#preptober

[ellipsus-writes]

Hey hey hey, Ellipsus people!

With November coming up, we know some of you are planning some long projects… (50k words, mayhap? 👀), and maybe already haunted by the ghostly blank page.

Don’t panic (yet)! We’ve got you covered with a new batch of Preptober-themed templates to help you summon your story before November 1 hits: Project Compass, Backstory Planning, and Creative Goals. Read about them in our blog post here!

Annnd of course, there’s a lot more where those came from: character sheets, worldbuilding guides, and story planners/plotting templates galore. You can find them all when you create a new doc on your dash (just hit + New → From Template).

Go forth and prepare your offerings to the word count gods!

- the Ellipsus Team xo

[promptsblog]

For those of you participating in Nano 2.0 or any other November Novel Writing challenge, what mechanisms are you going to put in place to ensure you meet your goals?

In my case, I won't let myself play The Sims until I've met my daily goal, and even then, I can't spend more time playing the sims than I've spent writing that day. Future me is going to hate it, but it must be done.

[rightwriter]

Indigenous Storytelling

How American Indian Storytelling Differs From the Western Narrative Structure

American Indian storytelling has enjoyed a major resurgence over the last 20 years. It has survived several attempts at eradication, largely

A lot of the stuff I've posted so far is pretty white western-centric views of telling stories. The whole article is very informative! An excerpt: "Many of the main characters in Plains Indian mythology never end. Not only are they immortal and indestructible—where they may be killed in one story and are right back at it in another—they also age with the listener. Coyote stories for children have childlike morals; for teens Coyote is a much rougher character; and, for elders only, grandpa Coyote is smart, and his stories are deep and filled with complicated plots and plans."

[tumblydove]

I need some NaNoWriMo friends on here lol.

Anyone doing Preptober rn?

[carryonghostfacer]

Came up with a new story idea that has its hooks in me just in time for preptober and not-nanowrimo. thinking about giving it a shot. is anyone participating in some form this year?

though AutoCrit also is apparently starting a 90 day novel writing thing as of today, curious if anyone is participating in that?

[imaginarygirltnt]

Alright guys I got bored while I was in quarantine for covid and decided to try to make a notebook specifically for writers to jot down all those ideas we're all sure we'll never forget since they're so cool.

Also, with Preptober coming up soon, I thought I'd throw it out for all the wrimos out there!

So we have:

1. Pretty Cover!:

2: Cute inner page to make you feel like the real writer your imposter syndrome tries to tell you, you aren't:

3. Map Space! To put down your fantasy lands, insert towns, or maybe those nines seas you decided you had to have cause seven clearly wasn't enough (😭 somebody save me, why did I chose nine?!!)

4. Timelines! Perfect for keeping track of what's going on in your story or even for you to keep yourself on track!

5. There are also premade Extensive Character sheets to help you develop your own personal blorbos. Along with space to sketch your OCs if you have a shred of artistic talent (or even if you don't!)

6. There are also some Basic Character Sheets for those interesting side characters who aren't supposed to take over your story:

7. And of course, space to write a bunch of notes, complete with doodle boxes for you to draw, well....pretty much anything you want, whether it been a cool weapon, a specific landscape, or to note a specific expression on a character's face.

You can find the Writer's Notebook here! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Amazon.com: Writer's Notebook 5.5 x 8.5: Sahadeo, C.J.: Books

Have fun!

[elizabethalta]

TrackBear can import my NaNoWriMo project data?? I'm so happy I could puke. Idk why but all those little numbers mean a lot to me!

[ficfanofficial]

FicFan Will Be Hosting NaNoWriMo 2025!

TL;DR: A full-scale NaNoWriMo 2025 event will be hosted this November on https://fic.fan (English), https://fanfictionero.com (Spanish), and https://ficador.com (Portuguese). We welcome all feedback and suggestions to help make this the best NaNoWriMo experience yet.

The Full Story

NaNoWriMo, originally a nonprofit initiative, was an annual writing challenge that encouraged writers to complete a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. It became a beloved event that inspired thousands of writers to tap into their creativity and commit to storytelling, year after year.

Sadly, in recent years, the organization behind NaNoWriMo faced significant decline due to financial issues and poor management. This led to serious controversies, including the involvement of questionable AI sponsors and unresolved concerns around child safety.

Despite this, we believe the core concept of NaNoWriMo remains incredibly powerful. It sets a clear, motivating goal, offers a defined timeline, and fosters a sense of shared purpose within a global writing community. That’s why we’ve decided to step up and host NaNoWriMo 2025 by bringing new energy and a renewed sense of integrity to the event.

About FicFan

We are a team of writers and fanfiction enthusiasts from Europe, and many of us were part of the original development team behind ficbook.net which is a Russian-language fanfiction platform launched in 2009. Over time, Ficbook grew to more than 20 million users, becoming the second-largest fanfiction website in the world after AO3.

In recent years, however, the Russian government passed harsh anti-LGBTQ+ laws and pressured us to remove all slash and femslash content. We were threatened with criminal charges and even physical violence. But we refused to compromise. For us, writing is about freedom of expression and community. Giving in would have meant betraying everything we’d built.

As a result, Ficbook was banned in Russia. We lost a large portion of our audience, but many loyal writers and readers continue to access the site through VPNs.

Since then, we’ve expanded our vision, launching multilingual platforms based on the Ficbook codebase:

https://fic.fan (English)

https://fanfictionero.com (Spanish)

https://ficador.com (Portuguese – currently in beta)

Unlike the original NaNoWriMo, we are not a nonprofit. We sustain our work through premium features. This allows us to employ a professional team of developers and moderators, ensuring that FicFan is one of the most advanced publishing platforms available. Our features include collaborative writing tools, detailed author statistics, a beta reader system, reader requests, and much more.

Looking Ahead to November

We’re bringing 15 years of experience into NaNoWriMo 2025 to make it the best version of the event yet. We’re here to listen, because we believe in open dialogue and the power of a supportive writing community. We welcome all ideas and suggestions—feel free to share them on our social channels or contact me directly at [email protected].

Here’s what we can confirm so far:

You’ll be able to participate with both original fiction and fanfiction, in any genre, fandom, or pairing.

Participation will be completely free.

We’re dedicating the coming months to building a high-quality, seamless experience.

No AI-generated content will be allowed. This is a celebration of human creativity.

If you’re interested in writing or reading this November, we invite you to join our community:

Sign up on FicFan: https://fic.fan

Android app: Google Play Store

Reddit: r/FicFanCreatives

Let’s make NaNoWriMo 2025 something unforgettable. Together.