Hi everyone! I love word crawls, and my favorites are the ones based on Broadway musicals, so I created a crawl based around In The Heights. Enjoy!
In The Heights – Lights up on your novel! Start out by sprinting ten minutes as the neighborhood wakes up.
Breathe – Take a moment to breathe, then keep going with a 300 word sprint.
Benny’s Dispatch – Check the technique! Go all out in a 3 digit sprint!
It Won’t Be Long Now – If you keep up your word count, you’ll reach your goal in no time! Do a 400 word sprint to bring those dreams closer to reality.
Inútil– Struggling with feeling useless? Sprint to the next thousand and prove the doubters wrong.
No Me Diga – It’s time to throw in something unbelievable, like a gasp-inducing plot twist! Or stick with your plan and sprint fifteen minutes.
96,000 – You guessed it! It’s time to write… No, I wouldn’t do that to you. I’ll settle for 1%. 960 words!
Paciencia Y Fe – Reminisce on the past as you sprint for five minutes.
When You’re Home – Remind yourself of how it felt when you were just starting out by doubling your count from the first challenge ( In The Heights ).
Piruaga – Keep scraping by as you plug away at your novel! Write 200 words.
The Club – Do a 15 minute word war, and try to make the other person jealous with your amazing word count.
Blackout – Just because the power is out doesn’t mean you can stop! Take the last three digits of your word count and sprint that amount. And try to find Usnavi!
Sunrise – Anything at all can happen just before the sunrise… like adding another 250 words to your novel.
Hundreds Of Stories – Think of the hundreds of stories you can tell! Roll a die and multiply the number by 100, then sprint that amount.
Enough – Tell your inner editor ENOUGH and write for ten minutes with NO BACKSPACING.
Carnival Del Barrio – Don’t succumb to feeling powerless – raise your flag with a 3 digit sprint!
Atencion – It’s time to drive slow and turn down your radio. Take a five minute rest (and try not to cry listening to this song).
Alabanza – Celebrate the little things: glass coke bottles, bread crumbs, a sky full of stars. As you write for fifteen minutes, try to bring as many of these small sensory details into your writing as you can.
Everything I Know – Show off how much you’ve learned by sprinting to the next thousand.
Piragua (Reprise) – Turn your struggles into opportunities and sprint for twenty minutes!
Champagne – You deserve a celebration as you close in on your goals – but keep pushing! Take the last digit of your word count, multiply it by 100, and write that amount.
When The Sun Goes Down – Your book is gonna change the world someday! But only if you write it! Sprint fifteen minutes.
Finale – Illuminate the stories of the characters in your novel and close out strong by sprinting 750 words.
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It’s November 1st, and Halloween is officially over…for the regular folks. But us? We’re still in our costumes, going from door to door looking for candy, and generally reveling in the spooky spirit. Who says Halloween only comes once a year? For us, a real spooky person is spooky all year-round!
The following word crawl was developed to keep up the spooky spirit for NaNoWriMo. It probably works best for those writing horror, but hey, I’m writing a travel memoir so you’re welcome to play no matter what!
Things You Should Know
There are a little over 30 challenges here not counting special events, and you can complete them in whatever time frame you like. You could do a couple a day, but a lot of them are smaller and I recommend spending a couple of days or so on each week.
Feel free to substitute song challenges with your own choices, but I highly recommend keeping the spooky atmosphere alive!
The currency of this word crawl is candy! Here’s a list of them all and what they do:
Snickers:Â Skip a challenge of your choice; ignore any penalties (but also rewards).
KitKat:Â Half all the goals of a challenge. (10 minute sprints turn into 5 minute sprints, 500 word sprints turn into 250, and so on.)
M&Ms: SPECIAL! You’ll read more about these later.
Skittles:Â Subtract 50 words from a goal or give yourself a bonus 50 words to meet a challenge. (But you DO actually have to write these words!)
WEEK 1
The official festivities are over, and you had one wild night of debauchery! Inspect your candy stash and write for 10 minutes as you look over your haul.
How did you do?
Less than 200 words: You knew you should’ve gone to the rich neighborhoods. You barely have any candy, and you have a lot of work to do. (You earned no candy, sorry!)
201-400 words: You have a pretty good amount of candy, but most of it is the cheap stuff. Hard candies with weird names and the like. Oh well. (You earned a candy of your choice!)
More than 400 words: Is that a full-sized KitKat!? You are truly an inspired trick-or-treater. You have enough candy to last you at least until Thanksgiving! (You take the lot! One of each candy!)
Now it’s time to hatch a game plan. Halloween may be over for everyone else, but you have some work to do. Sprint to the nearest 100 words as you plan a month of Halloween-revival!
Throw out the rotted Jack-o-Lanterns: Sprint 100 words as you quickly try to dispose of these! Yuck!
Take down all the dusty fake cobwebs and put up new ones: Roll a die and multiply by 50 – write that many words and contemplate why you use so much fake cobwebbing.
Steal some of your neighbors leaves to add to your own yard so you can really embrace that fall aesthetic: Word war for five minutes. If you win, you have a very lovely array of leaves in your yard. This may come in handy later. If you lose, write 50 more words as you attempt to make your leaf-less yard look autumn presentable.
With your post-Halloween chores out of the way, it’s time to get to the fun stuff! First task: buying some new pumpkins! Write for 10 minutes as you drive out of your way to one of the few pumpkin patches that hasn’t closed for the year.
