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October Novel Prep Challenge

by Brandiwyn🎶

Rated: 13+ · Message Forum · Writing · #1474311

A month-long novel-planning challenge with prizes galore!

JUMP TO LINKS & MESSAGES

Signups for Prep 2023 NOW OPEN!

October Novel Prep Challenge
aka: The Prep / PrepMo / OctoPrep

The juggling octopus that embodies October Prep month.

You CAN win National Novel Writing Month.
For more information about NaNoWriMo: nanowrimo.org

What is The Prep?
The Prep is a month-long, community-oriented challenge that takes place every October, designed to help you plan a novel prior to writing it. The Prep was created to coincide with NaNoWriMo, but it can be used to prep any novel project. You don't even have to have a novel idea to participate! Your first assignment, on Oct. 1st, is to come up with an idea, and we provide you with brainstorming tools, plot generators, and a whole community of other novelists to help you along.

The Prep Rules:

Each day in October, complete an assignment from the Prep Calendar. The exercises ▼ will help you develop your novel-length story before writing it and prepare for the marathon writing of NaNoWriMo

Spend at least 15 minutes working on the required assignment each day (no maximum.)

Log your first completed assignment by the end of Oct. 3rd using the Entry Form.

You are never required to link your actual writing. Just tell us you finished the assignment. You are on the honor system.

To compete in one of the four "Contest Rounds," submit your entry via "October Novel Prep Contest Rounds"

[E] in addition to logging on the Entry Form for Prep assignment credit. NOTE: You are never required to compete in Contest Rounds or link your work. However, you are still required to complete and log the assignments on Contest Round days even if you choose not to compete.

Contest Round submissions may be any rating.

Prompts, name generators, brainstorming software and other writing tools are provided but not required. They are simply inspirational tools to get your muse working, since you don't already have your characters, background stories, and settings worked out. Find the writing tools at the bottom of the calendar.

The point is to get you disciplined into writing every day, but life sometimes interferes. Therefore, you may work ahead or fall behind and catch up later, so long as you don't exceed 72 hours between logging completed assignments. Exceptions available for restricted internet access if arranged in advance, or for verified natural disasters, so long as you continue to work on assignments offline. Please email Brandiwyn🎶 for options.

If you exceed 72 hours between posted assignments but still complete all the required work by October 31st, we have a special prize just for you, so please don't give up!

The forum may be used for questions, brainstorming about your work, stumbling blocks you're facing, general encouragement of each other, or anything else you would like to discuss related to the Prep, your novel project, or NaNo in general. So that young writers may participate in the Prep, please keep dialog 13+ and below.

The Prep Prizes:

Contest Round prizes:

1st Place gets a 1st place awardicon and 20,000 Gift Points

2nd Place gets a 2nd place awardicon and 10,000 Gift Points.

3rd Place gets a 3rd place awardicon and 5,000 Gift Points.

Cheerleading prizes:
Our Cheerleading team will award the following prizes at their discretion*:

1,000 Gift Points (unlimited)

5,000 Gift Points (unlimited)

Cheerleading Merit Badges
*The more you support your fellow Preppers, the more prizes you win!

October Novel Prep Challenge Grand Prize:
Successfully complete all of the required assignments by October 31st without exceeding 72 hours between logged assignments and win:

an Exclusive "OctoPrep" Merit Badge.

participation in the elite "NaNoWriMo Sprint Writers Forum"

[13+] during November.

access to the life-saving "NaNoWriMo Brainstorming Forum"

[13+] during November.

November NaNoWriMo Grand Prize:
Successfully complete NaNoWriMo in November and win a NaNo Winner Merit Badge.
Eligibility requirements for this prize:
Complete at least one Prep calendar assignment by 10/31.
Provide your NaNoWriMo author name via the Signup Form.
Your NaNoWriMo account must reflect at least 50,000 words by 11/30.

COUNTDOWN TO NaNoWriMo!
Tokyo:
Mumbai:
Moscow:
York:
New York:
Nashville:
Reno:
Honolulu:
South Pole: 🤷‍♀️ Prolly depends where you're standing
North Pole: Only Santa Knows

The Prep Personnel:

Click to Meet Your Prep Leaders ▼
Your Leadership Team consist of executive leaders, writing coaches, tech support and administrative support. Your leaders are here to help you, answer your questions, explain assignments, coach you in your writing, fix technical problems and keep you informed. Throughout October, we will send out a daily email announcing which participants are still in the running for Merit Badges.

Want to serve on the Leadership Team?
"Prep Instructions: Leadership Team" [E]

Click to Meet Your Cheerleaders ▼
Your Cheerleaders are here to motivate you, reward you for motivating one another, and nudge you when you're close to a deadline. Our Cheerleaders will award "Cheerleading" Merit Badges, GPs and other goodies to anyone offering encouragement, whether a contestant or external general supporter.

Want to serve on the Cheerleading Team?
"Prep Instructions: Cheerleaders" [E]

Click to Meet Your Contest Round Judges ▼
Your judges are here to select the winners of the Contest Rounds. Prep participants may serve as judges but are not eligible to compete in the Contest Round(s) that they judge. They are still eligible for the Grand Prizes and to compete in the other Contest Rounds.

