Writing Challenge #1 - Random Bits of Dialogue (Write Nov. 1st)

Hi folks

Thanks again for signing up for the November Playwriting Challenge with Threshold Theater!

People still have until midnight tonight to sign on but as of right now (8am Central Time in Minneapolis) we have 90 playwrights from 26 states across America, plus the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as 4 from Canada, 1 from Scotland, and 1 from Malaysia.

Welcome to one and all, both far and near!

At the moment, we’ve got the usual cluster from Minnesota (10 playwrights) 
(Threshold Theater is based in Minneapolis so that’s not a huge surprise :)

There’s 13 from New York state thus far, 
7 from Massachusetts,
6 from California, 
6 from Colorado,
4 from Illinois,
3 from Georgia, 
3 from Indiana, 
3 from Virginia,

2 each from
Connecticut, 
Florida,
Michigan,
North Carolina, 
Ohio,
Pennsylvania,
Tennessee,
Texas, and
Washington state.

There’s also a single representative hailing from each of the following: 
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Maine,
Maryland, 
Nevada, 
New Jersey, 
Oregon, 
Wisconsin,
Washington, D.C.,
And new this year, even one from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

All this alongside the aforementioned four in Canada, and our returning individual friends in Glasgow, Scotland, and Malaysia.




A quick reminder to start - for those who have early voting or mail-in voting options available to them in the U.S., please avail yourselves of them if you haven’t already 

Then Tuesday is Election Day.
Make your voice heard.

And if voting impacts your ability to write and make the deadline for one of these first few days of writing, amnesty is availability for the deadline - just let me know via a note on the day's Google form submission you were out voting (we’re not gonna penalize anyone for something that important)





We actually decided to give everyone a head-start on the first challenge just to get things rolling, so read on, and you can begin writing as soon as you like...

You have today and tomorrow to play around - this is Sunday, November 1st’s challenge, showing up a little early, but still not due until noon Central Time on Monday, November 2nd.

So, let’s  dive in, shall we?


***********************************

Challenge #1 - Random Bits of Dialogue

Write Sunday, November 1st - or earlier if you like
Oh, and just to complicate things - daylight savings time is also in the mix on Sunday :)

Due: Monday, November 2nd, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


There’s been a bit of a tradition that the first challenge of the month is a prompt with an assortment of random potential bits of dialogue to use as a jumping off point.  So this is the 2026 version.

The lines of dialogue come from two Instagram writer accounts.

The first batch of options come from an account that is sadly no longer active, SophieMPoraykoWrites - however it was also the favorite of another account that is still active - The Writer’s Garden (https://www.instagram.com/thewritersgarden/), so you can look there to find other potential fodder if you like, now or later.  Here’s Sophie’s lines:

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Who said I was a mortal?”

“Don’t say that.  You can’t do this, not now.  Please.”

“We’ll settle this like real men: a dance off.”

“Don’t ever say that name again.”


The other account that offered up some fun potential dialogue options is still currently active, the Instagram for Emily Pedroza (https://www.instagram.com/penstopalms/).  Emily’s assorted dialogue prompts include:

“Keep an eye on the door, but whatever you do, don’t open it.”

“Pass the binoculars. Hurry!”

“I can’t stand small talk, but it was all he could offer.”

“That animal can’t possibly be a bird.”



Choose any one, or more, of those lines of dialogue to include in your scene for the day.  (If you’re an overachiever, or like to punish yourself, you could try to use all of them, but I wouldn’t advise it - we want to inspire, not tie you up in knots.)

Just pick some material that sets off an idea in your head and run with it.

Or ignore this challenge entirely and just write whatever you want.  It’s totally up to you.

This is just an offering to potentially get you started on something. (And there are others just below this.)

Doesn’t matter what you write, just as long as you write.  

Just get something going and have fun with it.


**************************************

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

2021’s challenge #1: I Love You, I Hate You, I Love You

Or try 2022’s challenge #1: Assorted Dialogue

Or try 2023’s challenge #1: More Assorted Dialogue

Or try 2024’s challenge #1: Still More Assorted Dialogue

Or try 2025’s challenge #1: Not Love/Too Late

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 :)

**************************

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 :)

Deadline Amnesty for Voting (and other handy challenge tips) - 2026 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

Don’t Stress about November 26th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2026 edition

**************************

How to submit your work for Challenge #1

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 1 :) 
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 Sunday, November 1st - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Monday, November 2nd, 12pm noon Central Time 
And again, just to complicate things - daylight savings time is also in the mix that day :)
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

***********************

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 12pm noon Central Time on Monday 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 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 makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.


************************

And that something can be:



Lights up.

CAROL and REGGIE are hiding behind a bush.

CAROL: Pass the binoculars. Hurry!

REGGIE fumbles but eventually gets the binoculars from around his neck and hands them over to CAROL.

She looks out into the distance.

Then slowly passes the binoculars to REGGIE, and points.

REGGIE looks.  Then slowly lowers the binoculars and looks at CAROL

REGGIE: That animal can’t possibly be a bird.

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 (almost two days this time).

Just write.

(After you vote, of course :)

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

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