Hi folks
24 writing challenges down.
Only 6 to go!
Keep up the good work :)
(1 of 2)
Yes, I’m going to send you two prompts a day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so you have all the prompts early to take you through the holiday weekend (oddly enough, also the end of the month, and the challenge). That way, if you want to write extra ahead of time and bank it in order to give yourself a day off or two over the holiday stretch at the end of the week, you can do that.
This prompt below is the one you would be writing Tuesday 11/25 to be turned in on Wednesday 11/26 by noon Central Time, but just fill in the Google form and tag it for prompt 25 and you can turn it early and I’ll credit it ahead.
And of course, you can always use the mini-play at the bottom of the email and blog post as an escape hatch for the day’s writing.
Speaking of writing, as we always do, here’s the initial tallies for yesterday’s submissions for challenge 22:
71 playwrights with material totaling 251 pages
(or the equivalent of two full-length plays plus another ten minute play besides)
Happy writing to you all, in the meantime.
Let’s get you that first writing prompt…
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Challenge #25 - Storefronts and Marquees
Write Tuesday, Nov. 25th - or earlier if you like
Due: Wednesday, November 26th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
The intersection of Lyndale Avenue and 26th Street in Minneapolis has a nice long traffic light so I can pause and take in that particular crossroads of the weird neighborhood.
The pandemic forced a lot of turnover in the restaurant industry and this one corner has cycled through a couple of different names in the same building. For years it was a locally sourced eatery called Common Roots. Then it had a period after the pause where it was called Hi Flora, which I thought was a florist but was also a restaurant, plant-based food and a temperance bar (which meant things like mushroom steaks and potion-like zero proof cocktails. Now it’s about to open with yet another set of owners under the evocative name of
Dreamstate Cafe
(Not to be confused with the short-lived 1992 sci-fi/horror series from Wes Craven, Nightmare Cafe)
And they’ve rented out the back half of the building facing away from the street to Boneshaker Books, which calls itself your friendly neighborhood bookstore
Across the street on the same side of the road is an old neighborhood dive bar called the CC Club that appears to be as unkillable as Rasputin.
Across the road is Lucky Cat Records, which was itself two previous record stores over the years - Treehouse Records, and Oar Folkjokeopus (where the band The Replacements were discovered by the store manager at the time).
So that’s at least three of the nine lives so far…
On the other corner, a much newer ALDI grocery store attached to and topped by a building of apartments and/or condos.
And just down the block is Oddmart
The O in their name is an eyeball on the storefront.
A weird little store that features comic books, T-shirts, art, gumballs, and monster finger puppets, along with a weekly Sunday event where they feature nine local artists there to sell their own wares.
Their website is a hoot (the pictures really give you a feel for the place) but to give you a taste of their vibe, here’s some of the way they present themselves in words (which is what we’re playing around with this month, after all):
"Welcome to Odd Mart!
Discover an Enchanted Oasis of Sophisticated Elegance.
Experience Luxury Through the Lens of Local Craftsmanship and fart stuff.
Opulent events for the birth of limitless creativity? Affirmativly yes.
Explore the veiled intricacies of your innermost musings with beguiling comix and finger monsters.
Explore the Intriguing Sphere of Glorp Gum - Where gumballs Merge with the opulence of the future.
Tired of your gum not coming with a free T-shirt? The Glorp Gum family of products is here to help! Each and every piece of our hand crafted “aged to perfection” bubble gum comes with a high quality limited edition T-shirt. So when you think of gum, think of GLORP! America’s CHEW value!
Please pass the sophisticated elegance, please.
Imagine yourself in a world of possibilities....
....where possibilities become maybes in a dream.
TASTE.
Sofistication.
Eleganphants."
(all their spelling, not a typo :)
Finally, to round things out, the old Uptown Movie Theater is now a music venue instead and their marquee sports some fun band name sometimes.
The most recent that caught my eye:
Wookiefoot
(that comes from the minds of a very specific fanbase, I’m sure)
Checking out their website is even wilder, however. Again, the photos are a delight but so is the text explaining and what they heck they are…
“Wookiefoot is a band, a non-profit charity organization (BeTheChangeCharities.org), a circus, a philosophy, and a community of globe trekking bliss junkies and believers that are the fuel to keep this Tribadelic Spaceship going! Their charity organization (with the support of their community) has donated over $600,000 to international relief efforts, as well as other environmental and social justice causes. Wookiefoot invites their community home every September… when they host and headline their own Global Conscious Gathering called Shangri~La Festival at Harmony Park in southern Minnesota.
Wookiefoot’s live sets are an entertaining barrage of sonic and visual stimulation. The fast paced circus like set has been called “Short Attention Span Musical Theater”. These live performances are a one of a kind experience that mixes Reggae, World Beat, Hip Hop, Irish, Funk, Folk, Rock & more with a large band featuring everything from a vintage Hammond Organ to Bag Pipes! Combine that with a mind-blowing stage show that may include anything (such as a wild light show, projection, costumes, fire, dancers, aerialists, magic, clowns, puppets, etc)
Welcome… and thank you for riding Wookiefoot!”
So,
Dreamstate Cafe
Lucky Cat Records
Boneshaker Books
Odd Mart
Wookiefoot
There must be a weird store in your town (or your mind’s eye) that seems like a good place to set a scene, or a whole play. Play around with that.
And as always, feel free to just ignore the writing prompt, write whatever you want, and turn it in by the deadline.
Just writing something :)
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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can
try 2021’s challenge #25: Unstageable
Or try 2022’s challenge #25: Fun With Homophones
Or try 2023’s Challenge #25: Mood Music
Or try 2024’s challenge #25: Power
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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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 November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition
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
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How to submit your work for Challenge #25
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 25 :)
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 Tuesday, November 25th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Wednesday, November 26th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
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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 Wednesday 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 5 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.
Mary is putting on a monster finger puppet show for Louise.
Louise is enchanted.
They kiss, even though Mary still has the monster puppets on her fingers when she takes Louise’s face in her hands.
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)
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