You're walking down the street one day when you spot a shimmer in the air in front of you. You walk around it, curiously... What is it? Votes for the best, as usual. No word limit...

Write a piece where one (or more) of the senses is out of action or restricted in some way. It doesn't need to be a total lack of sound, for example, but maybe a place where people are forbidden from speech, or maybe a scene in total darkness. Those two are the most obvious but there are a lot of other senses to choose from, and not just the standard five, either. As well as sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, there's balance, heat, cold, hunger, thirst, the ability to know the position of your limbs without looking... Maybe even a sense of proportion. :) Standard most likes rules. No word limits. Have fun with it. Oh, and don't forget to tag me.

With nano in full swing, how are you doing? Post your first chapter here. Standard rules apply, the most likes wins. No word limit.

For this one, something a little different. Instead of a long prose or poem in the actual challenge text, just two things. Genre and character name. In the comments, everyone else can throw questions your way which you answer as replies to those comments in character. If your character doesn't know something, you don't. If he believes something different to what you do, you take the character's point of view fully.

Write piece that, at the start sways so far into political incorrectness or controversy that the reader thinks "This is too much, how can they get away with it?" but by the end, it's OK again.

Thought this might be a departure from the other type of pass the pen challenge that's been going around... Write twenty questions and tag someone. Their part of the challenge is to answer those questions as the main character from one of their stories. Please, remember to tag me, and in the reply, tag the person who tagged you and include the link to the original questions. It's possible this may be forced out of the challenge section. A person enter a challenge once...

You live in a fantasy world but you're not a noble, you're not a wielder of magic, unless everyone in your society has a little magical ability, you're just a grunt, a nobody, one of the general public... It could be a world already written such as Narnia or Middle Earth, maybe you're a Cherek goatherd or an Asturian serf from the Eddings Belgariad or a villager living in one of the huge tree villages of the Thomas Covenant books, but whatever world you choose and character you play, you're a little person, insignificant to the plot of the main book(s). The main plot of the book you chose might even sweep past you with barely a hint. Maybe you overhear some gossip or the town crier makes an announcement of significant events but even that's only likely to result in a shrug. Write about him/her.

In the eyes of any sane person, they're not evil and usually the things they do are for the greater good, in their opinion. (I'm excluding people like Mira hindly and Fred West in this because I did say sane person). Write a story from the perspective of the evil characters in your favourite book... What was Sauron thinking? Did Voldermort have a good side? We know Darth Vader wasn't all bad because he redeemed himself in the end but what about the Emperor? Was it just a scheme that got out of hand and out of his control?

Take any point in the past and change the events surrounding it. Project those events forward to the present day... What is the world like now? This event can be anything you choose. The further back in time you go, the less significant the event needs to be for the present to change dramatically. The old time travel story, "A sound of thunder" and the Simpsons treehouse segment time and punishment are prime examples.

Some twist of circumstance has forced you to take up a life of crime. You don't want to, but you have no choice. What forced you into this? Was it a person or a situation? How do you cope? Fight against it or embrace it?

What if something had happened differently? Pick an event in history, any event, no matter how big or small. Now change the outcome and describe the world as it would be today if that thing had happened as you said it did. It could be anything, from a different victor in a battle, a different gender of monarch being born or even a blade of grass growing in a slightly different way. Have fun with it.

Pick a single moment in history. Anything, no matter how big or small. Change the outcome. A different outcome in a battle, a different person survived a duel, different arrival time for a train or even a blade of grass grew at a different angle. Anything... Describe how the world would be in the present day if that difference had occurred.

Another world. Past, alternative present, future or fantasy. A friend you share a huge secret with is getting married and you're a part of it. You know best man's speeches have to say something about the groom. First, a couple of sentences on backstory. What is that secret? Is there anything about the world that makes what you put into the speech more relevant or more dangerous? Then... Write that best man's speech.