Running a monthly writing challenge

A monthly writing challenge is one of the simplest ways to bring a camp back to life, or to give a new one a reason to start. Everyone writes to the same brief, over the same few weeks, and at the end there is a small collection of posts that would not otherwise exist. The shared deadline does work that good intentions cannot.

Challenges also go wrong in familiar ways: a brief so loose nobody knows where to begin, a schedule so ambitious that half the camp drops out in week two, an ending that simply fizzles. This is how we would run one so that it is enjoyable to take part in and worth repeating.

Choose one clear constraint

A good challenge gives people something to push against. “Write anything this month” is not a challenge; it is just a month. A single constraint narrows the field enough to get people started and still leaves room for very different results.

Constraints that tend to work well:

• A subject. “A door you remember.” “Something you used to believe.” “The street outside.”
• A form. A letter to someone who will never read it. A list that turns into a story. A post told entirely in the present tense.
• A length. Exactly 300 words, or a piece that fits on a single screen.
• A source. Start from one photograph, one overheard sentence or one object on your desk.

Pick one, not all four. Two constraints can work for an experienced camp, but more than that starts to feel like an exam.

Write the brief

Put the challenge in a short post that everyone can find and link to. A brief that lives only in someone's message thread will be lost by the second week.

A useful brief answers five questions in a few lines each:

1. What: the constraint, stated plainly, with one or two examples of how it could be interpreted.
2. When: the start date, the deadline and any check-in dates.
3. Where: where to publish (usually each person's own blog) and the shared tag to use.
4. How long: a suggested length, if any, and whether short pieces count.
5. What happens after: how people will read and reply, and whether there will be a round-up.

Keep the tone light. A brief that sounds like a set of rules will be read like one.

Set dates that fit real lives

A month is a good length for a challenge: long enough for people to find time, short enough that the deadline still feels close. Within that month, a simple schedule might be:

• Day 1: the brief goes up.
• End of week 1: a short check-in where people share a working title or first line, if they want to.
• End of week 3: the deadline for publishing.
• Week 4: reading, replying and the round-up.

Leaving the last week for reading matters more than it looks. If the deadline is the last day of the month, posts arrive just as everyone's attention moves on, and nobody reads them properly. A week set aside for reading turns a pile of posts into a conversation. Our notes on writing posts people reply to help here too.

Make finishing visible

People are more likely to finish when they can see others finishing. A shared tag is the simplest way to do this: everyone adds the same tag to their challenge post, and the whole collection can be found in one place across several blogs.

It also helps to say something when a post goes up. A short message to the camp, or a reply on the brief post with a link, lets others know there is something new to read. If members follow each other's RSS feeds, new posts will arrive in their feed readers on their own. You can see what each blog here offers, including feeds and tags, on the features page.

Keep the stakes low

The fastest way to empty a challenge is to make it feel competitive. Leave out rankings, votes and prizes. They reward the people who were going to write anyway and discourage the ones who most needed the push.

Make it clear from the start that:

• a late post is welcome, even after the round-up;
• a short post counts as much as a long one;
• taking part in the reading without writing is fine for a month.

The goal is for everyone to leave the month having written a little more than they would have, and wanting to try again.

Close the month well

An ending gives a challenge its shape. Without one, it simply stops, and the next challenge feels like starting from scratch.

The simplest ending is a round-up post. One person, and it can rotate each month, writes a short piece linking to every challenge post with a sentence or two about each. Keep the sentences specific and generous: a line you remember, an angle nobody else took. It takes an hour or so and it gives every participant a moment of being read.

Then ask the camp two quick questions: what worked, and what should the next constraint be? Let someone else choose the next brief. Passing the job around keeps the challenges varied and stops them from depending on a single organiser.

If you do not yet have a group to run a challenge with, start smaller: invite two friends and try one month together. Our piece on starting a writing camp with friends covers the first steps.