Oh no! The pumpkin patch is closed! But you see someone’s vehicle, so maybe the owner is around somewhere? Multiply your typing speed by 10 and sprint that many words as you search for them.
You finally find them as they’re retying a tire swing in the nearby forest. Roll a die to meet this character.
1 or 2: Drats! Old Man Marley is the grumpiest guy in town! He eyes you suspiciously as you approach. “Din’ ye see the sign? We’re closed!” Word war for 10 minutes as you negotiate buying a pumpkin. If you win, move on to the next prompt. If you lose, retry until you win! (If you have to word war more than three times, you’ve earned some Skittles for your trouble.)
3 or 4: Boozy Barbara isn’t tending the gourds after all! She’s drunk! Sprint to the nearest 1000 as you wait for her to sober up. (If she’s super drunk and you write more than 500 words, take a KitKat for being a good citizen.)
5 or 6: Count Bathory! He’s always creeped you out a little bit but he’s happy to sell more pumpkins. Do a Three Digit Challenge to haggle. Count Bathory says he’ll throw in a Reese’s with your purchase for free.
You’ve convinced them to let you get a pumpkin or two, but only if you’re willing to help them out with a small task. Someone’s been stealing pumpkins and they need you to check on their pumpkin patch one night next week. If you agree, they give you some M&Ms as a token of good will.
Finally, with pumpkins in tow, you head home and think about all the fun you’ll have carving them. What design will you choose?
A scary skeleton: A classic choice! Sprint through “Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett.
A wild werewolf: Truly terrifying! Sprint though “Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran.
A wonderful witch: Very trendy! Sprint through “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac.
In the middle of carving, you spy an extra candy that you forgot to put with the others! Sweet! Take a candy of your choice for finishing this week.
WEEK 2
You thought you would ease into this second week? Absolutely not, Halloween waits for no demon! Do an Epic Writing Hour as you find the motivation to stay spooky!
Time to check the mail! This isn’t a very creepy task, so do a 5-minute sprint to get it over with quickly. How well did you do?
Less than 100 words : It’s all junk. Maybe one of these coupons will be useful?
101-200 words: Hey, you got a letter from an old friend! Take a 10-minute break to read it.
More than 200 words: What’s this? It’s an invitation to submit a piece of art in an unusual medium to the local art fair! You eye your pumpkins – this could be the perfect way to bring Halloween to the whole town! Follow the special prompts below.
SPECIAL EVENT (Only do these prompts if you wrote more than 200 words in the last challenge.)
Time to touch up your pumpkin of choice! Write 100 beautifully crafted words. Really put some thought into this! (Share your best line from this challenge here 2 to earn a candy of your choice.)
It’s time to enter your pumpkin! Will you qualify? Do a 5-minute word war to find out! If you win, move on to the next prompt. If you fail, exit the special event.
They love your work! It’s between you and two other people! Martha brought her origami miniature of the town and Louis made anatomically correct models of bugs out of various plants…but your pumpkin is fun! Surely you can win! Write like you meant it for 10 minutes!
Less than 300 words: You got third place! There’s no prize, but hey, everyone feels a little spookier after seeing your pumpkin!
301-500 words: Second place is a nice place to be! They give you a Snickers for your artistic contribution.
More than 500 words: As much as the judges loved all the submissions, they loved the “metacommentary” of your pumpkin. They blabbed on about consumerism and then gave you your choice of two candies! Maybe they didn’t get your pumpkin, but you walk away a little richer!
Win or lose, you deserve a break after all that! Take your pumpkin home and take a 15 minute break.
END SPECIAL EVENT
Tonight, you plan to spend a quiet night in, watching a string of scary movies. Let’s go shopping! Sprint to the nearest hundred to find a good deal, because the true horror in this universe is price inflation!
With your favorite scary movie in hand (the director’s cut – score!) you head back to your house, but on the way, you remember that a certain pumpkin patch owner needed you to check on their pumpkins this evening. If you took the M&Ms, move on to the special event. Otherwise, skip it.
SPECIAL EVENT
You make a sharp left and head to the pumpkin patch, wishing you could head home and watch movies but also excited to look at the big pumpkins again. It’s a long drive, so settle in and write 500 words before you reach your destination.
When you get to the pumpkin patch, you are horrified to see all the best pumpkins are gone! With your pumpkin expertise, you can tell that they were ripped violently from the rest of the plant rather than carefully harvested by pumpkin professionals! OH NO! Participate in a 10-minute word war to overcome your own panic! If you lose, you must spend an extra 15 minutes writing to calm yourself down.
With a new sense of clarity, you call up the owner of the pumpkin patch and tell them that their pumpkins have been sufficiently squashed and that it’s an emergency. They tell you to get out of there, and they tell you not to tell anyone what you saw. Sprint to the nearest thousand as you speed out of there!
END SPECIAL EVENT
At home and a little shaken up, you decide to curl up on the couch and watch your movie after all. Look up the running time of your favorite movie and write that many words. (If The Godfather is 2 hours and 58 minutes, you write 258 words.)
It’s time for a mid-movie snack break! What are you getting? Take as many as you want, but at least one!
Popcorn: Sprint for 5 minutes as you wait for the popcorn to pop.
Soft Pretzel: Write 100 words to properly savor the saltiness.
Soda: Write 200 words in 5 minutes to keep yourself from drinking it too fast. If you fail, get a new drink and try one more time.
