Preptober Class, Part I: Character

Get thyself ready for Nanowrimo

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Note to paid subscribers: it worked! You can now download the PDF of this post. It’s not the most gorgeous PDF you’ve ever seen, but it has all the info on it. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find it.

Welcome to Preptober! This post is Part One of a three-part class that will unfold over the next weeks to get you ready for Nanowrimo.

In case you’re a walk-on alien who just inhabited a human body, Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month, wherein writers write a 50,000 word novel. Or, perhaps more likely, 50,000 words of a novel. A lot of people participate in this project: 413,295 did it in 2022, though the actual number is probably much larger, because that figure only refers to how many people signed up on the website.

Come November 1st, you start writing and aim for around 1700 words a day. But the rules of the Nanowrimo game state that you can do as much prep work as you like before hand. Enter the ubiquity of Preptober. Since I know so many writers doing Nano this year, I thought I’d enter the fray.

Why should I torture myself like this?

I know, it’s nuts. Especially because November is a busy month what with Thanksgiving in the United States and the start of the crazy holiday season. But, number one, it’s fun. The combined energy of all those thousands of writers toiling away is awesome and you can use it to push yourself forward. Nanowrimo is a great way to let your creativity fly. In order to get those 1700 words a day on the page, you do not have time to fuss about what comes next. You only mission is to get words on the page. This is great for people who have been blocked, or are perfectionists, or just want to get a draft down. I have a client who does it every year—it’s her way of getting that first draft on paper. And I have a writing friend who this year is committing to it because she’s tired of the revising she’s been doing for the last few years.

Even if you start Nanowrimo and end up not finishing, odds are good you’ll get quite a few words under your belt—likely more than you would have otherwise. I’ve done it several times and two or three times reached the 50,000 word goal. Other times I didn’t, but was happy with what I did produce. Unless you bail on the first day, you’ll be ahead.

You’ve convinced me, what do I do?

First, you can sign up on the website, where you can create a profile, track words and get helpful info. Throughout November, they’ll send you encouraging messages from well-known writers and when you win, you can get an official badge to put on your website. (And, you don’t have to do this, either. I did it once but haven’t bothered since. But that’s just me—not much of a rule follower.)

And then, you start getting ready for November 1st, that glorious day when you write Chapter One and go to it. And getting ready for it is what Preptober, and this series I’m starting, is all about. My aim is to give you the roadmap of what you’ll need to succeed. And let’s be clear here: your goal is not to end the month with a perfectly polished novel. Oh, no, no, no. You goal is to have 50,000 words of a draft. And since your main purpose is to get words on the page, I’m not going to go into an exhaustive treatise of what it takes to write a novel. I’m going to get you what I believe you need to do this thing. And then come December and onward you can get to rewriting the beast.

Here’s the schedule of posts:

Friday, October 6th — Character

Friday, October 13th — Setting

Friday, October 18th — Structure

Friday, October 126th —Practicalities and Tips

Please note: with this post I’m changing up my free/paid structure. I’ll send out a email with full details on Monday, but briefly, here’s the new plan. Because I’m considering this post part of a class, these posts will be free for a week, and then go behind a paywall when the next is posted. Paid subscribers will also get a PDF at that time, and have evergreen access to the class. (At some point I may even get brave enough to add audio to it.) Going forward, I’ll offer a series/class like this every month that will follow the same pattern. I’ll share that schedule with you in the Monday email.