Want to serve on the Judging Team?
"Prep Instructions: Contest Round Judges" [E]

Click to Meet Your Sponsors ▼
Without the support of these generous sponsors, we could not fund your prizes. Donations are always much appreciated. Please send them to Group#1474310. You can also contribute and encourage one another by buying "(de)Motivational cNotes" [18+] or "[ASR] (de)Motivational cNotes" [ASR].

NOTE:
If you would like to help but are not able to donate GPs or time, consider donating one or two of your FREE monthly Merit Badges. They will be required on Nov. 1st and/or Dec. 1st. All you have to do is save them up (don't award a Merit Badge to anyone for 30 days prior), and then coordinate with the Leaders to award a badge to one of our winners on each of the award days.

Click to Meet Your Teammates ▼
This group houses both your fellow participants and Prep funds. When you sign up, we will automatically add you to the group to receive daily emails. There is no maximum number of contestants, so bring your friends!

Good luck and happy writing!

View More Testimonials ▼

"...make sure you're prepping. It really does help! I've finished NaNo 0 times WITHOUT prepping and I've finished NaNo EVERY time WITH prepping." - Schnujo

"I cannot see how anyone could complete this project and not feel they gained from it. That's not saying anyone does feel this way; I'm saying it is well worth the effort. What started as a good idea in my head has evolved into a viable story that now has a solid outline and fleshed out characters and world where they reside. I am going to take this and use it on past projects that I've set aside because I've never known how to move my ideas to a working storyline." - Cupadraig~The Remote Country

"I have never done a novel prep before, but most of what you are having us do is looking to be seriously helpful. Whether or not it makes any difference to NaNo, it is helping me understand what exactly I want to write." - JaceCar

"I had a pleasure to participate in this challenge back in 2015 and I had so much fun with it. I think this is one of the best writing competitions on the entire site. I love how well it is planned and how helpful people in the forum can be. When I took a part in 2015 I had no idea how would I manage to write those 50k words, I have never written anything longer than 1k words before that, but thanks to great organization of NaNo prep challenge and all people involved in it, I did it. " - ~Minja~

"I love the OctoPrep! It's the only time ideas come out of nowhere and stay." - Gaby ~ Busy!

"Everytime I see [the Prep jumping up on my favorites list] my brain jumps into brainstorming mode." - Sarah Rae

"I have a countdown to NaNo on my phone. How can it be only 50 days away? I'm not nearly ready! Thank goodness for the Prep Challenge." - Outasync

"I am a lifetime fan of NaNoPrep! It has helped me progress more in a week than I have in the last year or more... I am loving the method I chose for the outline! It sums up what I want the novel to include, but isn't restricting my creative juices from flowing freely. With each days assignment, my muse is stirring more and more!" - Patrece ~

"As a person who has struggled in the past with 'assignments' or with outlining my writing, I have found this experience to actually be very helpful. I already had an idea of what I wanted to write for NaNo, but these exercises are helping me to flesh out my idea some more - without restricting my writing." - Sara - back on WDC

"I am really liking how broken down the steps are. Usually when I write I don't take the time to flesh out my story this much and then I end up not finishing my longer stories because they get so off track. This process is really helping me see the little pieces that have derailed me in the past." - ZombeeLuv

"Well, as always, I'm struggling to define the exact story I'm trying to tell. What's the main point of my story? Why does anyone care? Who am I writing for? What's going to happen in the story and how will I create an actual ending? These exercises are incredibly helpful to me as I attempt to answer all of these questions. Even assignments that I've stalled on in past preps are finding me inspired and helping me to create that novel that I've wanted to write for years. So, THANK YOU to everyone involved in making the prep work, from the creators to my fellow participants: you're all amazing!!! This is going to be the best NaNoWriMo ever!!!!" - Robin

"I have to say that this Prep challenge has helped me tremendously. This is my first Nano and my first novel attempt. I really like that the prep takes us step by step on preparing for such a challenge. I believe that this prep challenge is going to be foundation of my success in Nano. The characters backstory helped me understand my plot better and brainstorming exercise allowed me to come up with good ideas." - SoulWriter

"This is a splendid exercise ~ the focus on specifics rather than meandering - I still meander during free write, but I have my sketches at hand to lure back my characters. I'm not sure I'll have a fully detailed plan, as so far I've found my protagonist to be flawed enough to maybe become the antagonist. This is so helpful to learn and work with this now, and if during November they again trade places, I'll have my character sketches, background information, and plot lines to help them find their focus. Great Exercises." - Kate - Writing & Reading

"Seriously, I was thinking of November novel month for two years. I did not know what to expect. Nano Prep is helping me understand my characters. They are about to have interesting lives that I did not know were there. This is a very helpful way to organize a story. I'm learning more with every assignment. WDC writes on." - Apondia

"My first Nano was five years ago and I did it by the seat of my pants, got over 100k, and then dropped the story after November was over. Then, for the next four years I ended up in a sad cycle of signing up, then chickening out. This year I'm going to make it. With all the Prep I'm getting done through October NaNoPrep, I know that I'll be able to sit down and write like the wind." - Noyoki

"...my recent book was the one I started at your Pre-Nano sessions in October on WDC. See how valuable nano is in getting the bones of that novel down on paper. Tell your writers all they need is a good story and a fierce determination to get it onto the page." - Ann Carter

Important Prep Links:

See assignments on the "2023 Prep Calendar"

Log assignments on the Entry Form.

(Opens Oct 1st)

Monitor your assignment progress on the 2023 LOG

Compete in the "October Novel Prep Contest Rounds"