Challenge #3 - Start With A Title

Hi folks

There’s been a bit of a mini-crisis at the day job that needs more of my attention than on a normal day, so I’m going to need to keep this one short.

First, there was a concern about a fire escape not fitting in with something someone was writing and the short answer to that question is - fine, ignore the writing prompt.  The longer answer to the issue of how closely to hue to any given writing challenge is here.

Second, I don’t have an update yet on the writing on Challenge #1 (see the first sentence in this post).  But just judging from the high volume of email, it looks like you’re all cranking away at it.  Well done.  More specifics on that later.

Let’s get you that writing prompt…


Challenge #3 - Start With A Title

Due: Thursday, November 4th, 8am
(whenever 8am arrives in your time zone; we’ll do the math here in the Central Time zone, no worries :)

This one is inspired by a card from Naomi Epel’s “Observation Deck” - a tool kit for writers.  It’s a box with a deck of cards in it that have phrases on them which you can use as a jumping off point for writing exercises, or to break through a block you might have on something, etc.  Each card has an accompanying essay in a tiny book that comes along with the deck of cards.  You can read the essay for further inspiration, or just noodle over your thoughts about the phrase on the card.

This is also a nod to my late friend Sean Grathwol, who first introduced me to “The Observation Deck” - a great writer, a great supporter of other writers and their work, and a great man. He is missed.

One card in the deck says, “Start With A Title”

Sometimes a title can be a good guide to keep your story and characters on track, if you keep referring back to it as your guiding star.

Sometimes one title is good enough to get you started on an idea, but you end up naming it something else when you’re done.

Titles come from all sorts of places - famous, infamous or everyday quotes from history or human conversation; lines in poems or song lyrics; lines from other plays or novels or movies or TV shows you really like; books for children; unusual names of towns or roads or bodies of water or rock bands or sports teams or landmarks; evocative names of people. (For instance, there was a call for scripts once from a theater company based in a town called Chagrin Valley. Take that and run with it if you want, I won’t mind.)

Many times your title will be something that comes about the other way, popping out of some key phrase in your work.

But for this one, maybe take a turn of phrase that always struck you as a potential title and sit with it and see what it conjures up for you.

The same title can inspire VERY different outcomes - for instance, two songs I quite like have the same title, Lose My Mind - one is a whimsical melancholy ballad by Dean Lewis (picture above), the other is a thumping dance track by Anthony Ramos (with a lot of F bombs in it, and a lot of male torso action, so probably NSFW, but I recommend it for later viewing, if you need a distraction) (picture below)




How to submit your work for Challenge #3

You have options.  They are:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and send as an attachment to an email sent to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com

OR

Copy and past your script in the body of an email and send it to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com

OR

Post your script online (as a Google doc, or in a blog post, on your own personal website, etc.) - email a link to this script to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com
(If you’re going to Google doc route, just make sure to have the document public, or give permissions to our email address to open it)

When emailing us, make the subject line of your email - Challenge #3
(That just helps us sort through the email more quickly)
(Or, you know, just reply to this email if you want :)

OR

Post the link for the online document option above in the comments section on this very blog post for this challenge on our writing challenge blog




Again, this is: Due: Thursday, November 4th, 8am
(whenever 8am arrives in your time zone; we’ll do the math here in the Central Time zone, no worries :)

And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

We will be VERY understanding about technical difficulties and how they can screw up making the deadline on the first few days.  No need to fret about anything except the writing (and hopefully that’s not something causing you to fret too much either :)

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 8am on Wednesday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

Someone had a good question about the overall goal of the month, are we supposed to write a full-length play, or two one-act plays, etc.?  The short answer is no (unless you want to).  The longer answer is here if you’re curious.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. You have 29 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it make sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

And that something can be:

Lights up.

Someone wanders on and says the title of the play, or perhaps performs an interpretive dance inspired by the title.

Lights down.

The End

That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day (and a half).

Just write.