November Writing Games: One for Each Day
The month of November is often known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), when writers take on the challenge of drafting an entire novel within 30 days. But what about those of us who want to flex our creative muscles daily without committing to an entire book?
Luckily, there are lots of fun writing games and exercises you can try each day to get those creative juices flowing. In this blog post, I’ll share a list of 30 quick, engaging writing activities you can tackle this November to build your skills and spark new story ideas.
So grab a pen and paper or open up a fresh document-it’s time to get your write on! Here are 30 playful writing games to add some extra joy to your November days.
November 1 – Alphabet Story Game: Players take turns writing a story, each sentence beginning with the next letter of the alphabet.
November 2 – Adjective Brainstorm: Set a timer and have everyone brainstorm as many adjectives as they can think of, then pick favorites to use in a group story.
November 3 – Story Starters: Each player adds a new sentence to start a story, folding over the paper so only the latest sentence shows.
November 4 – Word at a Time: Sit in a circle and collaboratively tell a story, with each person adding one word at a time.
November 5 – Wrong Definition: Make up silly fake definitions for unusual words, then incorporate them into a wacky group story.
November 6 – Plot Twister: One player starts a story, the next player adds a twist or complication to the plot.
November 7 – Story Drawing: Fold paper into sections and pass around, with each player adding to a drawing that others build a story around.
November 8 – Opposites Attract: Combine two wildly different story genres into one zany tale.
November 9 – Wishful Thinking: Write wishes for your characters on slips of paper and put in a hat. Draw them out and write a story incorporating them.
November 10 – Literal Interpretation: Use figurative phrases literally to craft a bizarre and funny story.
November 11 – Mashup Mayhem: Grab random books and combine elements from them into a new story.
November 12 – Chain Sentence: Players take turns adding a new sentence to continue a developing story.
November 13 – Character Sparring: Partner up characters who would never interact and write a scene with them together.
November 14 – Genre Blender: Combine clashing genres into one odd story, like a western spy thriller musical.
November 15 – Taboo Topics: Challenge players to write a story without using certain common words, like “the” or “and”.
November 16 – Mystery Bag: Put random objects in a bag and write a story incorporating all of them.
November 17 – Deus ex Machina: When the story gets boring, have something unexpected like aliens or a tornado show up.
November 18 – Incorporate a Dream: Have everyone share details from a recent dream to include in a group story.
November 19 – Add an Alien: At any point a player can add an eccentric alien character into the story.
November 20 – Mini Saga: Craft a story using exactly 50 words.
November 21 – Character Swap: Switch out main characters partway through the story.
November 22 – Acrostic Title: Write a story where the first letters of each sentence spell out the title.
November 23 – Restricted Vocab: Limit the vocabulary that can be used in the story.
November 24 – Holiday Special: Craft a zany holiday-themed story.
November 25 – Created World: Make up an imaginary place to set your story in, describing key details.
November 26 – Magnetic Poetry: Use word magnets scattered randomly to shape a poetic group story.
November 27 – Wrong Hands: Pass the story to a new player every few sentences.
November 28 – X Number of Words: Pick a number and make every sentence in the story exactly that length.
November 29 – Story in a Day: Challenge to write an entire short story within one day.
November 30 – Flash Fiction: Draft super short microstories of under 300 words each.
We hope you enjoy this list and find it helpful. Let us know what you think in the comments, and if these games inspire you, please leave your a story or poem in the comments!
It’s such a beautiful day.