Writing Challenge #6 - Elusive Images (Write Nov. 6th)

Hi folks

QUICK TIPS

Don’t forget to hit the Submit button at the bottom of the Google form - otherwise your submission doesn’t actually go through :)

If you hit Submit, you’ll get your confirmation email, and you should get taken to a screen that says something like Thanks for Submitting! 

Also, quick doublecheck where you typed in your email address at the top of the form (I goof this up all the time :) - the Google form will send to whatever email address you give it, even if it’s wrong.

GOOGLE FORM UPDATE

Thanks to the playwrights who pointed out to me that the form only allows one upload per submission.  I wasn’t aware of that.  I just went in and increased the number of uploaded attachments you can make to 10 (hopefully that’s enough :) If you have more than that, I’d just make an additional form submission for that challenge day, so the form isn’t holding you back if you’re super prolific.

Why more than one upload, others of you may ask?  Well, every year we have at least a couple of people who are writing longhand - and you can’t handwrite into the Google form.  However, if you take pictures of your handwritten physical pages of writing, you can upload those electronically.  But if you have more than one page, then you probably have more than one picture, etc.

Any way you write, we’re trying to get the technology to play along :)

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR NOTES

I’m still behind in acknowledging or responding, but it is nice to hear from you all, and I do see them.  Messages are the last ball I’m learning to juggle :) It’s good to hear from so many of you that the challenge is a big boost to your creative process and you’re having fun with it.  That’s what we aim for!

RAW NUMBERS

There’s little tweaks and updates day to day, but here’s what I know so far about the results on Challenge 3:

89 playwrights submitting a total of 280 pages
(Or two full-length plays’ worth, plus another one-act play of about 40 pages)

Well done, everyone!  Keep up the good work, and happy writing to you all.


Now, let’s get you that writing prompt…


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Challenge #6 - Elusive Images

Write Friday, November 6th - or earlier if you like
Due: Saturday, November 7th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



This challenge comes from Threshold Theater co-founder and Managing Director David Schlosser, who is also a photographer and enjoys giving me lists of random images and moments to construct a writing prompt around.  Here’s the first set for this year:


black and white photo who edges are torn
A crescent moon
Faded purple ribbon tied around a tree
car keys slipped from his hand 
Crushed beer can
Clicking of typewriter keys
needle and thread 
Flickering candle


I grouped these together in my head under the category of “faded, elusive things”

The sound of typewriter keys for instance, makes me conscious of the fact that I’ve owned and used my fair share of manual typewriters, and my father had some very imposing electric typewriters (the hum of those…) and even now as I just type on keyboards into computers at work people often wonder if I’m pissed off or something because I do type very loudly, even today, even though I don’t need to.  I’m a bit quieter on my own laptop, but give me a keyboard and…

A faded purple ribbon is such a specific thing.  But then I search for “purple ribbon meaning” and it seems like it’s used for a whole panoply of wildly different things - for starters there’s various cancers and dementia and domestic violence and animal welfare (which is a pretty broad umbrella).  And sometimes a purple ribbon is just a purple ribbon…

The number of reasons car keys could slip from a person’s hands…

Needle and thread always brings to mind the challenge of threading a needle, the need for threading a needle, and my mom’s sewing room, with a literal rainbow of different bright colored spools of thread - it was both impressive and a bit intimidating…

A old photo that’s seen better days, a crescent moon, a crushed beer can, a flickering candle…

Lots to mull over there.  What springs to your mind about any or all of these?

Grab just one or an assortment that suits you out of the list.

Or, as usual, ignore me and David and write whatever you want.

Just write something.


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

try 2021’s challenge #6: Bigfoot By Moonlight

Or try 2022’s challenge #6: Mascots

Or try 2023’s Challenge #6: Art Gallery Titles

Or try 2024’s challenge #6: Skyway Buddha

Or try 2025’s challenge #6: Favorite Day

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 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 #6

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 6 :) 
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 6th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Saturday, November 7th, 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 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 24 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.

FRED is eyeballing the eye of a needle, just trying to get the end of a thread through so he can stitch something back together.

This initial step is not going well.  Coordination is not FRED’s strong suit.

He may be here a while.

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)