5-Day Creative Writing Challenge
Real advice from real authors. One prompt per day. Five days to find your voice.
How to Set This Up
- Pick your pace. Run it as one day per class period across a week, or assign 2–3 days for a shorter unit. Each day is self-contained.
- Project or assign. Display the page on your projector and walk through it together, or share the link and let students work independently.
- Use the structure. Each day follows the same pattern: Do Now → Watch → Write → Exit Ticket. Students always know what comes next.
- No prep required. Videos are embedded. Prompts are ready. The timer is built in. You just need the link.
Daily Classroom Flow (45–50 min)
- Do Now (5 min) – Students complete the quick-write warm-up at the top of each day.
- Watch (10–15 min) – Play the author video clip. Use timestamps to jump to key moments.
- Write (20–25 min) – Students respond to the writing prompt. Day 3 includes a built-in 15-minute timer.
- Exit Ticket (5 min) – Students complete the reflection qued);
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Shifting Schools Podcast Challenge
5-Day Creative Writing Challenge
Real advice from real authors. One prompt per day. Five days to find your voice.
Your Progress0 / 5 daysHow to Set This Up
- Pick your pace. Run it as one day per class period across a week, or assign 2–3 days for a shorter unit. Each day is self-contained.
- Project or assign. Display the page on your projector and walk through it together, or share the link and let students work independently.
- Use the structure. Each day follows the same pattern: Do Now → Watch → Write → Exit Ticket. Students always know what comes next.
- No prep required. Videos are embedded. Prompts are ready. The timer is built in. You just need the link.
Daily Classroom Flow (45–50 min)
- Do Now (5 min) – Students complete the quick-write warm-up at the top of each day.
- Watch (10–15 min) – Play the author video clip. Use timestamps to jump to key moments.
- Write (20–25 min) – Students respond to the writing prompt. Day 3 includes a built-in 15-minute timer.
- Exit Ticket (5 min) – Students complete the reflection question before class ends.
Tip: This works as a bell ringer, a sub plan, a creative writing unit launcher, or independent practice during workshop time. No accounts, no logins, no data collected.
Day 1 — MondaySpark Your Imaginationwith Peter H. Reynolds — author of The Dot, Happy Dreamer, and When You Dream BigBefore you watch or write anything today, answer this in your notebook or on a sheet of paper: If you could have a conversation with any author — living or dead, real or fictional — who would it be and what's the first question you'd ask them? Write for 3 minutes. Don't overthink it.
Peter H. Reynolds believes the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" might be the wrong one. Instead, he asks young people to think about who they want to become — and why imagination isn't a luxury, it's essential.
Watch the Full Episode (12:54)Start here: Peter's answer to "What does it really mean to dream big?" sets the tone for the whole challenge.
Write about what you'd create if you weren't afraid of messing up.
Peter H. Reynolds is famous for the "dot" — one mark on a page. He's also a painter, a filmmaker, and a writer. But his advice to kids is clear: start anywhere. Make a mark. Let it be terrible. That's the beginning.
What's something you've wanted to create — a story, a drawing, a video, a song, a skit — but talked yourself out of? What's the worst thing that could happen if you tried? Now write about what you'd do if that worst-case scenario didn't matter.
Stretch ChallengeTake Peter's advice literally. Make a mark on a piece of paper (or a digital canvas). Don't erase it. Let it be imperfect. Now write the story of that mark. Where did it come from? What does it want? Make the imperfection into the whole point.
On a scale of 1–5, how confident do you feel about starting a piece of creative writing right now? Circle one: 1 (not at all) — 2 — 3 — 4 — 5 (totally ready). Then finish this sentence: One thing I learned from Peter H. Reynolds that I want to remember is...
Day 2 — TuesdayBuild Your Worldwith N.K. Jemisin — author of The Broken Earth series (Hugo Award winner)Quick — close your eyes for 10 seconds and picture a place that doesn't exist. Now open your eyes and write down 5 specific details about that place. What does the air smell like? What sounds do you hear? What's the first thing you'd notice if you walked in? Go.
N.K. Jemisin built an entire world — broken, suffering, unjust — and it won three Hugo Awards in a row. She's here to tell you that worldbuilding is a form of truth-telling, not escape, and why every detail matters because it all means something.
Watch the Full Episode (15:23)Create a world with one rule that everything else breaks.