Ice Cream: Write 10% of your current daily wordcount before your ice cream melts!
If you completed all the snack tasks, reward yourself with a well-earned 15 minute break and a candy of your choice.
You just started playing the movie again when Martha calls you! Martha is so annoying! You pick up the phone and she’s blabbing nonsensically. Word war for 15 minutes as you attempt to get off the phone.
Finally, Martha gets the picture and she hangs up. Now, it’s finally time to finish your movie! On your way to bed after the movie, your doorbell rings. You go to answer it, but no one is there. On the ground, a bag of M&Ms is wrapped up in a note that reads “Halloween is over, but the scares are just getting started. Meet me at the pumpkin patch in a fortnight.” You try to find the source of the mysterious note but there seems to be no one there. Sprint to the nearest hundred as you rush inside to hide under your covers.
WEEK 3
This weekend, you decide to throw a Halloween party. You need to round up some party guests, so do as many or as few of the challenges below to determine your party size!
Send out invitations to all your friends: Type the next 50 words with one hand as you address envelopes with the other. (+10 people)
Create a Facebook event for your party: Choose a specific challenge from the forums to complete (ie. Carrot/Stick, Take/Leave a Song, etc). (+5 people)
Paste flyers over Martha’s flyers for her Thanksgiving party on the same date: Word war for 5 minutes as you remember why you can’t stand Martha. (+5 people)
Film a local commercial advertising your party: Sure, some may call this overkill, but you call if effective! Write 3% of your word count to pay for this ridiculously expensive ad campaign. (+10 people)
Start a pyramid scheme to get more people involved in inviting: Sprint to 300 words and go leave some encouragement in the NaNo forums to get people motivated to do your bidding! (+10 people)
If you complete three or more challenges: With all your hard work, the mayor hears about your party and invites his whole office to accompany him! What luck! (+10 people)
If you completed all five challenges: You’re beat! But on the way home, you find a bag of Skittles!
Before you get home, you decide to see what kind of discount Halloween costumes might still be around so that you can snag a good deal and look great in a new costume. Attempt a 1k1hour. If you succeed, you find a great deal on an amazing Frankenstein’s monster costume AND a cute little scientist outfit for your pet that will make a great Frankenstein with some minor adjustments. Fantastic! Take a Reese’s for your outstanding find. If you fail, you look for a while but decide that the toilet paper mummy will have to do for now.
Time to do some costume crafting! (Even if you succeeded in the last step, this is to fix up your pet’s costume.) Roll a die and multiply it by 100; write that many words. How is the finished product?
1-3: It’s not your best work, but it gets the point across! Take a KitKat for your troubles.
4-6: VIOLA! It’s perfect! Everyone will remember this costume – and this party – forever! Take a KitKat AND a Snicker’s! You earned it!
It’s almost time for the party, and now you must decide what games to set up. Pick as many as you want, but you MUST have an apple-bobbing station.
Apple-Bobbing: Write 300 words in 10 minutes. If you fail, you spill the water everywhere. Write for another 5 minutes to clean it up.
Murder Mystery: Word war for 15 minutes as you grapple with what guest to make the murderer. If you lose, try again for 5 minutes before you finally figure it out.
Mafia: Where did you put that deck of cards? Sprint to the nearest hundred in 60 seconds. If you fail, you put the cards in the most obscure place possible and you’ll spend an afternoon writing to the nearest thousand.
If you completed all three challenges, you rock! Steal some Skittles from your candy bowl.
Quickly run through the house and do all the last-minute things before the guests arrive! Make sure the candy bowl is filled! Spruce up the decorations! Start your spooky playlist! Sprint to the end of your scene as you wait for that first knock at the door!
Within a few minutes, the party is in full swing! How many people showed up? (Return to the first challenge of this week to find your total.)
0-4 people: This is what happens when you don’t tell anyone about your party! At least you can cry if you want to. Do an Epic Writing Hour as you contemplate how cool this night would have been if you’d put in some energy. When you finish, you are horrified to find out that somehow, Martha knew about your party. She brought her bratty kids and their friends. Great.
5-10 people: It’s a small gathering, but it’s your closest friends! Write as fast as you can for 15 minutes as you try to keep the energy high.
11-30 people: The party is swinging! People are chattering and having a good time. Write 300 words as you make the rounds and chat with everyone.
30-49 people: Several people showed up in costume and you host an impromptu costume contest! You declare yourself winner! Do a victory dance and sprint through a playing of “Thriller” by Michael Jackson and don’t forget to grab your prize of a KitKat !
50 people: Did the whole town show up!? The mayor is entertaining the crowd so you get to sneak into your bedroom for a 10 minute break but not before you grab a Snickers.
Finally, everyone gathers for a round of apple bobbing! Now is your chance to outshine everyone! After a few rounds, you are going head to head with Terrence Wiseman, the coolest and most talented guy in town, and Martha’s date! You both take a moment to prepare for battle. Write casually for 5 minutes as you clear your head.
Remember at the beginning of week 1, when you had a word war to see if you could steal your neighbor’s leaves? I told you winning would be helpful! If you won that challenge, then right as Terrence is getting ready to dunk his head in, someone starts loudly proclaiming about the incredible array of leaves in the yard. “It’s like an autumnal wonderland out there!” Terrence loses a precious few seconds and you easily beat him. Skip the next challenge.
