Before Week One
1. First you must decide to enter as a Pilot (novelist), Navigator (poet or scriptwriter), or a Stowaway (choose your own goal)
2. You must declare your project. If you are a Pilot or a Navigator, it must be a new project that you have not written yet, or an existing project that you are writing new material for (e.g., starting on chapter five of your novel or beginning to write a project that you've been brainstorming for a year would count, but writing a second draft of your novel would not).
3. You may plan, plot, and outline as much as you want before the start date.
4. LMS Round VII starts June 15, 2026.
During the Competition
1. On Monday of each week, you write from where you left off in your project.
2. You can post what you've written in the Publishing Center, in your project thread in the club, in the Writers Corner, or a combination of the three. You can post as many times as you want each week. By Sunday each week, you must meet the minimum word or line count.
3. As soon as you're ready to enter for that week, you will do so in the submission thread. The first person to finish for the week starts the submission thread by posting a new thread in the club with the title format of [Week XX Submissions].
4. In order to submit and continue in the competition, you'll enter a link to what you wrote for that week. Once you've entered the link to your work you can still enter again if you update your work.
5. Anybody who fails to enter their work by midnight Sunday in their timezone is eliminated.
6. You may write as much as you wish in a week, but if you go over the wordcount/line count, it will not count for next week.
Play Modes
Pilot: Pilots officially compete for the title of Last Mortal Standing. In order to compete, you must write a minimum of 1000 words per week.
Navigator: Navigators officially compete for the title of Last Mortal Standing. In order to compete, you must write a minimum of fourteen lines per week for poetry, or sixty lines per week for a script. When declaring as a navigator, please specify if you plan to write poetry or script.
Stowaway: Stowaways do not compete for the title of Last Mortal Standing, and thus they have no official minimum wordcount/line count to reach per week. You declare a target of your own and stick with it. If you complete your goal, you will get a Stowaway trophy. Note that Stowaways may work on revisions, unlike Pilots or Navigators.
Mission Control: Flight controllers do not compete for the title of Last Mortal Standing, but support those who do. By entering as part of Mission Control, you dedicate yourself to encouraging the Pilots, Navigators, and Stowaways in their writing, replying to progress threads, and reviewing LMS literary works. Reviewing 10 LMS works or posting encouragement in threads 30 times earns you a special Mission Control trophy. You can enter as Mission Control in addition to the other roles.
Guidelines/FAQs
Where do I post my stuff?
There are a few options to choose when deciding where to post:
- Via the Publishing Center, if you wish for it to be reviewed (your first LMS lit work is free! Just PM Spearmint to get your 200 points.)
- Create your own thread in the LMS Club and post your work there.
- Create a thread in the Writers Corner and post your work there.
I'm late! Can I still join?
To compete as a Pilot or Navigator, you have to join before or during the first week (which ends June 21st). After the first week is over, there are no late entries into the competition. If you wish to participate after week one, or if you are knocked out of the competition as a Pilot/Navigator, you can join in at any time as a Stowaway or Mission Control.
When can I write / submit my chapter?
You may start writing at 12am on Monday in your timezone for that week. To move forward in the competition, you must write the wordcount/line count for that week by the end of that week (Sunday by midnight in your timezone). You may write as many parts and submit as many times as you wish in that week.
Can I plan?
Yes! Planning, plotting, outlining, drawing, all are acceptable and encouraged before Week One. As long as you are not writing, it is allowed.
Do Stowaways have to submit their writing?
In order to get the Stowaway trophy, they must report in each week with their progress.
Who is running LMS Round VII?
LMS Round VII is being run by Spearmint and the mod team, with guidance from previous LMS runners! You can reach out to them for any questions you may have.
What about Tenyo?
Tenyo, the originator of the idea and concept of LMS and the one who ran Rounds I - V, has taken a break from YWS, although they have given their blessing for the competition and community to continue without them. We are continuing the competition in their spirit.
My first literary work is free?
Yes! If you join LMS as a Pilot or Navigator, you will receive points enough for a free literary work to encourage posting in the Publishing Center. Please PM Spearmint to get the points! Although we're encouraging publishing your LMS projects, it is not required.
What's all the other stuff in this forum?
This club is full of threads from previous rounds. To avoid confusion, please refrain from posting in the old threads. You'll see that all threads pertinent to this round will have (Round VII) in the title.
But I really like my current project.
You are more than welcome to join as a Pilot on an existing project if you are writing new material! If you are editing, revising, or rewriting, you are more than welcome to join and play as a Stowaway. While the goal of LMS is to encourage creating new projects and writing on them, writing sequels, prequels, or spin-offs of your current project as a Pilot is allowed.
What if I finish my project?
The aim of the competition is to keep working on the same project. Unfortunately this is harder if you're working on something shorter like a novella. However, prequels, sequels and spin-offs all count as the same project if you finish early.
My parents are taking me on holiday!
Real-life obligations happen to the best of us. If you know you're going to be without internet access then give at least two weeks notice, and depending on the circumstances you may be able to submit your chapter early.
Does my writing have to be in order?
You have to keep moving forward with your project. Time skips, filler chapters and flashbacks are fine, but you can't go back to rewrite an earlier submission and have it count to that week.
What about __?
Any other questions, feel free to ask in this thread. We shall reply with the keywords in bold for quick reference when scrolling. Alternatively you can ask on the main wall and one of our super friendly veterans might have an answer, or shoot the event runners a PM.
