I’m all for supporting writers, new and experienced. It’s one of the reasons why I have such low requirements for being on the After Hours show for a live interview. Next on my list is setting up writing challenges that everyone can join.
The hard part is organizing things in a way that is safe and secure for all involved. After all, the point is to support writers, not put them at risk for plagiarism or harassment.
It’s one of the reasons why I am still thinking about setting up a community site specifically for writers. There are a lot of cool things you can do with BuddyPress in WordPress.
9 Types of Writing Challenges to Consider
Essentially, you can create a writing challenge out of just about anything. As long as it’s pushing you to go above and beyond your normal routine to accomplish a goal, that’s all that matters in the end.
A challenge isn’t supposed to be easy. Yet, you don’t want to aim too high and set yourself up for failure, either.
So, what kind of writing challenges can stir some creative juices?
Reedsy Writing Prompts
The Reedsy Writing Prompts are part of their weekly writing contests. However, you don’t need to pay money to simply use the prompts on your profile.
Every week, Reedsy sends out five new prompts to inspire 1000 to 3000-word stories.
My idea is to use the Reedsy writing prompts each week and highlight those accounts that join me. This means that any writer, whether you have a book published or not, can join us and start building an online reputation as an author.
Since the profiles for contributors of the Reedsy writing prompts can be easily shared on social media and elsewhere, you can market yourself.
“What if” Writing Challenges
I love writing “what if” stories. This is when you take something that already exists and then change the story with something that could have happened.
For instance, what if the Titanic had never hit the iceberg, and there was a serial killer on his way to New York? What if the Dominion won the war against the Federation in Deep Space Nine? What if Amelia Earhart’s plane flew into a space/time vortex and was transported to a different world?
There are all kinds of things you can do with “what if” stories.
I would love to see the imagination of my community and what kind of changes we can make to historical or fictional landscapes. Perhaps we’d start with flash fiction and then proceed to bigger projects to promote.
Minimum Word Counts Per Day
One of the most-used writing challenges is that of writing a certain number of words per day. Although it’s not as fun as some of the others on the list, it’s still something that anyone can do to write more often.
For instance, you can challenge yourself to write at least 1,000 words per day for the next 90 days. That would give you about the length of a novel. Or, you can cut that down to 2,000 words per day for 45 days.
This is probably one of the simplest of challenges, really. All it takes is to write virtually anything you want to hit the word count. Some of the other challenges are a bit more difficult, as you would have to put some thought into a story’s development.
At one point, I was thinking everyone in the community could share their NaNoWriMo profile and keep track of word counts that way. Unfortunately, NaNoWriMo shut down after being plagued by some hefty controversies.
Inspired By Premade Covers
Can you buy a premade book cover and then write a story based purely on the image? This is a challenge that would cost a bit of money to do, but the end result would be a book you might be able to easily publish on Amazon.
In this challenge, it’s more than just writing a story based on what you see. You also have to match the style and tone of the cover. For instance, a dark and dreary landscape with a ghastly figure in the background might not work best as a children’s story about a friendly ghost.
This is probably a challenge that I won’t promote on the site for some time. It relies on others being able to buy premade cover art, and that can be quite expensive.
This is a challenge I intend to do myself, once the next few projects are complete. It’ll give me enough time to save up for my own book cover.
Daily Flash Fiction for 30 Days
A good way to challenge yourself is by writing daily pieces of fiction for 30 days. Luckily, there are several places you can submit flash fiction online for both a bit of extra cash and as an entry for a contest.
These short stories often range from 300 to 1000 words, so it shouldn’t be overly difficult for most to whip up something fun and engaging.
One of my ideas for this challenge is to have the community use a specific site to submit daily flash fiction. That way, we can all connect and read each other’s works online while potentially reaching a wider audience.
Weekly Genre Changes
Most authors have a specific genre they focus on when writing stories. In some cases, an author will try a different genre to explore their imagination. But for the most part, most authors center on a specific genre.
In this writing challenge, the idea is to write a short story in a different genre every week. And there are plenty of genres to choose from.
Why explore different genres? For one thing, you’ll never know where your talents lie until you explore something you’ve never tried. Secondly, you may find elements of another genre influencing parts of your book from another.
Each week, I’d randomly pick a new genre and all of us would have to write a 1000 to 3000-word story. We could even mix this challenge with the weekly writing prompts from Reedsy.
60-Day Wattpad or Inkitt Book
Can you write a book on Wattpad or Inkitt in 60 days? As long as you can squeeze out 1,417 words per day, yes. That means you can write a new book within two months.
Why write a book in 60 days on those platforms? Actually, a few reasons pop into mind:
- You’re not overly concerned with professional editing, as they are free books to get your name out there.
- Any publishing location where you can promote yourself is always ideal as an author.
- Helps you build an audience for the day when you publish something on a retail site like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
- Helps you develop skills and strategies to write 1,417 words per day.
