November 11: Intruder Kindly welcome foreign folk Sit awhile, exchange what spoke How’s the husband? How’s the wife? How’s the hand conceal the knife? How’s the foul play wanton strife That hacks the steadfast clean from life? Hidden household pilfered bare Wilt intention steal once shared Slavered grin now grime ensnared Befriend the friendless, then beware Prompt: The bees are not the only foreigners. Someone else has entered the land, and intentions may not be pure. Roll t

November 10: People There be People in the world outside the Hive. Much like us, oh yes. Some will buzz. Some will harvest. Some will sting. Some will bid a Queen. But make care when the People near. For they be tempered Or they be wild Or they be ridden flush with love There be People in the world outside the Hive. There be People. And they be here. Prompt: Someone from the Hive on the Hill finds the bees. Roll the die to find out who it is. Roh, the Hopling. A little one, u

November 9: Familiar What crawls back you cast aside? Discarded rotten? Buried live? What home kept you classified? Regard forgotten? Harried hive? Puddles dripped in calloused fleet Of memories trickled, malice deep Abandoned tandem vacant street Slake the love you piled in heap Prompt: Someone from the Hive on the Hill finds the bees. Roll the die to find out who it is. Someone Friendly. An old acquaintance or kind soul has crossed paths with the bees. Someone Mean. The bee

November 8: Treasure "I found a thing today." "What kind of thing?" "Is it a thingy-thing?" "What kind of thingy-thing?" "Can I be a thingy-thing? "I don't shut up you're a bee go away I found a thing." Bees are awkward thingy-things. Trace the skies with wingy-things. Laced with yellow ringy-things. Fuzzy butts with stingy-things. Prompt: The bees found a strange thing today—one that they wish to keep. Roll the die to see what kind of thing they found. A Plant Thing. This th

November 7: Natives Divvied sanctum border state Flags at mast in colonnade Furrowed terrace owned and paid Cash amassed for profit made Set a contract Set a post Set a fort and army host Set a congress plied by most To lord the low And tax the ghost. Prompt: It seems the bees overlooked an initial dwelling. This group lived here for a long time before the bees. Roll the die to see who they are. The Gilly-Garucks. A happy commune, quick to integrate. Value sharing, family, op

November 6: Visitor "Who stands at the gate?" "Who treads on the way?" "Who goes?" "Who rides?" "Who waits at bay? "Who speaks who never spoke before? Who knocks at the locked-up lock at the door? Prompt: Someone approaches the bees. Roll the die to determine which new individual comes along for a visit. Klaff the Bristle Hide. A furry, loud individual who likes to eat and eat some more. Finli the Water Digger. An aquatic creature, slick and capable of disappearing beneath th

November 5: Business "A decision?" "What is that?" "As a Queen does!" "The worker shall now!" A sewing needle doesn't choose silk Nor an axe decide its timber Does a tongue deduce the taste of mill? Or a fire define an ash-soot ember? Prompt: Busy bees! Roll the die to determine the Great Task the bees will undertake. New Hive. It’s time to build a place to stay. What resources do they use? How do they obtain them? Explore. Take each day at a time. What new sights do they fi

November 4: Settlement Life isn't fleeting Life is a fleet And the time for unfurled sails Is now But hiveless girls are throneless girls, Though they be mavericks. These girls are Queens and Queens need thrones And this new throne seats six. Prompt: Roll the die to determine the new home. If the bees have already settled somewhere, then they discover this new feature of their settlement. Amakursha, the Wide Shore. A lake. Serene, quiet, or busy with people. Large or small, m

November 3: Freedom A silence rattles these our ladies. No familiar buzzing but their own. White-knuckle hand in white-knuckle hand. Doldrum-deafened, this windless world wails "Beauty." To a crowd of once slave women Unbound to the yoke Bound only to Each other Prompt: Roll the die to determine the leader. Though they are free, they still lean towards one decision maker. Honey. Why does she become the leader? Why is her charisma so enticing to have her elected? Killer. Why d

November 2: Escape See now the dregs of royal sloth, Of girls anew Old girls forgot The cycle weaves a bitter cloth A girl will speak, "We're better off." And wings once bound, unfettered fly To race with fate To take the sky Forsake the state of slaves in sty "We're free," she spake, "And doomed to die." Prompt: Roll the die to determine the current activity in the hive. Defense. The Hive is on edge— there is an intruder that threatens safety! What could it be? Queen Drama.

November 1: Hive This is the end This is the end But this is the pulse Where beats begin The Wax-Crowned Queen on her Sugar Throne Wields a thousand chains Wields a thousand whips Wields a thousand hands to build her Hive on the Hill And a thousand children to replace their sister-dead. Prompt: There are six bees in the Hive on the Hill. They wish to leave. Roll the die to see who the Queen is for the Hive: Bamrella the Bidder of Tomorrow. An astute planner, keeps tabs, knows

The Game Our November, and Nothing More is an interactive storywriting challenge for National Novel Writing Month, played out from November 1st to December 1st. Participants will dictate a story involving the lives of six worker bees who escape their repressive hive to live on their own. Their lifespan is only a month. Using dice rolls and charts, writers will be given prompts as the days go by—telling the story in segments. There is no signup. There aren’t any real “rules.”