The Dares Thread

A dare? I don't get it.

Have you heard of or participated in a game of Truth or Dare?

You know when a person picks dare and someone thinks of something outrageous for them to do? It's the same concept here, except that a dare is something that helps your novel along.

For example, let's say you were stuck at a point in your novel and had no clue what to do next. You could ask for a dare and someone would give you one. Then, you would work that dare into your writing, hopefully sparking an idea in your mind.

I hope that helps!

NaNoWriMo07- 25040 words
NaNoWriDay08- 25020 words

People post things that other people should do in their books if they're stuck.

For instance:

I dare you to:

Include a duck named Larry.
Bonus points if Larry can talk.
Double bonus points if Larry teaches high school physics.

NaNo '08: One Out of One
Black Friday 10k Challenge: 3.3k/10k
Status: Need food.

I dare you to have a character come across a mysterious, very long, very complex computer program. (Descriptions of said computer program are good for upping the word count!)
Bonus points if he/she becomes obsessed with figuring it out.
Double bonus if the program is actually pointless/unsolvable.
Triple bonus if one of your other characters created the program because he was bored.

I'll throw a few in here:

Have the first line of your novel be "Where the hell are my pants?"
BP if the character can't find their pants and the novel becomes a search for pants.
DBP if your character never finds any pants and goes pantsless forever and ever (insert evil laugh here)

Include a purple moose
BP if the moose is essential to the plot
DBP if the moose is your main character

I dare you to have a dragon (or other fire creature) mock a smoker, calling him a pathetic imitator.
Bonus points if the dragon falls over laughing.
Even more bonus points if the smoker was the main bad guy and now his minions won't take him seriously.

I dare you to have a food fight in your novel.
Bonus points if it's essential to the plot.
Extra bonus points if it takes place somewhere unusual for a food fight -- the royal banquet hall, a 5-star restaurant, a wedding reception, etc.
A cookie if you top 2k with a detailed description of the food fight.
(I've featured food fights in my last two NaNo's.)

"Be nice to the imaginary people. Don't kill too many." -- e-mail from my youngest sister, June 23, 2008

I posted this on the old forums, but figured I'd post it on the new ones as well.

Have a character who says "That seems like something from a NaNo dare!" when something strange happens.
-BP If no one questions their comment
--TBP if they say it every time something odd happens
---QBP if the situation involved no other dares at all

I dare you to quote Percy Shelley.

BP if it's in your novel or chapter titles.

DBP if he makes a cameo!

I dare you to solve a problem McGuyver style, using only a rubber-band, a paperclip and toothpaste.

BP if the Main Character has a mullet.
DBP if the setting doesn't lend to modern office technology (ex. feudal Europe)
TBP if the solved problem leads to world destruction.

__________________________________________

When childhood dies, we call it's corpse an adult and it enters into society, one of the politer names for hell.

I dare you to have a character with intense ADHD.
Bonus points if halfway through their explanation of a major plot point they get distracted by a shiny rock.
Extra bonus points if various other characters try to get them on meds.
Super bonus points if this turns out to help the good guys win.

I dare you to include a character named Someone.
Bonus if his name is equally nondescript
A cookie if no one ever gets confused except ONE CHARACTER, and no one ever understands how that one character gets confused.

Have a character dipping animal crackers in milk.
BP - if he/she acts like they're real and goes on to talk about having to save them.
DBP - if they're an adult and they're in a situation where animal crackers aren't readily available.

Have a character sing "If You're Happy And You Know It" during a really serious moment in the novel.

Have a character lose one really expensive shoe only to have to replace it with a really ugly shoe.
BP - if the character walks around with the mismatched shoes throughout the entire novel.
DBP - if the shoe is a major plot point.

~*~
"If I'm so happy - I've got everything to lose. And now it's always raining - you're the one to blame"

I'm in the Scriptwriter's Mafia. Are you?

