User blog:Taldin/Taldin's 2018 Plot Ninja Challenge: The Ninjas You Never Saw (And Some You Did)

I was a bit off my game this year; normally over in the NaNoWriMo Guild I'm present and accountable and accounting, but I started the year off helping an old friend and one of my original mentees with a Discord based site that does writing year 'round. I got voluntold that I was helping run workshops live, and I ran four of them between October and November. And I was a lot more diligent at easy, instant post ninjas as opposed to logging into Habitica and putting the ninjas in there....

Anyway. Here's the full list for the month of November:

November 1's Plot Ninja: It's A Party And You're (Not) Invited
Your MC hears of an Important gathering, party, or shindig that's going to happen in the near future. They may or may not have a personal invitation. Do they want to go, or not? Will they need anything to bring that they don't currently possess? (Inspiration: I've had novels start at Halloween parties because I was inspired by being at a Kick-off party....)

November 2's Plot Ninja: Knowing Where Your Towel Is
A character in a scene you're writing this week gets absolutely soaked. It could be a bath, it could be a Gatorade shower, it could be them taking the Ice Bucket Challenge, or a rainstorm, or even a steamy hot shower for you romance writers..... but the key objective is searching for a towel, or the equivalent.

November 3's Plot Ninja: String Theory
Pay attention to the often neglected audio part of your novel. Come up with a good reason for including some sort of music to your scene -- it could be a wandering minstrel, or perhaps some CD someone puts on, or a radio, or a concert in the park. (Bonus points for a stringed instrument of some sort.)

November 4's Plot Ninja: The Wolf
Some threats are not obvious when they first appear, or are a distant danger lurking in the background. Today is a good day to subtly introduce a Wolf into your novel, either something for your protagonists to investigate in the near future, or to provide some context to the character who will later become an obstacle to progress. (This is not a literal 'a wolf wanders through and howls', for which you get no credit, but rather a metaphorical wolf.)

November 5's Plot Ninja: Combo Number Five: (Show Your Work Ninja)
It's the plan within a planner, or the back pocket plan for pantsers! If your MC didn't have a plan, formulate one today. The plan must have five steps, minimum, and steps 4 and 5 cannot be "????" and "Profit!" Be original!

November 6's Plot Ninja: Put It Up To A Vote
An 'important' vote of some sort takes place. It doesn't have to be political, but it may have an affect on your plot that you might not have planned for. Or maybe it's just for what people want on their pizza. (A pulse check on 'is this still the way I want my plot to go?' Sometimes it's interesting to ask, 'what if things go a different direction?')

November 7th's Plot Ninja: The Not So Magnificent Seven
Someone talks about bygone heroes, comparing your MC (and team) unflatteringly to them. How does this make the protagonist(s) feel, and how do they respond to having their efforts so far dismissed in such a manner?

November 8th's Plot Ninja: Probably Going to Regret This Later .....
The MC or sidekick knowingly does something that is either illegal or against their nature, despite having misgivings about it. Why is it important to them that they do the wrong thing? And will it come back to bite them several chapters from now?

November 9th's Plot Ninja: Nein, Lives
Someone who was presumed dead? Turns out not to be. Maybe it's an enemy, maybe it's a friend, or a relative, or that brave person who sacrificed themselves so everyone could get away-- but they're alive, or rumored to be alive. How does that change 'history', or the future of your novel, where they were expecting to move on without them?

November 10's Plot Ninja: Where In The World Is ....
Hey, remember that worldbuilding you did? Now's a good time to truck some of it out. Do some exposition about a place your MC hasn't been to yet -- you can use a map to curve your plot that direction. Maybe someone they met during the novel is from there. Maybe they just found an item that is made there. (Bonus: If the item is a giant floppy red hat, you rock, eh, fella?)

November 11th's Plot Ninja: A Change In The Weather
The next time your protagonists are outdoors, the weather changes. Drastically. Unusually. Maybe it's early snow, or heavy rain, or a hurricane watch... but what does this do to our heroes journey, or plans to be outdoors?

November 12th's Plot Ninja: Let This Be A Lesson To You
Someone, whether the mentor, the villain gloating, or the best friend, points out a character's mistakes in a kindly manner, in order to create a Teaching Moment, but it probably still hurts. 'Bonus' points for adding someone saying, "And maybe next time you'll know better." somewhere in there.

November 13th's Plot Ninja: Unlucky Break
The opposite of a deus ex machina. Out of left field, something goes horribly, unexpectedly wrong in either this chapter or the next chapter that changes the trajectory of what looked like sure success. Maybe it means the team loses the game, or the hero takes a major setback, but 'scrambling to compensate' ought to be the tone for the next few scenes.

November 14th's Plot Ninja: You Know What They Say About Power...
The MC or their best friend are offered something powerful that will give them a short term advantage, but the cost is high later -- likely causing them to give up the moral high ground to take the help. Will they win now but have to pay the piper later?(edited)

November 15th's Plot Ninja: The Half-Way Point
The MC takes a good long look at where they want to be with a goal (it doesn't have to be the present effort) and realize just how much farther it will be to get there from where they are. Is it a savings goal? A personal achievement? Something they want to do before they die? Do they lose hope at making it, or decide to change what they're doing to speed up the process?