You don't need to build an entire universe. Start small. Maybe it's a coffee shop where time moves backward. A library where books only exist if someone's reading them. A street where nobody remembers yesterday. Pick one rule. Then break it — show what happens when something or someone violates that rule. That's where your story lives.
Stretch ChallengeN.K. Jemisin says worldbuilding is a way to talk about power. What does your world reveal about justice, fairness, or how people treat each other? Rewrite your scene to show that theme without saying it directly.
What is one specific detail about your invented world that you're proudest of? Write it down. Then answer: What's one question about your world that you still need to figure out?
Day 3 — WednesdayMessy First Draftwith Ibi Zoboi — author of Punching Bag, Prison Haute Couture, and American StreetSet a 3-minute timer (use your phone or ask your teacher). Write continuously without stopping. Topic: The worst writing advice I've ever heard is... Don't lift your pen. If you get stuck, write 'I'm stuck' and keep going.
Ibi Zoboi writes the kind of stories that matter — about identity, resistance, and joy in hard places. She's here to tell you that your first draft is supposed to be rough. The permission you need is in this episode.
Watch the Full Episode (13:47)Write a zero draft. One character. One problem. Fifteen minutes. Don't stop.
Ibi Zoboi doesn't believe in writer's block. She believes in permission. So here's yours: this draft doesn't have to be good. It doesn't have to be long. It just has to exist. Set the timer. Start writing. No editing, no erasing, no second-guessing. You can be messy. You can contradict yourself. You can write "I don't know what happens next" and then figure it out. The only rule: keep moving.
Stretch ChallengeWhen the timer goes off, choose one sentence that made you surprise yourself. Read it out loud. Why did those words come out?
Look back at what you just wrote during the zero draft. Underline or circle one sentence that surprised you — something you didn't plan to write. Copy it here: ____________. Why did it surprise you?
Day 4 — ThursdayCharacters That Breathewith Deborah Wiles — author of Hard as Nails and RevolutionThink of someone you know really well — a friend, a family member, a teacher. Without using their name, write 3 sentences that would help a stranger recognize them. Focus on what they do, not what they look like.
Deborah Wiles writes characters so real they seem to exist on every page. She's here to show you how contradiction — the thing that makes real people human — is what brings characters to life.
Watch the Full Episode (14:02)Create a character using the "contradiction method."
Write down three facts: their name, their age, and one thing they're really good at. Now add the contradiction — one thing about them that doesn't seem to fit. (The star athlete who writes poetry in secret. The class clown who's terrified of being alone. The straight-A student who can't tell the truth.)
Write a scene (1–2 paragraphs) where your character is in a situation that puts their contradiction on display — but never name it directly. Let the reader figure it out through what the character does, says, and notices.
Stretch ChallengeAdd one sensory detail Deborah would love — something your character sees, smells, hears, or touches that reveals how they're feeling without telling us.
Name your character. Write one sentence that captures their contradiction — the thing that makes them interesting. Then answer: Is this character someone you'd want to be friends with? Why or why not?
Day 5 — FridayPush Through the Blockwith Billy Ray — acclaimed screenwriter of Captain Phillips and The Hunger GamesFinish this sentence and keep writing for 2 minutes: The story I most want to tell is about... Don't worry if it's messy. This is your last warm-up of the challenge — make it count.
Billy Ray has written some of Hollywood's most intense stories — and he'll tell you straight: writer's block isn't real. What is real is fear. He reframes creativity as problem-solving, not inspiration, and shares why thinking like a "mechanic" — not waiting for a muse — is what keeps writers writing.
Watch the Full Episode (17:56)Revisit one piece of writing you created this week.
Your Day 1 narrative, your Day 2 world, your Day 3 zero draft, or your Day 4 character. Pick the one that excited you most.
Now be a mechanic, not a muse. Ask yourself: What's the problem this character faces? What do they want? What's stopping them? Write the next scene — the one that raises the stakes.
Don't wait for inspiration. Treat it like a puzzle. Move the pieces around until something clicks.
Stretch ChallengeBilly Ray talks about "stealing like an artist" — borrowing structure, not content. Think of a scene from a book, movie, or show you love. Borrow its shape (the rhythm, the tension, the surprise) and rewrite it with your character and your world. Make it yours.
You've spent five days with five authors. Complete these two sentences: The writing technique I'm most likely to use again is... and The author whose advice hit me the hardest was ______ because...