This may be the most important moment of your life. Until next week, that is. Word war for 5 minutes.
If you lose, you go to give Terrence some candy but you’re all out, so you have to give him some from your Halloween stash. Give up one candy of your choice. If you have none, just sit there in your shame.
If you win, Terrence is impressed, and he invites you to his comedy show in early December! Plus, Martha looks annoyed with him for the rest of the night. HA. Take that, Martha!
The party winds down and people file out. Once you finally take some time to rest after the festivities, you realize that in all the craziness, you total forgot about Thanksgiving! Your friend brought over some of her leftover turkey yesterday, so you heat some up and even give a little to your pet. It’s a lovely Thanksgiving in your household, but an even lovelier Halloween.
WEEK 4
What’s scarier than a haunted house on Halloween? A trashed house in November! Time for some Fall Cleaning! Here’s a list of chores, unfortunately you won the Homeowner’s Association Award for Cleanest Home last year so you’ll have to do all these chores to maintain your title.
Clear out the trash: Sprint to 200 words to get all the trash, and don’t forget to recycle!
Mop, sweep, and vacuum: Sparkly floors and clean carpets make for happy homeowners. Write for 30 minutes as you finish this up.
Return all the furniture to rightful homes: Manual labor is fun! Do the Never Have I Ever Challenge as you swear you’ll just pay one of Martha’s bratty kids to do this next time. (Link)
Once the chores are done, you can finally get back to what’s most important: Halloween! The town has finally started to see that Halloween is important all year round and some people have taken to the streets to Trick-or-Treat in celebration! You sit outside for an hour of casual writing and end up handing out some candy to a few local kids. (And even a couple of adults, too! Halloween is for everyone, after all!)
Whew! Reviving a holiday is hard work! Take a 20 minute break because you deserve it.
After your break, you return to keep handing out candy, but your bowl has been raided! You search desperately for any spilled pieces but all you find is another note. “If you ever want to see your candy again, you’ll be at the pumpkin patch tonight. Bring your M&Ms.” You look around once more for the culprit, but they are long gone. Complete a Three-Digit Challenge as you gather your supplies.
Later that night…
Before you go on your way to the pumpkin patch, you look at your special candy stash. You grab the M&Ms stockpiled and get in the car. You are nervous the whole way. Word war for 5 minutes as you resist the urge to eat some candy. If you lose, you know what to do.
As you pull up to the pumpkin patch, the air feels electric. You round the corner and
OH MY PUMPKINS, THREE FIFTY-HEADED HYDRAS ARE ATTACKING THE PUMPKIN PATCH!
Count Bathory and some other townsfolk are battling them, with little ground being gained! One of the heads crashes into the ground next to Not-So-Boozy Barbara and she swiftly dodges, but the poor pumpkins are lost in the crossfire!
Count Bathory sees you and TURNS INTO AN ACTUAL BAT to flee the scene, directly towards you! As he approaches, he shoves a package of M&Ms into your hands. “You wanted Halloween? Help us defeat these monsters and save the pumpkin patch or we’ll never be able to celebrate again!”
You can only use M&Ms in these challenges. One M&M will lower your word goal by 10, and each bag contains 10 M&Ms. Use them wisely.
The First Hydra: Bathory comes to your aid as you try to tag-team the Hydra. Unfortunately, it has way more heads than you do and it’s a tough fight.
The Second Hydra: Old Man Marley shows up with a rake and takes a good swing at this one, and one of the heads immediately swallows him whole. That’s okay, he was pretty grumpy. You secretly wish it was Martha, though.
The Third Hydra: Terrence is here! He lands a good blow in one of the Hydra’s eyes! If you beat him in the apple-bobbing contest, it was an eye on the head you’re currently fighting and your word count goal is reduced by 25.
PICK YOUR ENDING BASED ON HOW MANY YOU KILLED!
0: You wake up in the wreckage of the pumpkin patch, with the guts of the most beautiful pumpkins all over you. Boozy Barbara is patching up the wounds of Count Bathory as you approach them. “What happened?” You ask, slightly dazed. “They took the city. The Hydras rule us, now.” Write 1,667 words as you try to cope with this new information.
1: You slay one Hydra, and the other two scramble back into the forest, knocking down trees and slinking into the hellscape void that surrounds your quaint town. You don’t know when they’ll be back, but you know it will be soon. You spend the next few weeks drumming up an army, and since you’ve been the talk of the town recently, it’s pretty easy. Sprint for 500 words to slay the Hydras when they return and save the town.
2: You have waited your whole life to see real monsters, and tonight you got to slay them! (Also, is Count Bathory a vampire!?) You take two Hydra hearts home to display in large fish tanks, and the town puts the other in a jail cell until it agrees to leave them alone forever. Martha tries to tell the local news that you’re her best friend, but your local journalists value integrity and get the facts from you before the story runs. You go to Terrence’s comedy show and leave feeling a little less impressed by him overall. Sprint for 10 minutes to leave before Terrence has a chance to ask you what you thought.
3: You expertly wove in and out of battle like a warrior! Did those moves come from adrenaline? A deep love of pumpkins? Or maybe some crazy backstory I neglected to give you? Who knows! The town regards you as a hero, and after the Mayor resigns for failing to protect everyone from the Hydras, you win by write-in votes! You declare every day as Halloween and the town prospers for all eternity! Sprint to 100 to wrap up a job well done.