November 16th's Plot Ninja: Second-Tier Heroics
When your MC fails to achieve a desired result and is sidelined for some reason, the sidekick/secondary/supporting character steps up in a big way. Is it effective, or does it make things worse? (The person who won November 9th's Plot Ninja contributed 'a detective fakes his death, leading to the best friend about to commit murder of the person who he thought killed the detective.')

November 17th's Plot Ninja: Living Off The Ingrid
Something someone says or does reminds them of a long-lost friend or relative, or perhaps an elder. They don't have anything to do with the plot thus far, but the memory jog might give a character some out-of-the-box insight at a critical clueless moment. (Bonus for naming the character 'Ingrid.')

November 18th's Plot Ninja: Run Away And Join The Circus
The sidekick or love interest for the MC suddenly gets a wild notion to run away and join their version of the circus -- it would effectively remove them from the novel. How would losing them affect the MC? How would not going make the SC feel? Do they stay or do they go? (It doesn't actually have to be the circus. Studying abroad counts. So does the Peace Corps.)

November 19th's Plot Ninja: Enter the Negotiator
Bring back a character from an earlier chapter, that maybe you haven't seen for a bit, and have them be the person who unexpectedly takes charge of things when the MC needs help the most. Maybe it's a hidden strength, or maybe it's a mentor/friend that is back from being Gone, but today's ninja is about gathering strength for the final push, and the Negotiator has unexpected benefits.

November 20th's Plot Ninja: Take A Scent-i-Mental Journey
Stuck for words or a scene idea? Have a character smell something that reminds them of their childhood home cooking. It's an easy jump to a non-relevant flashback of family, friends, and long lost homes. Maybe someone else also remembers said dish, or has a similar one to share 'for when we make it through this.' [Bonus points: if there's something in said flashback that actually helps in the present.]

November 21st's Plot Ninja: We Do Not Talk About Bite Club
Suddenly, someone gets bitten. Maybe it's affectionate, maybe it's a mosquito, maybe it's a dog or a cat, or maybe it's verbal, but biteyness happens, and pain follows. Is it something the character earned, or is it something that they weren't expecting but were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? What's the remedy for the bite, and is it embarrassing? [Mine, by the way, will introduce the Werewolf, calling back to the Wolf at the Gate from Day 4.....]

November 22nd's Plot Ninja: "Bonanza!"
Your characters stumble across a completely unguarded stash of something valuable (bonus points for it being food, in honor of the American Thanksgiving), left there for whatever reason is up to you. But it's too big to carry, and the guards might be back at any moment. Will they delay their objectives to try and take/eat as much as they can? Do they get caught? (Credit for today's prompt: Jessy.)

November 23d's Plot Ninja: Who Is The Doctor?
When the character's physical, mental, or spiritual woes are wanting, it's time to bring in the great healer for their will to continue. Being patched up for the final fight is a motivator all on its own; even if they aren't at full strength, they won't feel near as broken. Inverted version: Someone important gets taken out of commission. Do they have to abort in order to get them help? ( "Doc says they'll survive, but they're not going to be able to help us in the final fight.")

November 24ths Plot Ninja: The Non-Factor
For people who have multiple factions vying for leadership power, whether it's a government-centric novel, or someone who used to hold sway over things, there's a shift in the power balance over the character's heads; one of the factions loses power unexpectedly, be it through a vote, a political death, or a resignation... the laws may have changed.

November 25ths Plot Ninja: Speak Up!
A character that heretofore hasn't had much to say, or never spoke at all, suddenly steps up and delivers an oratory/message that gets the MC to take notice. What kind of impact does it have to have 'the quiet one' deliver a timely dose of wisdom, or how crazy is it that the dog can communicate? (It doesn't necessarily have to be words, per se....)

November 26ths Plot Ninja: Sudden Death
Someone pretty important buys the farm, or appears to. If you're on a track towards the climax of the novel, it might even be the bad guy, or the last guardian before the final fight. It might be the mentor, or the best friend/sidekick making a Noble Sacrifice. But someone is removed from the plot until at least right before the end credits, either when you need them the most, or need to get to the plot objective Right Now.

November 27th's Plot Ninja: Gotta Go, Stuff's on Fire
With three days left to go, if your novel isn't already ratcheted up to 11 actionwise, set something on fire, blow something up, or close an avenue/choice we could have made off for good. There's only one ending to your novel, and everything else has to go. (In my novel, Leonard returns to Brendingham Keep to find a lot of things on fire...)

November 28th's Plot Ninja: Shame, Less Promotion
In the wake of recent events, someone gets themselves promoted. Maybe it's the second in command of the squadron because the commander bit the dust in #26, Sudden Death, or maybe it's because someone resigns, or maybe the faction from #24, The Non-Factor elects a new spokesperson, or maybe the MC gets a medal pinned on them for heroics. Someone has a new rank and position. What comes with it?

November 29th's Plot Ninja: Future Tense
Whether you're at the end of the novel or somewhere in the middle, it's time to place a hook for an event that won't occur in this month's novel. Maybe it's the villain swearing they'll be back, or maybe it's the government saying that they'll be watching, but there's a threat or promise made that will only get fulfilled if you keep writing in this universe.

November 30th's Plot Ninja: Such Plans. If Only I Had More Time....
Since today is the last day, for the last ninja, pick up a major character. Look at where they were in Chapter 1, Day 1 or 2. Figure out if they changed much since the first chapter. Have them reflect on who they were then, and what they wanted at the time. Did they get what they were hoping for? Or did things turn out vastly different?