Writing Challenge #2 - Great Things To Set On Fire (Write Nov. 2nd)

Hi folks

I’m going to continue to try and get these challenges to you all a day early if I can, so if you finish one you can just move on to the next.

This challenge is one that you don’t have to start writing until tomorrow, Monday, November 2nd, and isn’t due until 12 noon Central Time on Tuesday November 3rd.  But if you want to get started early, go for it.


QUICK TIPS

If you’re wondering when to write and turn in which challenge, check the subject line of the email :)
You can also check the top of the challenge description section after the intro section of each email.
You can also check the bottom of the section about how to submit your challenge writing about two-thirds of the way down each email.

If you’ve got a different question, read the full email.
Most of the answers to your questions are either in the email, or there’s a link in the email to a post with the answer to your question :)

If you still have a question, you can reach out in the note section of the Google form when you submit your challenge writing, or send an email to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com



VOTING

If you haven’t already voted, please do.
Vote early if you have the option.
And if it’s long lines on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3rd or nothing, then we do have deadline amnesty for whenever you vote, be it that day or the days prior.
We don’t want writing to get in the way of voting, or vice versa.
https://thresholdwritingchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/10/deadline-amnesty-for-voting-and-other.html

If you’re looking for information on how and where to vote, your Secretary of State’s website is a good resource - Minnesota, here’s yours: https://www.sos.mn.gov/elections-voting/
If you want to work off some nervous energy, volunteer opportunities can be found here, among other places: https://votesaveamerica.com/



And now, back to playwriting…

As of this morning, there are 103 playwrights signed on for the challenge!

(For comparison, last year’s total was 111 playwrights - 2024 was 101 playwrights, 2023 was 57, 2022 was 40, 2021 was 45)

As it is every year, it was a good-spirited competition between Minnesota and New York as to which state was going to end up with more playwrights signing on.

In the end, New York has a total of 16 playwrights
Minnesota ended up a respectable second with 12 playwrights

Other locales added on as well yesterday.  We ended up with the following:

7 from Massachusetts,
6 from California,
6 from Colorado,
5 from Georgia,
5 from Ohio,
4 from Illinois,
4 from Indiana,
4 from Virginia,
3 from Pennsylvania,

2 each from
Connecticut, 
Florida,
Michigan,
Tennessee,
Texas, and
Washington state.

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

In all, we have 103 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 Malaysia, 1 from Scotland, and 1 from Spain.


Welcome, one and all!  Thanks for joining us in this little daily exercise in flexing your writing muscles for a month.

And on we go…


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Challenge #2 - Great Things To Set On Fire

Write Monday, November 2nd - or earlier if you like
Due: Tuesday, November 3rd, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



The suggestion comes from our newest Threshold Theater company member, Anya Naylor - who has participated in the November Playwriting Challenge themselves in the past, and has both acted in Threshold Theater productions and acted and directed for our New Play Reading series.

Anya’s suggestion was:


Great Things To Set on Fire


Now that phrase alone may be evocative enough to get you going, so if it does, just take that idea as a jumping off point and get going.

Here’s some random things it conjured up for me:

You could write a scene about things that are literally good for burning - like wood in a fireplace or campfire or bonfire, or charcoal in a grill, or any other kind of handy fuel.

This also makes me think of the ridiculous witch burning tribunal scene in “Monty Python and The Holy Grail”

“What do we burn apart from witches?”
“MORE witches”
“Wood.”
“So why do witches burn?”
“Because they’re made of wood!”

When I was working with a financial advisor to get my credit cards paid off, my mother said that she’d probably be getting the mortgage on the house paid off at the same time I completed my own payoff, and we could have a little party to burn the mortgage and credit card bills when we were free of them.

Someone might have a party, or just a personal ritual by themselves, to burn their marriage license when they get a divorce.

People have been known to burn keepsakes left over from failed relationships (photos, gifts, things the person accidentally left behind).

You could probably think of any number of reasons to burn buildings or cars, I don’t have to give you any ideas there, do I?

All kinds of sacrifices have been used as burnt offerings for a variety of reasons.

Some folks would argue we’re setting the whole planet on fire.

Maybe there’s no symbolic reason at all.  Maybe somebody just needs a fire to keep warm or to prepare their food.  For comfort, or just basic survival.

All kinds of things are great for burning.

What would you like to set on fire?
(On the page only, of course.)

Write about that, or choose one of the other challenge options from past years on day 2, or just write whatever you like.

Just write - something.


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

try 2021’s challenge #2: Fire Escape

Or try 2022’s challenge #2: What Haunts You?

Or try 2023’s challenge #2: Fox and Rabbit (from Threshold Theater Literary Associate Kate Cosgrove)

Or try 2024’s challenge #2: RIP: HUGE improv theater

Or try 2025’s challenge #2: O Superman (from Threshold Theater Literary Associate Maren Findlay)

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 :)

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


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How to submit your work for Challenge #2

We’re streamlining the process 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 2 :) 
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 Monday, November 2nd - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Tuesday, November 3rd, 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.

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 12 noon Central Time on Tuesday 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 28 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.

GLADYS sets fire to a teddy bear.

GLADYS (to no one in particular): Bye bye, childhood.

She watches it burn.

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.

(After you vote, of course :)

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

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