Writing Challenge #8 - First To/And/Or Final (Write Nov. 8th)

Hi folks

RAW NUMBERS

As of right now, the submissions for challenges 4 and 5 look like this:

Challenge 4
90 playwrights, submitting a total of 340 pages

Challenge 5
89 playwrights, submitting a total of 334 pages

So that’s the equivalent of two full-length plays each of those days, plus an additional long one-act play of 94 to 100 pages each day, which might as well be another full-length evening of entertainment.

Way to go everyone!  Some of you may think “I only wrote a couple of pages today” but as you can see, those couple of pages can add up really quickly.

WHAT AM I WRITING WHEN AGAIN?

It can sometimes get confusing because I'm sending these challenges out in advance and people start working ahead, so what writing is due for what day can get shuffled around :)

No days off :) 
30 days, 
30 pieces of writing 
(Each piece of writing doesn’t need to be long, just needs to be something - and you’ve always got the escape mini-play at the end of each challenge email - I often wonder how many folks read the whole email.  There’s a lot of useful information and links in there :)

Here's the list so far, but just as a general rule, 
if you look at the subject line of the email, it has the number of the challenge (and the due date) and that corresponds to the date this way - 
Challenge 1, to write through November 1, and turn in on November 2; 
Challenge 2, to write through November 2, and turn in on November 3
and so on...

(You don’t have to hold yourself back and wait for a certain day to write, you can write ahead of time, but it needs to be turned in by the deadline - or beforehand - not after :)

Challenge 1 - sent Saturday 10/31, for writing through Sunday 11/1, to be turned in by noon Central time on Monday 11/2 - Random Bits of Dialogue

Challenge 2 - sent Sunday 11/1, for writing through Monday 11/2, to be turned in by noon Central time on Tuesday 11/3 - Great Things To Set On Fire

Challenge 3 - sent Monday 11/2, for writing through Tuesday 11/3, to be turned in by noon Central time on Wednesday 11/4 - Art Decays Over Time

Challenge 4 - sent Tuesday 11/3, for writing through Wednesday 11/4, to be turned in by noon Central time on Thursday 11/5 - Two Missed Calls at Midnight

Challenge 5 - sent Wednesday 11/4, for writing through Thursday 11/5, to be turned in by noon Central time on Friday 11/6 - 56 Seconds Into Your Favorite Song

Challenge 6 - sent Thursday 11/5, for writing through Friday 11/6, to be turned in by noon Central time on Saturday 11/7 - Elusive Images

Challenge 7 - sent Friday 11/6, for writing through Saturday 11/7, to be turned in by noon Central time on Sunday 11/8 - Treat Yourself - 

Challenge 8 - sent today Saturday 11/7, for writing through Sunday 11/8, to be turned in by noon Central time on Monday 11/9 - First To/And/Or Final


So you should have, as of this morning 8 emails from me that are labeled as challenges.  

If you're missing any of those, let me know and I can resend.

But you can also always find all the challenges (from this year and years past) posted on the blog
https://thresholdwritingchallenge.blogspot.com/


And of course there are some folks who are writing and just not turning something in.  That’s fine.  
Write, whether I get to see it and tally it up or not :)  
Your writing is the most important thing, not any number crunching I do on this end.

And if you miss a day’s writing, no worries.  
Don’t beat yourself up.  
Just write again the next day.

And now, the day’s challenge…

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Challenge #8 - First To/And/Or Final

Write Sunday, November 8th - or earlier if you like
Due: Monday, November 9th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



This challenge comes to us from Threshold Theater co-founder and Technical Director Nick Mrozek, our in-house lighting and sound designer and overall tech troubleshooter.  He gave me a set of phrases and I’ll throw in two that seemed to go together as a pair:


-first date/meeting
-final date/meeting


Now, “date” to me first makes me think of a romantic context, but it doesn’t need to be - that’s probably why he also threw in the word meeting.

As for “final” - well, sometimes we know something’s going to be the last time, and sometimes we don’t.  Play around with that as you will.

I mean, other than looking down and seeing someone in a coffin, there aren’t a lot of situations where you know for sure it’s the last time you’re going to lay eyes on the person.

Only knowing in retrospect that something was “the last time” can color the way you see things in the moment vs. looking back on them later.

So you could do one or the other (first date, last date) or you could do both.  You could do them in order or out of order.

You could just play around with them as an experiment as you try to build a relationship and learn about new characters you’re creating - how did they meet? How did they part company?  What’s the beginning of their story together, and what’s the end of their story?

Noodle on that for a while and see what you come up with.

Or you know, today and every day, just ignore me and Nick and write something else.

Just write - something…


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

try 2021’s challenge #8: Series and Cycles

Or try 2022’s challenge #8: Chance Encounters

Or try 2023’s Challenge #8: Breakup Songbook (from Threshold Theater Literary Associate Kate Cosgrove)

Or try 2024’s challenge #8: Museum of Broken Relationships

Or try 2025’s challenge #8: Weird Dialogue, Dreams and Red Herrings (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 :)

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 #8

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 8 :) 
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 8th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Monday, November 9th, 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 till 12 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 22 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.

DAN and CINDY walk into the same room.  They are surprised to see each other.

DAN: Wasn’t expecting to run into you here.  Thought I’d seen the last of you.

CINDY: Yes, this is awkward.

They stare at one another.

Neither moves.

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)