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Re: Is it possible to be a NaNoEdMo rebel?
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This is an interesting discussion and I completely agree that there needs to be some further clarification around the particular part of the rules that states: "It does not include planning or researching." I think there's also a second discussion going on about the existance of EdMo Rebels, ala the NaNo Rebels.

Researching is acceptable if you've come to a particular passage or scene where you need to know a specific piece of information to improve it. In this case you'd break from the manuscript, look up the piece of info you need and then get back to the manuscript to make the necessary changes. If however, you go to look up a piece of information and end up reading a whole book about the subject then the focus is no longer fully on editing that part of the manuscript. You might need to go back to the book several times as you reach different parts in your manuscript but the point is to keep moving through each scene, each paragraph, to keep making progress.

Planning is acceptable where you might be dealing with a scene outline of the manuscript, you're still working on the big picture structure of the story and though you're not into the nitty gritty of the prose you're still changing the structure of previously written material.

Another example of a non-editing activity was about character development. The lines do blur here because writers deal with character development differently. Some can develop just what's necessary for the story like in the research example but others need to get a complete feel for the character before being able to write them in or even outline them in. I would suggest that the same guidelines as research apply to character development, world building, etc.

If you're still finding yourself breaking the rules based on the clarification above then you are an EdMo Rebel. If you're still doing what needs to be done to revise your novel, to get to that point where you can start changing things then you are acting in the spirit of EdMo, though not strictly within the rules. That's what makes you an EdMo Rebel.

I hope that helps to clarify things and I'll cross-post this to the Rules forum.