This would be a great way to insert my bf into my novel. I have to write this one down!! :)

Dares:

One of your characters keeps a computer mouse in his/her pocket
all of the time because he/she loves it and it is his/her pet. Bonus
Points if he/she named it Mousey and Triple Bonus Points if he/she takes
it out when he’s/she’s feeling upset and strokes it.

One of your characters always says “Thank you for calling
Dominoes, how may I help you” every time they pick up the phone (instead
of Hello).

Have your character glue a penny heads up onto the ground
somewhere and throughout the novel have other characters see it and think
that their luck is going to change, but then they can’t pick it up because
it’s glued to the ground.

Have your character accidentally prank call someone they know.

Your characters are made out of chocolate we learn one day when
one takes a bite of the other. Bonus Points if it’s hollow chocolate and
their eyes are made out of sugary candy bits.

Have your character go to the library to get some obscure book,
and when she/he opens it up, there’s an extremely old piece of thin sliced
ham between two of the pages.

A character wears the same clothes every day throughout your
entire novel. Bonus Points if she rarely or never washes them. Triple
Bonus Points if it is a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt (even when
it’s summer).

Your character gets stopped in a mall by the people with
America’s Next Top Model because they think she has an interesting look.

Your character gets to be on a show like Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth
Grader, Deal or No Deal, etc.

Your character gets to guest star (voice if cartoon) on the
tv-show of your choice.

A bee comes out of nowhere and stings your character. Bonus
Points if it’s in the middle of a tense scene, or in the middle of a
romantic scene.

A group of Christians randomly comes up to your characters and
starts talking to them about God.

A character claims to have gotten Carpal Tunnel from a car accident.

Have the title of every chapter be a song title from a band of your choosing. The fun part is making what happens in the chapter relevant to the chapter title! (This was one I used from last year's dares thread [I did the Beatles], and it was a lot of fun).

**Let me know if you like any of these or if you plan to use them!**

=)
Highest Daily Word Count This Year - 10,003 ~ New Record: 11/1/08
Characters in the Story - 16
Days with No Nanoing - 1
Characters Killed - 3
Characters Revived - 1

2008 ~ The Truth About Our Universes

I dare you to turn one of your main characters into a talking encyclopedia through magical interference with a leprechaun.

Make your

Did that last year. Turned into a major subplot. Turned out to be an April Fool's prank.

I can do that. It'll be FUN.

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Hmm....I will take one definitely, but it'll depend on which of the two ideas I'm currently toying with I actually end up writing.

I dare someone to have a character named Seymour.
BP if it's a manly man
DBP if another character sings the song "Suddenly, Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors to them
TBP if it becomes a running joke among your characters
You just completely win if their name is not originally Seymour, and Seymour is an alias they are forced to go by for some reason, and they hate it, but at the end of the novel they decide to keep the name Seymour as their real name

And

I dare someone to make one of their characters a cannibal.
BP if one of his names is Todd.
DBP if he's bald.
TBP if he's NOT the villain
QBP if he eats one of the other main characters

And

I dare someone to make one of their characters yell "BROCCOLI" at some point
BP if it's during a really tense scene
DBP if it's a character who is normally very serious
TBP if they then go on to yell "Can't catch me, I'm BROCOLI!"
QBP if they change their name to Broccoli

I'm totally using this one.

Have a character who is totally obsessed with a colourful assortment of wax crayons and constantly carries them in their pocket throughout the novel.
BP if the crayons somehow save the characters from danger.
DBP if they somehow become integral to the plot.
TBP if after being saved by awesome colourful crayons, the characters decide they must be magic, mash them up into dust, and snort them while singing tribal chants, backwards.

:B

"Are people born Wicked, or do they have Wickedness thrust upon them? After all, she had a father. And a mother..."

Have the following conversation:

Character one: Be careful with that! It's a very toxic and corrosive chemical!
Character two: Your MOM is a very toxic and corrosive chemical.
Character one: Be that as it may...

