To keep things tidy: If you choose to participate, please make ONE comment in the thread and continuing editing to update your progress. When you FINISH please make a new comment with your total word count, total points, and tag me
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New to word crawls? Here's a handy key of what some of the challenges mean:
Spoiler! :
Welcome to the Ultimate YWS Word Crawl – a word crawl designed to take you around the Young Writers Society while making progress on your writing project!
First you start with the basics. YWS has 3 letters, so write for 3 minutes.
Let’s add some zeros to that 3 and make it 300. YWS was created in 2004, which means the site will be 18 years old this year. Set a timer for 18 minutes and write at least 300 words.
*Over 300: You’re Team Monkeys
*Under 300: You’re Team Dragons
STOP ONE: LITERARY WORKS
Posting literary works and getting feedback is the whole foundation of YWS, so it makes sense that you want to stop here first. Prose or poetry, what’s your favorite?
If your favorite is PROSE…
First you check out the All Literary section and notice that there are 28 different categories to post works under, so you sprint for 28 minutes.
Pick your favorite literary category on YWS. How many pages of works can you click through to find your new favorite story? Write that number of words.
You’re so impressed by how many works have been posted, you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and do a 3-digit challenge for the total number of literary works posted.
The ratio of reviews to works posted blows your mind, so you do a 3-digit challenge for the total number of reviews too.
If your favorite is POETRY…
First you check out the Poetry section and notice that there are 28 different categories to post works under, so you sprint for 28 minutes.
Pick your favorite poetry category on YWS. How many pages of works can you click through to find your new favorite poem? Write that number of words.
You’re so impressed by how many works have been posted, you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and do a 3-digit challenge for the total number of literary works posted.
The ratio of reviews to works posted blows your mind, so you do a 3-digit challenge for the total number of reviews too.
That total review number sparked you to write some reviews of your own, so you head over to the Green Room. Uh oh, the green room is kind of a mess and you need to help clean it up!
How many works are in the green room right now?
*Under 50: Crushing it! Sprint for 10 minutes
*50-74: This is manageable. Do a word war with someone for 15 minutes. Loser has to write a review
*75-99: Getting dangerous! Write to the nearest 1000 and do a review
*Over 100: Yikes! Do a 50-headed hydra and do a review
Nice work, you’ve made it out of the literary section! How many words did you write total?
*5000+: 5 points for your team
*4000-4999: 4 points for your team
*3000-3999: 3 points for your team
*2000-2999: 2 points for your team
*1000-1999: 1 point for your team
STOP TWO: LEADERBOARDS
Helping clean up the green room was fun, and it gets you thinking about how many reviews you’ve done total. Your next stop is to check your ranking on the all-time review leaderboards. Uh-oh, there are two people in the #7 spot! Write for 7 minutes to push Jabber or Juniper to write one more review.
Now you wonder where you fit into the all-time review leaderboard! Find yourself and do a 3-digit challenge for the number of reviews you’ve done.
*Don’t have at least 3-digits of reviews? Roll a 10-sided die and write for that number of minutes.
You were inspired by your overall ranking, so you check your review rankings for just this month. Wait. Have you done a review so far this month?
*YES – Congratulations! Write for 10 minutes.
*NO – Uh oh. Go write a review, then write for 15 minutes.
There’s one more leaderboard for you to check out. You search for your ranking on the all-time leaderboard for forum posts and do one more 3-digit challenge for the number of posts you’ve made.
*Don’t have at least 3-digits of posts? Roll a 10-sided die and write for that number of minutes.
Phew, you’ve made it out of the leaderboards! How many words did you write total?
*5000+: 5 points for your team
*4000-4999: 4 points for your team
*3000-3999: 3 points for your team
*2000-2999: 2 points for your team
*1000-1999: 1 point for your team
STOP THREE: SQUILLS
You’re tired from all that reviewing and leaderboard checking, and you’re ready to do some reading that you can simply enjoy, so you head on over to Squills – The YWS News. Squills began as a daily format for YWS news on 1/23/2013. You’re so impressed by how long Squills has been running, you add up all those numbers (1+2+3+2+0+1+3) and write for 12 minutes.
SquillsBot took over in late July 2013 with the format that we see now. You add up all the numbers from the first SquillsBot issue (7+2+1+7+2+8+2+0+1+3) and write for 33 minutes.
You know from the Book of Records that there have been 13 editors in chief of Squills. There have also been 310 issues of Squills since SquillsBot took over (not including special editions). You try to write 310 words in 13 minutes.
*If you succeed: 2 points for your team
*if you fail: 1 point for your team (because at least you tried!