Finally, my time has come! I’ve been building this puppy for months and I finally get to share it here! I want to preface this with the fact that any challenge you don’t want to do, you don’t have to do, word wars can be replaced with word sprints if you so desire, and I don’t expect anyone to complete this in a day. Now, without further ado, I present to you…a Sanders Sides crawl!
My True Identity: It’s time to introduce yourself to the world at large! Do a 5 minute sprint as you explain what you want to do with this YouTube series.
Way Too Adult: Adultery is a scary thing, but you can get through it! Sprint 300 words to kickstart your journey!
Taking on Anxiety with Lilly Singh: Your Anxiety shows up, but you will prove to both Anxiety and your Inner Editor that you won’t back down! Sprint to the nearest thousand.
A New Year of Lying to Myself…In Song: Prove to yourself that finishing your novel isn’t a bunch of lies! Do a 15 minute word war to prove you can accomplish this!
The Dark Side of Disney: Anxiety and Princey never seem to agree, or do they? Sprint for 10 minutes as the two sides debate!
I’m in a Disney Show!: Being on a Disney show is a great achievement! Do a three-digit challenge to celebrate!
The Mind vs. The Heart: When Logic and Morality clash, it can get difficult to find the right answer. Sprint for 20 minutes as you reach a compromise between the two!
Alone on Valentine’s Day: Another Valentine’s, another reminder about being alone. But your friends will always be there to support you. Do a 15 minute word war with them to boost everyone’s word count!
Losing my Motivation: Everyone is at fault, and Logic is Logan?! What?! Sprint to the nearest thousand as you try to wrap your head around this new information.
My Personality Q & A: So many questions, so little time! Sprint for 10 minutes as you answer a few questions while a few more arise.
Am I Original?: It’s hard to come up with an original idea, and it’s even harder when it has to be a good one! Do a 30 minute word war while you brainstorm. Bonus: mention something about originality in your novel! Double bonus: use the name Roman!
My Negative Thinking: Figuring out cognitive distortions is a pain, and falsehoods abound in this episode. Sprint to 300 words, one for every falsehood in the video.
Growing Up: Birthdays come and go, but adultery is forever. The problem is, are you truly “adult enough”? Sprint to the nearest thousand and keep yourself focused to see this novel through to the end, and give Patton a hug!
Making Some Changes: You need your friends nearby to support you, sometimes. While they can’t always be there, you can keep them with you in your heart! Sprint 800 words, 200 for every friend in the episode.
Becoming a Cartoon: Everyone loves the villain! Prove yourself worthy of the title by attempting a fifty-headed hydra! If you win, congratulations! If you lose, no worries, just keep swimming to the next prompt!
Accepting Anxiety Part 1 (Excepting Anxiety): Where oh where could Anxiety be? Do a 10 minute word war as you travel to Anxiety’s room.
Accepting Anxiety Part 2 (Can ANXIETY Be Good?): Everyone’s freaking out, but at least Virgil has returned! Write 478 words in celebration.
Fitting In (Hogwarts Houses): This episode is all about figuring out where you fit in, or if you want to do your own thing entirely. If you’re a Gryffindor, sprint for 10 minutes. If you’re a Ravenclaw, write 600 words. If you’re a Slytherin, do a 15 minute word war. If you’re a Hufflepuff, do a three digit challenge! If you don’t fit into any house, write for half an hour to show how awesome you are!
Moving On Part 1 (Exploring Nostalgia): Looking back on the past can be useful, but it can also have drawbacks. Sprint 650 words as you realize that you need to stay in the present.
Moving On Part 2 (Dealing with a Breakup): If you can’t move on, moving forward is the next best way to go. Write to the end of your current scene to move forward in your story.
The Sanders Sides 12 Days of Christmas: There’s just no winning on Christmas! Write for 12 minutes, and don’t forget about the truckload of Bubba Gump shrimp!
Can LYING Be Good?: If Deceit is here, then where is Patton?! Sprint 1,000 words to find your favorite father figure of the series!
Why Do We Get Out of Bed in the Morning?: Finding the right balance in life can be difficult. If you want to focus on more creative endeavors, and pants your way through the novel, sprint for 15 minutes. If you prefer to focus on the more logical things in life, and plan out your novel, write 500 words. Don’t forget to take a break and drink something, and eat if you need to!
Crofter’s (The Musical): Time for something a little silly! Relax and write through the song (found here) at your own pace.
Learning New Things About Ourselves: Discovering who you are can be a difficult process. Do a 20 minute word war as you contemplate who you are.
Embarrassing Phases (The Nightmare Instead of Christmas): There are always phases that we look back on and cringe. Sprint for 1,000 words as you learn to accept these parts of yourself.
Selfishness v. Selflessness: Deceit is a slimey boy, but at least he hates Nazis? Consider what he has to say in the court case and sprint for 45 minutes as you contemplate going to Lee and Mary-Lee’s wedding.
Dealing with INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS: Uh-oh, The Duke is here, and it looks like he isn’t going away anytime soon! Write whatever comes to mind for 20 minutes as you battle his intrusive thoughts!
Disclaimer: about half of these challenges are tied to prompts and may not be suitable for strict plotters.
Author Statement
Write 50 words about why you care about this writing project.
Blind
Write for 2 minutes with your eyes closed or your screen covered.
Chapters, Blocks, Acts
Randomly get a number between 1 and 27. Write 500 words of that chapter number from Katytastic’s 3 Act 9 Block 27 Chapter plotting method. If you don’t want to watch the video, here are the 27 chapters written out 5.
