in Nano once upon a time hanging out around here on the forum.

It really upset me. I used to use it all the time! While I am upset, I'm not necessarily worried... though a few of my friends are teachers, one of which is a middle school English teacher, and Nano competitions were some of the only ways she could incentivize her students to write for fun.

It's always sad when you lose a piece of yourself as the world changes. Knowing that something that was important to making you who you are won't be available to future generations is like, the essence of growing up.

I used to post on the forum when that was a thing, back in 2016 or so. I had a good RP group there. Was the first time I actually joined Discord. That RP group didn't last long and after I left the forum it appears to have been deleted. Oh well. Good times. Eventually what you care about is only a memory, and is very well forgotten by others.