Include references to DEATH WATER! (look up Let's Play Mario Wacky World on YouTube if you want to get the reference)

Have the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (people in the past have said it's good for upping word-count by having people fail to pronounce it several times)

Have a character die in a freak trombone accident.

Include the phrase: "But the Internet is only good for PORN" during an incredibly serious discussion.
BP if this is said by a character who is morally against everything sexual.
DBP if this character is also prone to be highly serious.
TBP if this character is actually right.

"Are people born Wicked, or do they have Wickedness thrust upon them? After all, she had a father. And a mother..."

Have a character, in any situation, need to sing scores of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
BP if he, she, or whatever else is doing a headstand.
DBP if it's in any sort of unusual costume.
TBP if you actually include any performance of a G&S operetta, and QBP if it becomes important to the plot.

I dare you to write a story where humans are the bad guys.

BP if the humans are don't even realize it.

DBP if there's smexy vampires imvolved.

QBP if the vampires win.

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and scre

Insert a lurid pink plastic flamingo in your story, with at least one mention of said flamingo per chapter
BP if there is, at some point, a herd of pink plastic flamingos
DBP if the flamingos are/become sentient
TBP if one of the flamingos becomes a main character
QBP if the cast of your novel consists solely of lawn ornamentations (the oft-mentioned flamingos, ceramic garden gnomes, etc.)

I took this one last year and it worked really well, so this year I'm leaving it for someone else.

Have a character who finishes every sentence with "...according to the prophecy."

Michelle Writes (blog)

2007: Quest for Serentasia (winner)
2008: Swimming in the Garden (winner)

I think I will be able to use the complex computer program dare. Since my novel centres around a magical early computer analogue and one of my characters built and programs it...

Leaving these lines:

"You built THAT in your room?"
"I could hardly build it in the kitchen, could I?"

"This is the biggest cock up in the history of things cocking up."

The author formerly known as aeireono.
NaNo 2008 - Haixtlan

2007: Moths
2006: Eye of Rakaros
2005: Senahri: Approximate Destruction
2004: JSBCBS
2003: From Here To There

I'm so doing this.

I dare you to make one of your characters have an imaginary pet dinosaur.
Bonus points if the Dinosaur turns out to be real.
Double bonus points if the dinosaur ends up saving the day.

Include the comment "8 inches?! Wow!"
BP if it's not sexual at all

Include a very religious character who thinks God lives in a fishbowl

Have a character that speaks in abbrives. Like, they legit say things like "that whole convo was mad bril". And "legit", for that matter.

Include the line "Give it to me hard, weather gods!"

Include the line "Well what's he gonna do? He's a PANDA!"

Include a ghost that isn't unfriendly, isn't particularly friendly either, doesn't communicate much with the living, and just generally tolerates the people living in his house.
BP if he turns on the radio, just because he likes music
DBP if he takes occasional showers
TBP if the people living in his house (or place or whatever) know about him, and just say "Oh yeah, that was the ghost" like it's nothing weird

Describe a game of imaginary badminton

Describe a game of "midnight scrabble" (which is best played slightly tipsy)

Include a vegetarian who will eat pepperoni, bacon, and anything from Subway.
BP if this person considers these exceptions "food from the gods"
DBP if this person also won't eat other random things because "duh, i'm a vegetarian"
i.e. "have some guacamole" "are you serious? i'm a vegetarian"

Write one whole chapter in the form of text message conversation transcript

Include a character who always knows what's going to happen next
BP if no one thinks this is weird
DBP if no one listens anyway
TBP and a sprinkled donut if later, when the person turns out to be right, they point it out and no one believes them.

This thread is how my novel gets written, no joke :)

when in doubt, write something anyway

Oh, my characters in last year's novel played midnight scrabble that led to sex on a trampoline. Epic win.

Incorporate the semiphore version of Wuthering Heights (perhaps with a school color guard?)

Include a Pretentious English Major. They don't even have a name.

Name a character Drarry or Ryden.
BP if they're a fan of either Harry Potter or Panic!
DBP if they have a normal name, and name their child that

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