The Ultimate Challenge

Yes, indeed, here in Storywrite there are tons of prompts (pictures, music, titles...) and tons of possible story types (short stories, novels, chapters, letters, conversations, interviews, cut ups...) but that is not challenging or innovative enough.1

Anyone can choose any of those topics and turn it into a contest.2

It's all way too simple. 3

A real challenge is the one that will challenge the writer not the story he/she is writing about. A challenge that will use up all the skills, including listening, reading, critique and compromise.4

We are all here because we like to read and write stories and earn trophies and points along the way but we are always doing it alone. We choose how the story will evolve right from the beginning. We are always in control.5

The challenge I propose is the first of this kind. Each participant will be matched by the contest host with another participant. Nobody gets to choose or hand-pick who their "writing partner" is.6

The contest host can then ask about the subject and writing style that each of the participants would like to use and make a compromise between the new writing partners, or simply provide a prompt or two. 7

It will be up to the two writers to come up with the story based on the given information.8

Each will write a part to that story, a paragraph, a character, a chapter... the other one will read what their partner has written, provide constructive feedback if necessary and work on that given information to develop it a step further. 9

As both writers have an inspiration, mind and writing style of their own, it will be up to them both to make compromises on what can and cannot be changed, on what needs adding or taking, they will offer each other bits of the story (advice, plot, characters, next step that happens) until the story is considered complete.10

The two writers will have to learn to listen to each other, take into account the prompts/advice from their given partners, learn to give constructive and useful feedback and compromise on what they think can or cannot be taken into account (giving a good reason as to why that is the case). In the end, they both must produce just one single great story that has to be completed within the given time limit. (A week, two weeks, a month... however long the contest host decides)11

We can all write a great story by ourselves, but can we really subdue our creativity and stretch it to the point of pleasing another fellow writer and a contest judge? That is indeed, the ultimate challenge12