STOP FOUR: FORUMS
Checking out Squills made you want to check out all the forums! There are five main areas in the forums: Welcome, Community, Resources, Creativity Corner, Special Events.
First, you roll a five-sided die. Multiply that number by 100 and write that many words.
That number will also correspond with which forum you check out: 1=Welcome, 2=Community, 3=Resources, 4=Creativity Corner, 5=Special Events.
If you rolled a 1 and go to the Welcome Area…
Did you know that there used to be people with light blue usernames called Greeters and their job was to greet new members of the site and help them feel welcomed? Have you welcomed anyone recently? Sprint for 10 minutes and then go welcome a new member.
It’s also probably been awhile since you looked at the FAQs. Did you know Nate only gave yellow, blue, and red stars until 2010 because he didn’t think many people would go past 1250 reviews? Snoink eventually added the rest of the colors! Now there are seven star colors. Sprint for 7 minutes and try to beat the number of words you wrote on the last sprint.
*Didn’t write more words? Do a 50-headed hydra.
Finally, you’re impressed by how much information has been posted in the Information Desk over the years. You see the total number of posts and you do a 3-digit challenge.
If you rolled a 2 and go to the Community Area…
This is the main hangout spot in the forums! Make a note of whether you succeed in the following three challenges.
First you head to the Official Polls. There have been 270 polls over 6 pages, so you write 270 words in 6 minutes.
Then you head to the Contests page. There have been 193 topics over 4 pages, so you write 193 words in 4 minutes.
Finally you go to the newest part of the Lounge, the Trading Post. There have been 79 trades over 2 pages, so you write 79 words in 2 minutes.
There’s a 50-headed hydra coming but you can get out of it one of two ways:
*Did you hit the word count at least 2/3 times in those challenges? Congratulations, you don’t have to fight the 50-headed hydra!
*Have you commented on at least one thread on the first page of the Lounge? (there’s a small red star in the top right of the circle of every thread you’ve commented on) Congratulations, you don’t have to fight the 50-headed hydra!
*If neither are true, sorry you have to do a 50-headed hydra.
You’re blown away by how many people post in the whole Community section. First you do a 3-digit challenge for the total number of posts in Randomosity. Then you do another 3-digit challenge for the total number of posts in Serious Discussion and Debate.
If you rolled a 3 and go to Resources…
There’s so much information to go around! There are 13 forums and subforums in Resources, so you sprint for 13 minutes.
You look at the knowledge base and see there are six subforums of specific information. You roll a six-sided die, multiply that 100, and write that many words. That number will also correspond to your next challenge. (1=Grammar, 2=Miscellaneous, 3=Poetry, 4=Writing, 5=YWS, 6=Archives).
See the total number of posts for each of those subforums? Write that many words.
Oops, did you roll a 6 and get the Archives? There are no posts there! Do a 50-headed hydra instead.
Do you have a Will Review For Food thread? Sprint for 5 minutes.
Do you have a thread in the Writers Corner? Sprint for 5 minutes.
Ever asked a question or answered a question in Writing Tips? Sprint for 5 minutes.
Did you say no to all three? Do a 50-headed hydra.
If you rolled a 4 and go to the Creativity Corner…
This is where you go to talk about books/poems/movies, share non-writing art, and get the creative juices flowing!
Do you have an Art & Photography thread? Do a 3-digit challenge for the number of views on your thread.
Don’t have a thread? Comment on at least one thread and write for 15 minutes.
Remember when we were in the Literary section and you had to pick whether Prose or Poetry was your favorite?
*If your favorite was Prose, look at Fiction Discussion
*If your favorite was Poetry, look at Poetry Discussion
Look at the time the last post was made in that forum. Whatever the minutes were, write for that number of minutes. (For example, if the last post was made at 7:29pm, write for 29 minutes)
Finally you go to Writing Activities and see there 458 topics over 10 pages, so you write 458 words in 10 minutes.
*If you fail, do a 50-headed hydra
If you rolled a 5 and go to Special Events…
How many Special Events have you participated in over the years? (participated means you either tried at least one event during the Olympics/Holidays or ran one of the Olympic/Holiday events. For NaNo/Camp/NaPo, you’ve made at least one thread and did at least one day)
If you participated in…
YWS Olympics 2021: Write to the nearest 100
ANY NaNoWriMo: Sprint for 15 minutes
ANY Camp NaNo: Write for the length of your favorite song
ANY NaPoWriMo: Sprint for 20 minutes
2014 YWS Olympics: Sprint to the end of the scene
2016 YWS Olympics: Roll an 8-sided die, write that many words x100
2018 YWS Olympics: Write to the nearest 1000
ANY Holiday event: Sprint for 10 minutes
If you haven’t participated in ANY of those events, tsk tsk. Keep doing 50-headed hydras until you either beat the hydra or write 2000 words.
