Overachievers in Nanowrimo are those who consistently and purposely strive for more than the 50,000 word goal.

Overachieving

Nanowrimo is a challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. For most non-professional writers (and some professionals) this means banging out 1,667 words per day all month. And it can be a struggle. But, as with many challenges, there are those who take the word count as a minimum--those scattered few who manage, through determination, discipline and great typing speed, to write double or more the 50,000 word goal. They may either choose to write a novel of more than 50,000 words, write multiple novels, or may simply aim to finish their novel ahead of the deadline. Some may even take on the challenge of writing an entire 50k in a weekend or in a single day. These are the overachievers.

Overachievers are often (but not always) Nano veterans who have won before (perhaps not in an overachieving way) and continue to push themselves. Having a fast typing speed is not required; while some overachievers can pass 120wpm, some top out at 50wpm. Some of the higher-count overachievers are students who may have more free time than a full-time employee, whereas others are unemployed; however, it is possible for even full-time employees and MLs to overachieve, depending on their outside obligations.

Because of their fast (and sometimes insanely quick) accumulation of words, accusations of cheating are sometimes leveled at overachievers. While some users enter false numbers into the wordcount validator, either accidentally or as trolls, (some even brag about deliberately entering numbers for words they have not written from scratch), most high word counts are the product of an ordinary Nanoer who happens to be writing at a faster pace. Nano has a strict no-cheating-accusations policy, something which can often be seen enforced in the forums when the topic of wordcount is brought up. Despite this, as a group they tend to be among the most supportive of other people and their goals on the forums - sushimustwrite and Elluna Hellen are known for being in most of the major forums and offering encouragement and advice.

Until 2013 the overachievers had a thread in the This is Going Better Than I'd Hoped forum to chat about their accomplishments, share strategies, and commiserate how far behind their overachieving goals they are. They tend not to populate the NaNoWriMo Ate My Soul forum, as their word counts (which may be ahead of the regular quota but drastically behind on their own goals) often cause strife from those behind the regular quota. In 2013 a forum called Beyond 50k appeared on the NaNo site, designed for Wrimos whose goals exceeded 50k, or who found themselves at 50k but with an unfinished novel.

Overachiever Challenges

The 50k Weekend challenge was the idea of a group of overachievers. Wrimos who complete the challenge write 50,000 words over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of U.S. Thanksgiving weekend. Overachievers completed the challenge together for the first time in 2010, and overachievers continue to participate every November. Milwordy was also the brainchild of an overachiever.

The Quest for a Million Words

After the word count bar limit was upped from 200,000 to 999,999 in 2007, people have set out to max out the word counter by aiming for a million words. The first Wrimos to succeed at this were Hanxa, Delayra, and Caeraerie in 2008. Kateness and Caeraerie hit the million words in 2009. In 2010 the word count bar limit had been reduced to 500,000 words, but that hasn't stopped several Wrimos from aiming for the million word mark.

In 2011 the word counter maxed out at 1,000,000 words for the first time, and caillien and Captain Lonewolf exceeded that limit. Caillien went on to max out the counter in 2012, 2013, and 2014, and currently holds the record for most times completing the million. In 2014 witcykristy, Kiryuu-chan and TheMaskedCokie wrote a million words as well; S.Berry also maxed out the counter in 2014 but wrote an actual total of just over 1.5 million words. She and Kiryuu-chan broke the million again in 2015. S.Berry and Kiryuu-chan both wrote over 3 million apiece. S.Berry holds the current record for most words ever written during NaNoWriMo at 3.030 million.

The Quest for a Million Words: Camp NaNoWriMo Edition

During Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015, Orangekiss hit a million words.

The Future of Overachievers

As Nanowrimo continues to grow, the number of overachievers is likely to continue to rise. They are already a significant minority of the population, but are unlikely to become the majority because 50k words in a month is difficult enough for many Wrimos. A few overachievers have called for NaNo to be more flexible with setting goals beyond 50k, and opinions about this were actually gathered in the 2011 NaNoWriMo Participant Survey. However, the idea did not receive sufficient support from survey respondents. Due to the discontinuation of Script Frenzy in June 2012 (and its subsequent integration into Camp NaNo starting in April 2013), and record-breaking fundraising during NaNo 2012, some users called for Camp Nano to offer more flexible word count goals. This became reality for the Camp sessions starting in 2013, allowing people to aim for anywhere from as little as 10,000 words to as much as 999,999 words.

Implementing flexible word count goals or multiple novel support during the main NaNoWriMo event in November in any fashion is unlikely, however, because the main Nano event is often seen by its participants (including some overachievers) as being about the 50k. In addition, there are no events at risk of discontinuation and/or integration into NaNo Main, and the overachievers are unlikely to ever be a substantial portion of the NaNo population. Likewise, NaNo Rebels are unlikely to see rebel-specific tools (such as the ability to validate scripts or art) for the same reasons.





Wordcount Doesn't Matter - And Why: an article on wordcount from the perspective of an overachiever