I’ve linked this here before but I just noticed that you need to be signed into the NaNo site to view the messageboard now. So I’m going to post it directly. If you don’t know what a word crawl is, basically it’s just a way of making a word count goal feel more manageable by chopping it into smaller pieces.

I kept this very generic because I didn’t want to tailor it to any characters/ships because I posted it on the main NaNo board originally. So this is for everyone, no matter who your favorite character is 🙂 Hope someone finds it helpful!

*****

It’s 8:15 as
you roll into Storybrooke. This town is like Hotel California, the orange
painted townline tells you that you can enter, but you can’t leave. You park in
Main Street
behind a very familiar looking yellow bug.

While thinking
through options for accommodation, you do a 15 minute word war.

– If you write
less than 400 words, then there’s no
choice but to get comfortable in your car. That’s alright, some people only
have a car.
– If you write
between 400 and 600 words, then you
get a room at Granny’s. Beware her wolf-like hearing when typing late at night.
– If you write
more than 600 words, then
congratulations your favorite character is at the window, offering you a bed
in their spare room.

The next day,
you start to investigate the town. There’s a new villain at work and you want
to help the heroes defeat them. Unfortunately, heroics usually start with
research so you head to the library to dig into the books. To get started, you
take the Fifty Headed Hydra
challenge.

All that
reading gave you a raging thirst, you decide to take a break and sprint to the nearest 1000.

It’s back to
the library, to finish off the research – finish
your current scene.

Finally
success! The books reveal that the villain might be susceptible to a certain
spell. However, it needs ingredients, so you head to Regina’s vault. On your way you do a quick 500 word sprint.

The vault is a
complete mess. How does anybody find anything down here? You open a crate and
shut it quickly seeing what looked like a two headed snake. This is going to
take a while, so time for a 30 minute
word war.

– If you are
sleeping in your car, then you’ll find the ingredients if you write 800 words in the 30 minutes. If you
don’t make it, then try again for 40 minutes. If you don’t make it again, then
not to worry someone else finds the ingredients for you.
– If you are
staying at Granny’s, then you’ll find the ingredients if you write 1000 words in the 30 minutes. If you
don’t make it, then try again for 40 minutes. If you don’t make it again, then
not to worry someone else finds the ingredients for you.
– If you are in
the spare room, then you’ll find the ingredients if you write 1200 words in the 30 minutes. If you
don’t make it, then try again for 40 minutes. If you don’t make it again, then
not to worry someone else finds the ingredients for you.

The spell is
all ready to go but the others aren’t here yet to cast it. Quick, roll a dice and write that many x100 words.

Finally the
spell is cast and the villain is apprehended. So why aren’t things getting back
to normal? This means only one thing – the bad guy wasn’t working alone. The
spell on the townline is still as strong as ever. It’s going to take some
serious thinking. Write 3% of your
current wordcount while everyone is trying to puzzle it out.

You didn’t get
much sleep last night, too busy thinking about who the second villain could be.
However, you did have an idea, what if the second villain is in the book? You
ask Henry if you can borrow his book to check. He says you can, if you do the 1k1hr challenge (1000 words in 1 hour).

There are so
many stories in this book and they are all so interesting! You look over your
shoulder, but nobody is watching you, so you find your favorite characters
story to read first. It won’t take long to read it and then you’ll get back to
villain research. Do the three digit
challenge.

You read the
story of the villain you just defeated but there is no mention of any shadowy
partners so it must be a new teamup! That means you have to go back to the
beginning of the book, and read every single story. You decide to do a word sprint to keep your mind sharp
when reading.

– If you are
sleeping in your car write 500 words.

– If you are
staying at Granny’s write 1000 words.

– If you are in
the spare room write 1500 words.

The book
doesn’t reveal anything interesting, so there’s nothing for it. You have to
head over to Gold’s pawnshop and ask Rumplestiltskin what he knows. However,
it’s not just magic that comes with a price, information isn’t free either. For
payment write until you’ve hit an amount
equal to half your daily goal.

Rumplestiltskin
didn’t know who you were looking for, but he gave you a tracking spell to find
where they are hiding. You start to head there now, it’s almost most time for
the big confrontation and you are a little nervous.

– If you are
sleeping in your car, write to the nearest 500
word milestone (500, 1000 etc.)

– If you are
staying at Granny’s, write to the nearest 1000
word milestone (1000, 2000 etc.)

– If you are in
the spare room, write to the nearest 2000
word milestone (2000, 4000 etc.)

The second
villain is defeated and true loves kiss is about to break the curse on the
townline. You know you have to leave before the townline gets cursed again.
However, even though this town is kinda crazy, it feels like home and you are
going to miss everyone. To drag out your last day, write the amount of your daily goal.

The Leaving
Storybrooke sign fades into the distance. You pull out a coin and flip it.

– Heads, you
turn around and start the crawl again.

– Tails, you
return to your life and leave Storybrooke behind.