Writing Challenge #21 - Altered Photography (Write Nov. 21st)

Hi folks

Once you’ve turned in your pages by the 12 noon Central Time deadline on 11/21 for challenge #20, you have officially completed two-thirds of the November Playwriting Challenge.

20 challenges down.

Only 10 challenges to go!  

Today is #10 in our final countdown to the end of the month and the end of this year’s challenge!

Congratulations on getting this far, with the finish line in sight!

Well done, one and all :)

Yesterday’s submissions for Challenge 19 tallied up like so:
79 playwrights, with material totaling 279 pages
(Equalling roughly two full-length plays plus another 40 minute one-act)

It'd sort of be theatrical malpractice of me not to mention the day I’m sending this out to you all (Thursday 11/20/25) is Give to the Max Day here in Minnesota, where every worthy cause you can think of asks for your support (it's actually part of the much larger Give to the Max month of November - so they don't destroy their servers on just a single day as they've done in the past.)

Threshold Theater is asking for support, too, of course.

If you're finding this month-long series of writing prompts useful to your process, and you can afford to toss us a little more than the original $15 you put in the kitty to take part in this challenge, Threshold certainly wouldn't say no :)

(If you can’t, no worries.  I know money’s tight, for writers more than most.)

Donations (along with ticket purchases at our events) help us to pay all the artists - playwrights, actors, directors and designers - involved in our ongoing New Play Readings Series and productions like our spring 2024 show “4Play With Threshold Theater” featuring a collection of short works from five female playwrights (four plays plus a monologue, hence the name :), our spring 2025 production of the play "Spellbound" (which came up through the New Play Reading Series), and the upcoming spring 2026 production "More 4Play With Threshold Theater" (featuring four new short works).

So give if you can.  Queer theater makers thank you.

Here's the link: https://www.givemn.org/story/Kssucf


So let’s get you today’s prompt…


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Challenge #21 - Altered Photography

Write Friday, November 21st - or earlier if you like
Due: Saturday, November 22nd, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



This one’s a series of visual jumping off points.

Photographer Jeffrey Czum takes evocative shots of cityscapes and buildings in various states of disrepair out in the middle of bleak landscapes and then alters the images with doctored signs, imprinted words, or phrases in neon.

Check out the gallery of images on his website and Instagram feed for the full effect


Here are some of my favorites that got me thinking:

A brick storefront in the middle of a barren landscape, an old red dusty sports car in front
Neon on top of the building saying 
“What doesn’t kill me better run”

A line of neon handwritten words strung on the wire where the traffic lights swing and bob above the road in the facing light, saying:
“Text me when you get home”

A cigarette butt with lipstick on it, and the typed words:
“I’m somebody’s crazy ex”

Upright piano falling apart on the beach, also the top of it’s on fire
Neon words above it saying 
“I f*cking love this song!”

A weathered old basketball net out by a grassy field and on the faded backboard are the words:
“Let’s Make Out With The Lights Off”

A faded blue port-potty in the middle of the desert with the phrase painted on it:
“Romance is not dead.”

A skyscraper at sunset and lit up on the outside of the top five floors are the words:
“You were a mistake I’d make twice”

An old beige and brown two-tone pickup truck parked out in back of a beige stucco building with the words painted on it saying
“You make me forget what Mondays feel like.”

A pink boxy two story wooden building, a couple of palm trees, an old blue car out front, seemingly in the middle of a desert, and painted in black letters on side of building
“F*ck it, let’s see what happens”

The view of a city multi-lane Intersection from above at night
Painted on the road in the middle of the intersection, the words 
“You and me and not a f*cking care in the world”

The kind of lighted roadside sign you regularly see outside a hotel or church or restaurant
Letters on it spelling out
“I honestly have no f*cking idea what I’m doing”

An orange-tinted art deco trailer home out in the desert at night, with its own wooden porch
All the lights on inside and neon letters across the top spelling out the phrase
“my hands all over you”

A lighted highway sign over the road at night with the message:
“I just want to see you naked”

Under a blooming bush of pink flowers hovering over the sidewalk sit three plastic trash bins, blue, black and green, and the green one on the end has a message on the side:
“I think we were made for each other”



Forlorn buildings
Barren landscapes
Road trips
The feeling of the world at night
Seeing messages everywhere, either from someone else, or the thoughts in your head manifesting in the real world around you
Love against all odds
Just enjoying being alive, and taking crazy chances



Find an image that grabs you, or an idea that it conjures in your mind
Write a scene that recreates the way the image makes you feel



Give one of those a go.

Or combine different items somehow, if you like.

Or, as always, ignore those suggestions entirely and write whatever you want.

Just write.

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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can 

try 2021’s challenge #21: Technology Gone Awry

Or try 2022’s challenge #21: Mystery Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Or try 2023’s Challenge #21: Flower People

Or try 2024’s challenge #21: Lamp Posts, Crows and Colors

Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)

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How to submit your work for Challenge #21

We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form, 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header

but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.

After you enter the required fields of 
email, 
name, 
challenge number (for today, that’d be 21 :) 
and page count, 
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.

OR

Post your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.

OR

Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form

OR

Type directly into the Google form.

(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)



Write Friday, November 21st - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Saturday, November 22nd, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

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And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

No.  Really.  I Mean It.  Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”

Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day

Don’t Stress about November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition

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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.

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 12 noon Central Time on Saturday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

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 9 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 makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

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And that something can be:


Lights up.

Two people on a bus or subway or light rail train standing near one another.

They both start playing the same song at the same time.

We hear the song out loud they hear in their headphones or ear buds.

It’s a banger.

They both start bopping along to the tune in their own ways.

Then they sense a person nearby moving to the same rhythm in their peripheral vision.

They look up cautiously, but still kind of dancing.

They start mouthing the same words at the same time.

Confirmation.

They start grinning like idiots.

They don’t get any closer.

They just keep dancing together at opposite ends of the train car or bus.

The music keeps blaring.

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.

Just write.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his)