![]() Now I was writing backstory into booklets and little pieces of evidence. Second, I had to write in a different medium than the typical page. The materials I wrote-especially the host’s book-took on a number of different voices and styles, including everything from an instruction manual to a sales pitch. A murder mystery dinner game has to function as both a story and a complicated role-playing game. Looking back, I’m thankful that I took on this creative challenge because it forced me out of my comfy writer’s box.įirst, I had to write in a different form than my usual narrative prose. (When my friends hosted this, everything went well-until the uber-killer decided to knock off a dinner guest who is a great actress, who scared the heck out of her husband by pretending to choke to death!) Challenge and Reward Then I decided to have a false ending, where the first killer is only a pawn of the real killer, who gets the chance to secretly kill off another character before dessert! I added to the complexity by putting pieces of evidence in tiny envelopes that were taped to the inside of each character’s booklet. It’s actually eight stories (because I created eight characters) told in small chunks based on courses in a meal. ![]() Creating a murder mystery dinner party is complex.įirst, it’s not a typical story or book. I had recently participated in such a mystery dinner party that my friends bought out of a box, and found the experience disappointing and the “Whodunit?” reveal frustratingly complex. I accepted the challenge with smarmy arrogance. I took up such a challenge several years ago when some friends asked me to write a murder mystery dinner party. We all need to challenge ourselves if we want to grow our craft. This true for new writers working on a book for the first time or full-time writers plotting out their next manuscript. If you want to become a life long writer, it's important that you embrace new challenge. Just like beginning a new exercise routine, or adding different lifts or stretches to your regimen, challenging yourself with new writing tasks will cause you to grow in valuable and meaningful ways.īecause of this, it's likely you'll start to recognize when you're stuck in your writing comfort zone, and why too much of the same medium, form, and genre leads to unhappy places, like writer's block and burnout. I mentioned that there are three common boxes: medium (what you write on), form (how poetic your writing sounds), and genre (what norms your writing follows).īy staying inside these three lines, your work might be doomed to repeat itself or fall victim to old clichés. When we write the same thing in the same way for too long, the work becomes boring, which means all that hard work probably results in stories that are dull to read.Īnother drawback is a lack of imagination. One drawback to not challenging ourselves with different writing projects or writing goals is complacency. These three writing challenges will test and strengthen your writing skills. We only become better writers when we step outside our comfort zones. In order to stay sharp, writers need challenges to keep their creative juices alive and well.Īnd whether or not these challenges are daily writing challenges or something you find on social media without even looking for them, it's important that, as a writing habit, we tackle them head on every once in a while. This allows us to find a consistent voice and target our work towards ideal readers.īut staying inside these boxes without any deviation can have major drawbacks that threaten the quality of your writing, and the joy of writing itself. Are you looking for a writing challenge that really tests your writing skills? Something that pushes your writing process beyond national novel writing month (although trying out NaNoWriMo is a good challenge to face)?Īs a writer, you’ve probably heard this question: “What’s your genre?” Or maybe you’ve been asked, “What is your book about?”Īs writers, we tend to find a creative “happy place” and stay inside three boxes: medium, form, and genre.
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