HOW TO OUTLINE | 3 act 9 block 27 chapter example
Digit Challenge
Take the last 3 digits left in the https://forums.nanowrimo.org/t/3-digit-challenge/1564?anu=charcharchar and leave the last three digits of your November word count. Write that number of words.
Epic Music Writing Hour
Write for 60 Minutes while listening to epic music or other focus music.
Search on YouTube for “1 hour epic music” or “1 hour focus music” or try a link below.
Neir Automata 2
The Guild of Ambience 1
ASMR rooms 1
Flash Fiction
Write 250 Words of a stand alone story that takes place in your story world. Consider having the story be before or after your novel. Consider having the flash fiction from the POV of a walk by character who briefly interacts with your protagonist. Consider writing the flash fiction about your villain or a character you don’t “get” yet.
Gender Bender
For your next 10 Minutes of writing, change the gender of everyone. This includes walk by characters like the single parent and their disruptive child across the restaurant, the wait staff, and the police officer. Don’t forget about non-binary.
Hydra, 50 Headed
Attempt a Fifty-Headed Hydra 8. The goal is to write 500 Words in 5 Minutes. You will need to make many typos to even come close to this goal.
Itemize
List 50 Specific Nouns that could be in your next scene, whether or not you intend to mention them in your story. For example:
John Doe wearing a suit and tie
Jane Doe wearing a black dress and cardigan
the expired pepper spray in Jane Doe’s purse
The cushion backed seats that are locked together and bolted to the ground
The cat walk
A person controlling the spot light in the catwalk
the actor with a realistic limp
a person with a cold in the row behind them
the aisle lights
the house lights
the gum under the chairs
Jumble
Copy all the words from a 100+ word scene you aren’t happy with. Shuffle 1 them. Rewrite 100 Words of that scene, with the jumbled words open on half the screen or another device.
Kibbitz
Explain what you’ve written so far to a non-writer. Ask them what they think should happen next. Write for 5 Minutes exploring their idea.
Lexicon
Write 200 words, including ten words from a Vocabulary List 5 from a book in your genre.
Magical Cookies
Write a Magical Cookie 6 scene for 10 Minutes.
Magical cookies are those scenes or snippets or relationships or feelings that make you want to write a story. They are often the juicy little ideas that inspired you to write THIS story at THIS moment.
Nanoism
Write until you make a mistake. If the mistake is humorous, share it on NaNoisms 2019 6.
Overachiever
Write 10x the number of words you wrote in the previous step.
Pants
Write by the seat of your pants for 3 Minutes. If you are a plotter, write a scene you haven’t planned but could still fit in your novel.
Quiz
Write a three question quiz that a teacher could give students to test their understanding of your novel. Avoid fact questions like “What’s the main character’s last name?” and aim for questions that would require at least a paragraph to answer such as “If you were the main character, how would you have reacted when ___ happened?” or “Why do you think this characters feels this way about that?”
Region
Go to your Region’s thread on the forums. If the number of views for the pinned “About” topic is single digits, multiply by 100. If it’s double digits, multiply by 10. If it’s three digits, take that number. If it’s more than three digits, take the last three digits. Write that number of words.
Song, take a / leave a
Participate in Take A Song, Leave A Song 6. Write for the duration of the song you took.
Three Percent
Write 3% of your total word count. To find 3%, multiply your word count by .03
Unfortunate, Unexpected, Uncontrollable
The events in your next 100 Words must be describable by a word that starts with “un”.
Voice
Use speech-to-text for 60 Second. On google docs, go to Tools > Voice Typing. On your phone there is often a tiny microphone button when you bring up the keyboard. Another option is to record a video of yourself.
Word War
Do a https://forums.nanowrimo.org/t/15-minute-word-war/8381?u=charcharchar. If you do not wish to find a word war buddy, try to beat 500 words.
X marks the Spot
Write 100 Words where your character easily finding the answer to their main problem. Write 100 Words about what happens next.
YouTube, Study with Me
“Study with Me” videos are 25 minutes to 3 hours long and show a person studying. Pick one on YouTube and write for its duration.
Study With Me - A 25-Minute Pomodoro Session
This 25 minute “study with me” is my go to.
Zzz
Set a timer for 15 Minutes. Get comfy as though you are about to take a nap. Write. Ideally walkers-by should think you have fallen asleep. If you are in a place that does not allow sleeping, try writing a note that says “I’m not asleep. This is a writing challenge.” I bear no responsibility for whether or not your note is believed.
Chapter I. An Irate Neighbor: Write 500 words as Mr. Harrison tells Anne that her cow was in his oat field again and she tells Marilla about it over tea.
Chapter II. Selling in Haste and Repenting in Leisure: If you’re a planner, write 200 words as Anne and Diana Berry discuss the Improvement Society. If you’re a plantser or a pantser write between 300 words and 600 words as Anne and Diana find a cow in Mr. Harrison’s oat field and Anne sells it to Mr. Shearer and then finds it wasn’t her cow.
Chapter III. Mr. Harrison at Home: Sprint for 15 minutes while Anne explains to Mr. Harrison about the cow mix-up.
Chapter IV. Different Opinions: Do a 1k30minute challenge as Anne, Gilbert Blythe and Jane Andrews discuss teaching their pupils.
