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Flip a coin

Have two characters flip a coin to make a very important decision. Double points if this is a terrible idea but works out for the best anyway.

Like a sailor

Introduce a side-character with a mouth so foul they might make a sailor blush.

Picture dare

Make this image a plot-relevant detail

Counting sand

Introduce a reason why it is vitally important that a character counts all the grains of sand in a large bucket.

Gaming together

Have a tense combat situation as the opening of a chapter only for it to turn out to be a computer game two characters are playing.

This time with singing

Introduce a singing barkeeper. Ideally off-key, singing show tunes.

Not important now

Have a character inherit, find, or buy a useless trinket. Bonus points if this later saves the day in an unexpected and creative way.

Mummy?

Introduce two villains that are thinly disguised versions of your own parents.

Custom news

Today, every newspaper delivered to each house that morning carried a different headline and story that in some way related to the people to whom the paper was…

Twins?

Your protagonist meets a twin they never knew they had. Or have they?

NaNoWriMo tips

What is real anyway?

Just recently, you have started to suspect that your life is nothing but a computer simulation. More importantly, you may have accidentally stumbled upon a series of cheat…

Rant dare

Have one or more of your characters go off the deep end with a huge rant about something mundane, like the correct way to make tea. Milk in…

How do you make time to write during NaNoWriMo?

How do you make sure that you have enough time to write 50,000 words in November? This video asks the NaNoWriMo staff to share their top tips.

Sudden sleep syndrome

In what experts are calling “Sudden Sleep Syndrome”, people around the world seem to randomly drop into a deep sleep lasting from five minutes to several hours. Surprisingly,…

Picture dare

Make this picture somehow relevant to your chapter today.

Advice for first time NaNoWriMo attempts

Are cats lucky?

Six years ago, a kitten decided to move into your home. From that day on, your luck had always been amazing. Today, the cat has gone missing. Now…

Peanut

Today, one of your characters solves a problem through the creative use of a peanut.

NaNo or not?

Call in sick today

One morning you receive an email which seems to have no sender. All it said was “call in sick today“. On a whim, you did just that. This…

Introducing writing dares

For the whole of NaNoWriMo, we will post daily writing dares. You do not have to use them on the day they come out. Nor at all. But,…

Writing dare

Include a reason for your main character to reveal a very unusual food allergy.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow which means that all that creative prompting energy might be going elsewhere for a whole month. Don’t worry, I’ve been scheduling these prompts weeks in…