- Practice makes perfect. Never stop writing, even if you don’t plan on making money from your book.
I like the idea of using Wattpad, Inkitt, or similar platforms as it gives me a chance to share your profile and stories. For instance, I can embed your Wattpad book on my site to help promote your work.
Reedsy Plot Generator Shorts
The Reedsy Plot Generator is probably one of the best generators on the Internet. It has a long list of options, and you’re able to save certain aspects of the plot while rerolling others. It’s a great platform to get hundreds of thousands of story ideas.
Creating writing challenges from the plot generator could work in a number of ways. You can write a new short story every week, use it to power daily flash fiction, or challenge yourself to write a book on Wattpad or Inkitt in 60 days.
There are a number of challenges I’ve thought of using the plot generator, and they’re already on this list. The tool is quite useful whether you just want to play around with a quick tale or want to dive into a 120,000-word book.
Fan Fiction Shorts
A common genre for many authors is that of fan fiction. This is when you take something that has already been established and write stories based on the existing world and characters.
Of course, you can’t publish any of them for royalties, as you will most definitely get hit with a lawsuit. This is especially true with popular IPs (intellectual properties) such as Marvel, Star Wars, or Star Trek.
Nonetheless, you can write free fan fiction on sites like Wattpad, Inkitt, Archive of Our Own, and similar platforms.
A challenge for this would be creating short pieces and sharing them with the rest of the community. However, this challenge would probably be better suited by first creating a community of fans for specific IPs.
Signups and Tracking the Writing Challenges
The hardest part about setting up writing challenges for followers and subscribers to WriterSanctuary is being able to handle signups and tracking progress. Although most challenges will be guided by the honor system, there is still a need to keep an eye on each other’s work.
After all, the whole point is to share our stories with each other.
I suppose part of the problem I have is the thought of trolls invading the process. For instance, if I create a spreadsheet that everyone can edit, what’s to stop some bottom-feeder from deleting everyone’s entries?
One method I was thinking about is to create a signup form much like the form I use for author interviews. These get emailed directly to me, and then I can set up a read-only spreadsheet or something similar to show everyone involved.
If you have a better option, I am more than willing to listen. Leave it in the comment section or use the contact form on this blog to reach out.
Anyway, I’m still working out the logistics of everything, and the writing challenges probably won’t be for another month or so. Right now, I’m just trying to get all of the ducks in a row.
Sharing On the Blog and YouTube Channel
Setting up challenges can do all kinds of things for a writing blog or YouTube channel. Not only does it give your followers and subscribers a chance to be a part of something, but it can also improve visibility.
When you’re trying to build a brand, visibility is always important.
I’m not just talking about gaining views from Google or through a search on YouTube. Though, building a community in such a way can vastly improve those aspects.
I’m also talking about word of mouth and the potential shares on social media. In fact, a lot of the success from the author interviews on my YouTube channel comes from word of mouth or people sharing information on Threads and Instagram.
Another facet of hosting the writing sprints is being able to help get a writer’s name and work out to a larger audience. It’s a form of marketing by making yourself more visible online. In a nutshell, you’re marketing to my visitors and viewers without having to spend a dime.
In any case, I plan on sharing everyone on both the blog and YouTube channel in some fashion. I just need to plan out what that will look like. I want to do a bit more than just link out to someone’s story.
I suppose I could do a 300-word write-up regarding the author and the story, much like I do for the author interviews.
Why Set Up Writing Challenges, Anyway?
As I pointed out earlier, challenges are tasks that push you beyond your average effort to accomplish something. They’re more than goals, as they often involve dialing up the effort you put into accomplishing something.
A few things community writing challenges can do for you include:
- Giving you more practice to hone your skills.
- Helping you meet and befriend peers.
- Giving you more recognition on search engines as an author.
- Giving you the opportunity to explore different writing methods or genres.
- Helping you develop new strategies or habits when writing to be published.
- Having fun. Some challenges may lead to an incredibly good time.
- Being part of a supportive community that works to benefit everyone.
Challenges are one of the things that made me a successful freelance writer. I kept raising the bar after every accomplishment to the point where I was able to quit my job at the school district in 2013, and I’ve been a freelance writing, blogging, self-publishing author ever since.
If I can help someone get to a similar point in their careers, all the better. Not to mention the fact that I think a community writing challenge would be fun while hanging out with some great people.
Perhaps there is something we can do through the Discord server.
What Writing Challenges Spark Your Interest?
There are so many ideas, I don’t know where to start. Well, at least when it comes to the challenges, anyway. I still need to figure out the best way to get others involved.
Even if it’s just sharing everyone’s Wattpad account, I think setting up writing challenges would be a lot of fun. If you have any ideas you’d like to share, feel free to comment.
For me, though, I think something like a “What If” fan fiction in 60 days would be great. That’s probably because I already started one several years ago in the Fallout universe. I’d love to finish it.
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