If you participated in ALL of those events, hats off to you! Go drink some water and give your team 5 bonus points.
You made it out of the forums! Take a break and breathe some fresh air How many words did you write total?
*5000+: 5 points for your team
*4000-4999: 4 points for your team
*3000-3999: 3 points for your team
*2000-2999: 2 points for your team
*1000-1999: 1 point for your team
STOP FIVE: ROLEPLAYS
Phew, we’re almost there! After all that forum browsing you’re ready to write again, so you head to the Roleplay area of the site.
Have you ever done a roleplay or storybook?
*Yes: You rock! Sprint for 10 minutes.
*No: What are you waiting for? Check out the information desk for more info on how they work, and then sprint for 15 minutes.
There are four roleplaying options, so you roll a 4-sided die. Multiply that by 100 and write that number of words.
*If you rolled a 1, you’re in the Storybook Sanctuary. This is recommended for advanced roleplayers, so I’m going to assume you’re also an advanced writer. Sprint to the end of your scene.
*If you rolled a 2, you’re in the Roleplay Realm. This is recommended for intermediate roleplayers, so you get an intermediate challenge. Write to the nearest 1000.
*If you rolled a 3, you’re in the Roleplay Hollow. This is recommended for beginners or for people who prefer a fast pace, so you get a fast challenge. Write to the length of your favorite song.
*If you rolled a 4, you’re in the Roleplay Duos. This is where you roleplay one-on-one, so I’ll assume you like to go head-to-head. Do a word war with someone for 15 minutes.
According to the Book of Records, there have been 14 completed Storybooks, the first dating back to 2010. Write for 14 minutes.
The longest roleplay to date has 13,808 replies over 928 pages with 10 editions. You're getting pretty good at this writing thing
*Do a 3-digit challenge for those replies; THEN
*Write 928 words in 10 minutes (if you fail, you can move on)
Finally, you’re impressed by how much discussion goes into one of these roleplays so you do a 3-digit challenge for the number of posts in Out-of-character Discussion.
You’re all finished roleplaying and you’re almost to the end! How many words did you write total?
*5000+: 5 points for your team
*4000-4999: 4 points for your team
*3000-3999: 3 points for your team
*2000-2999: 2 points for your team
*1000-1999: 1 point for your team
STOP SIX: BLOGS, CLUBS, & PEOPLE
This is it, the final hurrah! You’ve had so much fun looking around the site and writing all these words, but you sort of miss talking to people. Thankfully, the last stop on your ultimate YWS tour puts you in contact with people again.
First, you check out the Blogs.
Wait. Did you know there were blogs on YWS?
*Yes: of course you did! Sprint for 10 minutes
*No: better go read some and sprint for 15 minutes
Have you written in your blog in the last year?
*Yes: well done you! Write to the nearest 100
*No: better get on that! Write to the nearest 1000
Next, you check out Clubs.
How many clubs are you in? Generate a random number and write for that number of minutes. (For example, I’m in 69 clubs so I’d need to generate a random number from 1-69).
Next you look at the Featured Clubs. Pick any one at random. How many pages of posts are there? Write that many words.
Finally, you go to everyone’s favorite, the People Tab.
Make sure your People tab is set to only people you’re following. Do a 3-digit challenge for the total number of pages on your people tab.
Now make sure your People tab is set to All Members. Do another 3-digit challenge for the total number of pages on the entire people tab.
Now look at the ratio of the number of people you’re following versus the number of people who follow you.
*If Following is bigger: Sprint for 20 minutes
*If Followers is bigger: Sprint for 25 minutes
*If they’re the same: Do a word war with someone for 10 minutes
You can’t leave YWS without thanking all of the mods who keep this place running! Look to see how many are active right now (hint only the people in green) and write for that number of minutes.
You finished the final stop! How many words did you write total?
*5000+: 5 points for your team
*4000-4999: 4 points for your team
*3000-3999: 3 points for your team
*2000-2999: 2 points for your team
*1000-1999: 1 point for your team
CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU FINISHED THE CRAWL!!
*Please post your total word count for the crawl.
*Please post your total number of points for Team Monkeys or Team Dragons
*If you’re one of the first 10 people to complete the entire crawl, tag Carlito and receive 1000 YWS points.
Happy writing <3
Gender:
Points: 32055
Reviews: 1162