Best Online Writing Challenges to Take Your Writing to the Next Level
Are you looking for a way to challenge yourself as a writer? Are you looking for a way to improve your writing skills? If so, then you should consider participating in online writing challenges. Online writing challenges can be fun and rewarding because they push you to write in different styles, genres and formats. They also can be really great at helping you to write more, stick to a writing schedule and motivate you to write every day. So if you’re ready to take your writing to the next level, consider participating in one or more of these online writing challenges!
Love writing stories? Register now for our free 7 Day Story Writing Challenges. Write a short story in a week, get extensive feedback on your entry, and compete for a £500 prize in each round of the challenges.
YeahWrite Super Challenge
YeahWrite Super Challenge
A pay-to-play quarterly writing competition. Each Super Challenge takes place over the course of about six weeks, with writers competing for cash prizes in prompted fiction or nonfiction. (They alternate between the two.) The Super Challenge is typically run in two rounds. During each round, we’ll release the prompt on Friday at 10pm US Eastern time. That’s right – you don’t have to stay up all night to get your prompt! Writers then have 48 hours to write a story or essay responsive to that prompt.
Globe Soup 7 Day Story Writing Challenges
7 Day Story Writing Challenges
Prize: £500 each challenge!
Globe Soup’s free 7 Day Story Writing Challenges see writers from around the world take part in week-long short story writing challenges. At the start of each challenge, all participants receive the challenge theme and one of 12 genres, randomly assigned. They then have exactly 7 days to write a story of no more than 2,000 words. These challenges take place throughout the year, you just need to register to start taking part. Once registered, you’ll receive a new theme and genre each time a new challenge begins. You can take part in as many (or as few) challenges as you want. At the end of each round, participants can get feedback on their entry and there's a new £500 prize up for grabs each time! They're also completely free!
Not Quite Write Prize for Flash Fiction
Not Quite Write Prize for Flash Fiction
Prize: £1,000 (AUD)
A flash fiction competition with a twist! Entrants will be given two writing prompts and one "anti-prompt" and will have 60 hours to write and submit a 500-word piece of flash fiction. Open to all ages and abilities.
NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month
Writing a novel alone can be difficult, even for seasoned writers. NaNoWriMo helps you track your progress, set milestones, connect with other writers in a vast community, and participate in events that are designed to make sure you finish your novel. Oh, and best of all, it’s free!
National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand new novel. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.
NaPoWriMo
National Poetry Writing Month
NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.
StoryADay
StoryADay
A month-long short-story challenge in which writers write (finish) a short story every day In May. (And again in September.)
Stories may be any length (50 words? 5,000?) but they must be stories (they must take us or the characters somewhere).
Stories may be fiction or non-fiction and you get to decide what “every day” means. If you need to take Sundays off, go for it. You make your own rules, but you are encouraged to set them up early, and stick to them!
Join the community. You can post your story at your site and link to it or you can simply post an update in each day’s blog comments.
Looking for a writing competition to enter? Here’s our ‘Big List of International Writing Competitions!’
NaNonFiWriMo
National Nonfiction Writing Month
During the Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) Challenge, also known as National Nonfiction Writing Month (NaNonFiWriMo), you are personally challenged to start and complete a work of nonfiction in 30 days. This can be an article, an essay, a book, a book proposal, a white paper, or a manifesto.
365 Writing Challenge
10 Minute Novelists 365 Day Writing Challenge
10 Minute Novelists was the brain-child of Katharine Grubb. Homeschooling mother-of-five, she wanted to write a novel, but could only find pockets of a few minutes here and there. So she started a blog called the 10 Minute Writer. She shared her struggles, including the fateful day she broke her ankle and became couch -bound. That’s when she decided to join Twitter and Facebook to connect with fellow time-crunched writers.
And thus 10 Minute Novelists was born. Word of an advertising-free Facebook group where writers could learn from one another spread like wild-fire. Katharine was approached to write the book, Write a Novel in 10 Minutes a Day.
The Writer’s Games
The Writer’s Games
The Writer's Games is an annual writing competition with a global reach. For six consecutive weeks, registered participants create short stories that meet the challenges (Events) announced for the week. Each Event lasts 72 hours and no one knows what that week's challenge might be until the clock starts. While the first Event is for practice, winners of the following five Events are published in the Writer's Games anthology. Competition is fierce (but friendly!).
Globe Soup’s 100+ Flash Fiction Prompts
100+ Flash Fiction Prompts
Set your own writing challenges with our database of 100+ flash fiction prompts. We add new prompts every month, so you’ll never run out of inspiration. Write a flash fiction story a day, a week, or as often as you can. Choose your own schedule and work your way through our list of prompts!
NaBloPoMo
National Blog Posting Month
National Blog Posting Month, frequently abbreviated as NaBloPoMo, is a month-long writing exercise that occurs each November. The first NaBloPoMo occurred in November of 2006 at the urging of American blogger M. Kennedy. Kennedy was inspired by National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which also happens every November, and thought that there should be a blogging counterpart. NaBloPoMo has grown steadily in popularity thanks to the extensive information distribution network between bloggers. Hundreds of participants entered in the first NaBloPoMo, and every year the numbers seem to increase.
Write Your Journey
21 Day Writing Course
The 21-Day Writing Challenge is a self-paced course, to help you start writing, then continue even when inspiration falters. With writing prompts and inspiration, you too can begin to explore yourself on the page, finding new perspectives on your life and the world around you.
MORE FROM GLOBE SOUP. . .
The Big List of International Writing Competitions
100 Awesome Flash Fiction Prompts
The Big List of No-Fee Literary Magazines
Globe Soup Writing Competitions
Short Stories to Read Online Now!
The Definitive List of Short Story Competitions
Show, Don’t Tell: A Guide With Examples