What is Preptober? Can I win it? Can I get an A+ in Preptober?
S.R. Beaston
Crafty with words, wit, and wisdom, just add caffeine to make it more interesting.
Sometimes, the month before NaNoWriMo can be just as important, if not more important, than the big event itself. National Novel Writing Month is all about writing 50,000 fresh new words of a manuscript before November ends. With such a huge goal to hit by November 30, you might need some prep work to know where you're headed!
That’s where Preptober comes in.
What is Preptober?
Preptober is an event where writers prepare for NaNoWriMo. It takes place throughout the entire month of October, and participants can enjoy challenges, meet-ups, planning sessions, and other activities to prepare to write 50,000 words the next month.
Essentially, it’s plotting and/or outlining your novel before NaNo begins.
Everyone treats Preptober differently, but the camaraderie and fun of "the prepping month" is just as alive and energetic as NaNoWriMo itself. There are no rules on how you should use this month, but here are a few ways to benefit from Preptober.
How to benefit from Preptober
Every writer will choose a slightly different strategy for Preptober. You get to decide what your goals are, how you participate, and what activities you'd like to focus on. Here are a few options.
Organization
The focus of Preptober is to get organized for a distraction- and stress-free month of pure writing in November.
Plotting is a great way to solidify a path for your novel. You can easily refer to your outline for optimal writing in a short amount of time.
Organizing other parts of your life can also be beneficial to the writing cause. Some people create meal plans and schedules. Others buy tools and stationary to help maximize the experience and make things easier for the month of November. Some will front-load their non-writing work in October so they can coast on it to focus on writing the next month.
Personally, I think a small outline and some dedicated time carved out every day is more than enough, but if you want to go hard for Preptober, there are plenty of Preptober checklists and schedules to find online.
Inspiration
Even if you don’t want to go hard with organization, inspiration goes a long way. Everyone is excited about starting a fresh, new project and sharing their ideas, mood boards, and schedules with other writers.
There are plenty of sites you can use to find your own inspiration. Pinterest mood boards, music playlists, and setting up your desk with things that fit your theme are great ways to keep that inspiration spark alive throughout NaNo.
Motivation
If you are like me, you feed off the buzz of camaraderie. I gravitate towards the energy that Preptober brings. Seeing the excitement, the drive, the ambition of my fellow writers—it all helps motivate me to feel the same.
There are a couple of things you can prepare to use during NaNoWriMo for motivation.
Twitch
Twitch has a tag called "Writers" where people stream writing sprints and other motivational writing content and advice. Some of $ our own writers$ run writing sprints and coworking streams throughout the year.
Searching writers, coworking, or pomodoro, will get you where you want to be. Scout around and follow streamers you think will be a good fit for your productivity in October AND November. You might even try streaming yourself!
Discord
Discord communities are great for motivation. Take the month of Preptober to find some NaNoWriMo or writing discords. I found the best place to find such sites is $ Disboard$ , which allows you to search by keywords. You can always $ join NovelPad's Discord channel$ to chat in the NaNoWriMo thread.
Youtube
Like Twitch, YouTube hosts both live streams and video content for planning and prepping into November. Watching someone excited about their new project can inspire and motivate you for yours.
Some channels bring that cozy, vlog-like atmosphere, while others give tough-love writerly advice. Some just share their experiences, both good and bad, about the arduous task of planning and writing a novel.
Whatever manner motivates you the most, I encourage you to give some videos a shot—just don’t get too distracted!
Gameify
Something that I think is equally important for Preptober is to have fun. Some writers see Preptober as a waste of time, or just don’t understand the appeal. To each their own, but there’s something to be said about keeping your spirits high and your cup full. If you are enjoying your process, it feels less like work.
Here are a few things I do to prepare for November:
Coloring pages
I create a coloring page that roughly represents aspects of the novel I’m going to write. I’ll find doodles online and throw them all in a paint program, then print it out. Then, when I hit a word count goal in November, I color in one of the images.
This is a great visual motivator!
Bingo
Yes, I have my own bingo sheet. Once I’ve plotted my novel, I like to make a little bingo card for myself.
Since plotting doesn’t necessarily mean having every single plot point laid out, it’s exciting to see what may come of the direction, characters, settings, and plot. This is a first draft, after all—it’s likely to divert from your plans.
Bingo items can include things like:
- scene tropes
- character archetypes
- a name you accidentally use too often
- crutch words
- random objects you don't expect will show up in the story
This gets a lot more fun when you have a group of friends! You can even make bingo cards for each other, if you have writing partners familiar with your style.
Preptober takeaway
I think the takeaway here is that many people enjoy the fun, excitement, and community-building opportunities of Preptober. Some writers might keep their head down and whip out an outline, and that's fine, too! Preptober is what you make of it, even if that means ignoring it entirely.
But let’s face it. Having one more month dedicated to writing just gives you a reason to buy more cute stationery.
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