Writathon

Writathon is Royal Road’s writing challenge to our users, it is a personal challenge first and foremost. To win, you need to write at least 55,555 words in 5 weeks.  

We run the Writathon on April 1st and October 31st for 5 weeks each time. From each Writathon to the next, there might be minor changes, but they tend to follow similar concepts.

Rules

It can be a new story or you can continue an old one, but the 55,555 words have to be completed in a single-story, not across multiple stories. 

If you are continuing an old fiction, the word count will start once you click [Participate]. 

If you are submitting a new fiction, the word count for it will start from the beginning of the Writathon challenge, regardless of when you chose to participate. You must still click [Participate] to be a part of the challenge.

To participate, go to the Writathon tab in the Author dashboard https://www.royalroad.com/author-dashboard/writathon 

First Milestone:

Write at least 25,000 words by the 15th to qualify for the announced participants' list. 

The list will be announced to everyone, and it will show the fictions that are seriously participating in the challenge to make it easier for readers to find those stories.   

Second Milestone: 

Finish writing 55,555 words before the end of the 5th day the following month.  

If you complete this milestone by the deadline you will count as a winner of this challenge (even if you didn’t make it in time for the first Milestone)!   

Rewards: 

All winners will receive 1-month of Author Premium (this can be used or gifted to another user as per request). 

All winners will receive an Achievement unique to the Writathon worth 5000 level EXP! 

Extra Rules:

Extra Rule 1. For the duration of the contest, the chapters posted to the story cannot include any sexual content.

Extra Rule 2. You can only participate with an Original fiction. The story cannot be a Fanfiction. 

Time zone:

The challenge follows the IDLW timezone, which is the last timezone on earth. This means that as long as the date is still the 5th somewhere around the world, the challenge will continue! You can check out a countdown in the author dashboard as well. 

To participate:

*Click [participate] here https://www.royalroad.com/author-dashboard/writathon  (will only reopen around the period of the event) 

For the spirit of the challenge, and to inform the other authors and readers - please add [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] in the description of your story.

Q: Can you participate with what you've written before the start of the challenge? 

A: No. That is against the spirit of the challenge, if your word count does not match the true count of what you started writing from the start of the event, then simply reach out to us via a support ticket and we will edit it. 

We hope that you will find it easier knowing that other authors are also heading toward a similar goal. Accordingly, we created a Writathon Forum (which opens only around the period of the event). This is a place where you can leave your words of encouragement or challenge to your fellow participants!