Preptober Prompts Announcement!
Last year, I started an event called Preptober Prompts to get people excited and thinking about their NaNoWriMo novels for the month of October (also known, in writer circles, as Preptober). Well, I’m bringing it back this year! I’ve made a few adjustments and worked out kinks from last year, and I’m hoping that this year will be even more fun.
Here’s how the event works. The prompts are centered around a theme (“music,” this year), and each week features a different category of prompts: worldbuilding prompts, character prompts, plot prompts, and flash fiction prompts. In addition, each week is hosted by a different blogger. I’m super happy to announce this year’s co-hosts!
- Hosting character prompts for the second week of October (mainly from Twitter), Julia of Lit Aflame.
- Hosting plot prompts for the third week of October, Julian of Saver of Memories.
- Hosting flash fiction prompts for the fourth week of October, Sarah of The Sarcastic Elf.
All of these ladies are great bloggers and lovely people, so definitely go check out their blogs, subscribe, follow them, all that jazz. I’m super excited to be working with all of them on this event. ^-^
Every day of October (except Sundays) will have a prompt. Each prompt will be posted by its week’s respective host, along with their response to the prompt for their own NaNoWriMo project.
How does Preptober Prompts work for you, if you’d like to be a participant? You can interact through social media by sharing the day’s prompt graphic (I’ll release a folder of the graphics closer to October) and your response, tagging me (@rysaarcher on Twitter and Instagram, R.M. Archer on Facebook), and using the #PreptoberPrompts hashtag; or through the host blogs by putting your response in the comments of the day’s prompt post.
In addition, there are three extra days at the end of October, and for those three days we’re going to be using reader-submitted prompts. I’ll open up a submissions form on September 17th, and all you’ll need to do is submit your prompt idea through that form, but you can also improve the chances of your prompt being chosen by sharing and participating in the event through the month. Share posts on social media, post your prompt results in the comments, etc. and you’ll get more entries to be chosen for one of those three spots.
The readers whose prompts are chosen will get a special shout-out and a graphic for their prompt, and if they’re bloggers then they’ll get to host their prompt and I’ll share their blog here and on social media.
But all of your prompts will be shared! I’ll be putting together a list of bonus prompts at the end of the month, including any prompts that weren’t selected for the last three days, and sharing it on social media and on the blog.
Prompts:
Week 1
Week 2
Day 14
Can’t wait!! ^-^
I look forward to seeing what you come up with! ^-^
What a great theme!
Thank you! XD
This is going to be so fun! Since music usually has a lot of place in my stories (as in, there are usually musical characters, and lots of songs and poetry to be had) the theme is going to be perfect!
Awesome! :D I’m excited to see what you come up with!
Ooh, this the coolest thing ever!! I’m gonna be following this for sure! I’m planning to participate in NaNoWriMo this year and since I’ve never done it before, I’m kind of freaking out. Maybe this will help me not be such a nervous wreck. 🙃
(Also, can I mention how cool it is that you came up with this YOURSELF?! You rock, girl. 😊)
Thank you! ^-^
Ooh, that’s awesome! I hope your first year goes super well! :D If you need any encouragement or moral support, you know where to find me. ^-^ I’m sure you’re going to do great!
Aww, thanks, you’re the best! You probably will be hearing from me…I’ll come crawling to your door, crying and asking you why I ever decided to do this. 😂
Quick question: Do you have to start a new project for NaNo or can you work on an existing one?
LOL.
Either one. /Officially/, you’re supposed to start a new project, but I haven’t worked on a totally new draft in years. XD It’s more about the word count and the progress than anything else, at least in my opinion, and people “break the rules” as far as that’s concerned all the time, lol. So either one is fine. :)
Okay, thanks!
I just found this from Sarah @ The Sarcastic Elf and I could not be more excited! Lovely to meet you! 😊😊😊
It’s lovely to meet you, too! I’m excited to have you on board! ^-^
This is going to be super fun! I’m so excited to be a part of this!!!
Thank you so much for co-hosting! It’s going to be awesome! ^-^
This sounds awesome! I did NaNoWriMo in 2017 (November 2018 was hectic so didn’t do it last year) and… it was pretty bad… XD My total word count was something like 300. BUT! I’m gonna give it another shot this year!
I’m sure it’ll all make more sense when it starts, and each prompt is gonna be different, but will we write like a paragraph for each prompt? Or something like that?
Awesome! Best of luck this year! :D
For the first three weeks, you’re free to use the prompts however works for you. You can write as little or as much as you want, they can be prose or summary, as descriptive or vague as you want, etc. The prompts are just meant to get you thinking about your project in new and different ways, so feel free to use them however is most effective. :) The last week’s prompts are meant to inspire <1,000-word scenes (flash fiction is any piece of fiction up to 1,000 words) and just be a chance to have fun writing your characters in new scenarios. :)