Chapter V. A Full-fledged Schoolma’am: Add 957 words as Anne teaches her first day of school and speaks with one of the parents.
Chapter VI. All Sorts and Conditions of Men…and Women: Do a fifty headed hydra while the Improvement Society’s plans are discussed by the town.
Chapter VII. The Pointing of Duty: Roll a die and multiply the number by 6 and write that many words as Anne and Gilbert discuss their students.
Chapter VIII. Marilla Adopts Twins: Do a three-digit challenge as Marilla brings the twins Dora and Davey to Green Gables.
Chapter IX. A Question of Color: Write 5% of your current word count (max 1,000 words) while the new color of the hall is discussed by the Improvement Society.
Chapter X. Davy in Search of a Sensation: Write 652 words as Anne tells Davy that it is wrong to tell falsehoods.
Chapter XI. Facts and Fancies: Sprint for 6 minutes while Anne writes to a friend from Queen’s Academy.
Chapter XII. A Jonah Day: Write to the nearest thousand as Anne has a bad day at school.
Chapter XIII. A Golden Picnic: Do a 1k30minute challenge as Anne, Diana, Jane and Priscilla picnic in the woods.
Chapter XIV. A Danger Averted: Write 500 words while the Improvement Society decides how to stop Judson Parker from renting his fences for advertisements.
Chapter XV. The Beginning of Vacation: Write for 3 minutes as Anne goes to the graveyard with Paul Irving to put flowers on Matthew’s grave.
Chapter XVI. The Substance Things Hoped For: Roll a die and multiply the number by 150 and write that many words while Anne explains to Davy where heaven is.
Chapter XVII. A Chapter of Accidents: Write 3% of your total word count as Anne and Diana wait anxiously for Priscilla to arrive with Mrs. Morgan.
Chapter XVIII. An Adventure on the Tory Road: Take a 4-minute break while Anne talks to the Copps about selling their willow-ware platter.
Chapter XIX. Just a Happy Day: Do a fifty headed hydra as Anne has tea with Paul Irving.
Chapter XX. The Way It Often Is: Word War for 30 minutes while Anne does chores around Green Gables.
Chapter XXI. Sweet Miss Lavender: Write 450 words as Diana and Anne meet Miss Lavender Lewis as they walk to a friend’s house.
Chapter XXII. Odds and Ends: Sprint for 15 minutes while Anne and Marilla discuss Anne’s visit with Miss Lavender and Thomas Lynde’s health.
Chapter XXIII. Miss Lavender’s Romance: Do a three-digit challenge while Anne spends the evening with Miss Lavender.
Chapter XXIV. A Prophet in His Own Country: Write to the nearest thousand as Uncle Abe’s weather prediction comes true.
Chapter XXV. An Avonlea Scandal: Write for 8 minutes as Mr. Harrison’s wife comes to town.
Chapter XXVI. Around the Bend: Do a 1k30minute challenge while Thomas Lynde dies and Anne prepares to leave for Redmond college.
Chapter XXVII. An Afternoon at the Stone House: Add 325 words to your story as Anne and Paul Irving visit Miss Lavender and Charlotta the fourth.
Chapter XXVIII. The Prince Comes Back to the Enchanted Palace: Write 5% of your word count as school ends, Anne meets Paul’s father and Mr. Irving visits Miss Lavender.
Chapter XXIX. Poetry and Prose: Sprint for 10 minutes as Mr. Irving and Miss Lavender prepare to get married and Diana becomes engaged to Fred Wright.
Chapter XXX. A Wedding at the Stone House: Do a three-digit challenge as Mr. Irving and Miss Lavender are married and Gilbert walks Anne to Green Gables.
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Welcome to the Black Friday Musical Crawl! If you haven’t seen my The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals crawl yet, and want to do that one before the sequel/prequel/alternate dimension, you can do so here! 6
(saving-word-crawls note: It's the last post!)
You should end up with around 7000 words by the end of this crawl. Hope you enjoy it!
Also, let me know if I should make a couple more Starkid/Tin Can Bros crawls! I’m thinking of writing ones for Twisted and Spies are Forever!
PROLOGUE
Welcome to Starkid’s spookiest musical! It’s so dark that it warrants its own prologue which, though short, is very creepy. Write for five minutes (the number of ticks of the clock there are before the music kicks in) to get you warmed up for the straight bops that are coming your way.
TICKLE-ME WIGGLY JINGLE
Ahoy there, boys and girls! You know that you need a Tickle-Me Wiggly! He’s a wiggly wig and a snuggle poo! He wuvs you! He’s laundry safe! And he’s a steal for only $49.95! Sprint to the nearest 500 whilst you desperately try to save up for a Tickle-Me Wiggly doll! Wiggle your way through life!
WHAT TIM WANTS
Tom will do anything for Tim. After all, he’s his son.
Does your protagonist have a child in their life that they need to protect? How about a best friend, a sibling, or other loved one? What’s their name? Count up the number of letters in their name and write for that amount of minutes!
CALIFORM.I.A
We get it, Ethan. You’re a good speller!
Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, or any of the rubbish that Ethan cares about. Attempt a fifty headed hydra as you hype yourself up for your escape to California!
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Is that Becky Barnes? And Tom Houston? Get ready for an intense gossip with the citizens of Hatchetfield and write three hundred words. If you, like Tom and Becky, can’t think of what to say and you’re experiencing a bout of writer’s block, try to incorporate a scene with a gossip chain like the one in the queue for ToyZone.
