As we reach October and soon November, the time for Nation Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) approaches quickly with us. For those who may not be familiar, NaNoWriMo is when, throughout the month of November, people taking part will try to write 50,000 words contributing to a novel of their own.

Given that Hogwarts.io is a site designed for people to write, we know that a lot of our users choose to take part in NaNoWriMo, and we wanted to encourage and support those who do wish to participate.

During October, we invite users to create a thread in the Prep Room [LINK], to begin the planning stages of your novel. There are 3 tasks to complete during October, and rewards are given out based on which tasks have been completed (there is a bonus if you manage to complete all the tasks).

Preptober Tasks:

Task 1 - Make a Plan
What ideas do you have? Think about organising them in some way so they create a coherent storyline (e.g. a synopsis, a timeline, etc). There are a few different structures you can use to help with planning, Freytag's Pyramid and The Hero's Journey being some of the more well-known ones, but you don't have to use those if you have another you think fits your storyline better.
[Word Count minimum: 400 words | Rewards: 2 HP]

Task 2 - Create a Character/Setting
Who do you want to be in your story? Where do you want it to be set? You have a choice of either developing a character for your story or the setting of your story (or both if you can), but I'd like to see as much detail as possible for either. If you are creating a character, you can describe their appearance, their backstory, any strengths or weaknesses or character flaws, their motivations and maybe even why they are significant to the plot. If you are creating a setting, you can develop the area's history, describe its current appearance, mention any significant characters that are located there and again include the location's significance to the plot.
[Word Count minimum: 400 words for either character or setting (not both) | Rewards: 1 HP for 1 completed, 2 HP for both completed]

Task 3 - Make a schedule
How often will you be able to work on your story? Set a daily/weekly goal to reach, and hopefully it can help to motivate you, or make it seem easier to complete 50,000 words in November. To reach 50,000 words, you will need to do at least 1670 words per day, or 12,500 words per week, but you are welcome to create a schedule that fits your availability.
[Optional]

If all tasks are completed, you can earn an extra 1 HP and 10 sickles.

Weekly Writing Prompts:
We have also prepared some writing prompts that can be completed each week to help develop your setting and character(s), and also help to get your creative juices flowing for November. Whilst they are optional, they would help to better understand your character(s) and setting, allowing you to explore their motivations and perspectives. There are also additional rewards for completing these prompts. There is a link to these prompts: [LINK]

During November, you will have the chance to write your story. The aim is to have written 50,000 words by the end of the month. Every post can be a chapter, and the thread as a whole should be your book. Please keep track of your word count as moderators will not manually count out the words for you. Rewards will be given at the start of December.

- 5,000 words - 10 sickles, 1 chocolate frog
- 10,000 words - 1HP, 1 galleon, 2 chocolate frogs
- 20,000 words - 1HP, 2 galleons, 3 chocolate frogs
- 30,000 words - 1HP, 3 galleons, 4 chocolate frogs
- 40,000 words - 1HP, 4 galleons, 5 chocolate frogs
- 50,000 words - 2HP, 6 galleons, 1 gold chocolate frog card, Nightmare Story Lantern, and if the book is finished it will also be posted as a "published" in-universe book.

Reminders/Restrictions:

• This is only a first draft, so don't feel too much pressure to make it absolutely perfect. Make sure to have fun with it, and enjoy the process!
• Make sure to pace yourself so you don't burn out too quickly. If you have a lot of inspiration to write one day, feel free to write as much as you like, but don't put too much pressure on yourself to write if you're struggling to find motivation.
• You do not need to finish an entire novel, as the aim of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words. But if you do manage to write a novel at the end of the month, congrats and well done!
• The Preptober tasks can be done in any order, whichever you have inspiration for.
• Because the Preptober tasks and ultimately your novel will be written on the site, they all must adhere to the site rating. Information on the site rating can be found here [LINK].
• Since your work will be published IC and onsite, you cannot write a Harry Potter fanfic. That will require too much time and effort for those moderating to ensure everything written is in line with canon. Furthermore, this must be your original work, you cannot write an AU story of this community using characters from the site as they belong to their writers.

Once you have completed these tasks, please post in this thread so rewards can be given out at the end of the month. For October, please post your Prep Tasks by November 1st. When you complete your first task, please post, and then edit your post if more tasks are completed.

Format:

Code: Select all

[b]Profile Name:[/b] 
[b]Link to thread:[/b]
[b]Number of tasks completed:[/b] /3

For November, please post links to your NaNo Story with the total word count by 1st December. Post this in November after reaching the first milestone and edit it with updates as you go along.

Code: Select all

Link To Thread: [Link]
Word Count: /50000

(NOTE: Post this separately and AFTER the Prep rewards have been checked for ease. Do not edit your October post with this information as it will be missed. Post again with this form in November only).

Profile Name: Damion White
Link to thread: The Beautiful Start
Number of tasks completed: 1/3

Link To Thread: Title TBD
Word Count: 1112/50000

Link To Thread: Skates!!
Word Count: 25,557 /50000

Link To Thread: A Sky Full of Secrets Novel
Word Count: 10807/50000