OUR DOORS ARE OPEN
Welcome to ToyZone! We know that you want a Tickle-Me Wiggly, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to pay up first. Sprint for fifteen minutes as Frank sings about all the money he’s about to get. These words are weighing his pants down!
FEAST OR FAMINE
The bidding war for a Tickle-Me Wiggly has suddenly gotten very brutal. Sprint for twice the length of the song (6 minutes) to find out if you got one!
If you wrote less than 250 words, chaos reigns! You don’t manage to get your hands on a Wiggly! Write another 250 as you sob uncontrollably.
If you wrote more than 250 words, take what you want, return what you get! Well done, you got a Wiggly! Write 100 words as you celebrate and plan what you’re going to do with your new fwendy wend.
MONSTERS AND MEN
General McNamara is back! Thank God, he is exactly what this world needs to defeat the dark force that Howie Goodman has come to know as Wiggly. Write until the next mention of your story’s main villain (or villainous situation!)
DECK THE HALLS (OF NORTHVILLE HIGH SCHOOL)
Okay, this is kind of a good movie… Take a ten minute break and grab a snack as you watch Santa Claus is Going to High School at the movie theatre!
TAKE ME BACK
Take me back in time… to when I knew what was going on in this draft. Write two hundred words as Becky and Tom figure out their feelings for each other.
ADORE ME
You will destroy everything, and then you will destroy everything. Keep writing! Go for a ten minute word war as you try your best to resist against Linda Munroe and her cult, sorry, exciting new religion.
DO YOU WANT TO PLAY?
Write 150 words as you try to hide from Becky and Tom… Seriously? I thought we liked these guys two songs ago?
MADE IN AMERICA
This is a FULL bop. I genuinely can’t expect you to write through this song. Have a dance break
BLACK FRIDAY
You’ve been caught by Sherman and he’s about to kill you. Write for fifteen minutes as you contemplate your life and what (or who) you’re going to leave behind.
MONSTERS AND MEN (REPRISE)
Reach into the black and white! You must manifest these words into your reality! Take part in a three digit challenge as you escape from Sherman!
IF I FAIL YOU
This doll is kinda ugly! Attempt a 1k30min as you finally come out from Wiggly’s spell.
If you succeed, congratulations! Grab a drink (check for goo first!) and celebrate!
If you fail, get ready for a punishment that won’t match the crime. Keep writing until you hit the nearest thousand.
WIGGLE
Get ready to defeat Linda and Wiggly and their group of worshipping shoppers. Participate in a ten minute word war and try to ignore the uncomfortable moans!
WHAT IF TOMORROW COMES?
Do you all see what I see? It’s you, closer to finishing your novel! Congratulations, but it’s not over yet. Quick! Sprint to 500 words before that… bang happens.
Hey guys! This is the first crawl that I have ever written so if you have any tips for me, please let me know! By my estimate, this crawl should net you about 3000 words. It is on the longer side as far as crawls go. I have written it so you jump around to different types of challenges because I like switching it up as I write, but if you don’t feel free to replace sprints with word wars/vice versa. The crawl is from the perspective of Belle, so you will be going through everything that happens to Belle in the movie. I hope you guys like it!
This crawl is actually designed for me to help get myself to write and work on my schoolwork during camp because especially doing homework at home, I have a lot of trouble to stay focused. I have a lot of textbook reading to be done. If you don’t, I might recommend replacing the read a textbook chapter with 15 minutes of homework or reading a chapter for fun. Let me know if there’s anything you think I should change.
How many classes do you have? Multiple that by 50 and write that many words.
How long did that take you? If it took less than 5 minutes, work on an assignment for 20 minutes. If it took you between 5 and 10, work on an assignment for 15 minutes. If it took longer than that, work on an assignment for 10 minutes.
Next, take out one of your textbooks and read a chapter. When you’re finished, how many pages was it? Divide that by 2 and word sprint for that many minutes.
Break time! Break for five minutes.
How did you spend that time?
If you kept writing, then keep going! You’re in a groove! Sprint for 10 minutes, then work on an assignment for 15.
If you went on social media, work on homework for 25 minutes.
If you went on the Nano forums, sprint 100 words and then work for 15 minutes on homework.
If you got a snack or a drink, write for 20 minutes.
If you had a dance party, work on homework for 10 minutes, then do a 15 minute word sprint.
If you did anything else, read another textbook chapter.
Do you have a Zoom meeting today?
If you have one, make sure you don’t miss it! Sprint for 300 words as you get ready.
If you have two, work on school for ten minutes to make sure you’re prepared, then write for another ten.
If you have three, sprint to the nearest thousand words, and then go read a textbook chapter.
If you have more than that, then wow, I’m sorry. Go take a break, then write for ten minutes.
If you don’t have any, then I’m jealous. Work on homework for 20 minutes so you don’t forget to get it done, then sprint for ten.
Next, if you can, go outside for a minute (practicing social distancing, of course). Take a walk, relax, and then, if you can (weather and situation dependent), read a textbook chapter. Read the chapter even if you can’t go outside. Then, write 200 words.
Take a quick break! When you’re done, work on homework for 20 minutes.
Sprint to the nearest thousand and then you’re done! Well, probably not. There’s always more work to be done. But at least you’re getting started! Repeat if need be, or go eat or do other important things. This time is hard, but you can do it.
