Category: Writing Challenges
Challenges from the Bonanza Brand Forums.
It Was Just One Second by AC1830
Summary: How long does it take to change a life forever? Joe Cartwright finds out it only takes a second. Written for the 2025 Michael Landon’s Birthday Challenge – pick a period of time, from a second up to a year, that changed Joe Cartwright’s life forever.
Rating: T, Word Count: 1101
The Declaration (by Pat D in PA)
SUMMARY: An older brother mourns his believed failure in keeping a promise. Written for the 3rd Quarter 2025 Chaps and Spurs Writing Challenge.
RATING: K/G WORD COUNT: 1,335
Lessons in Trust (by AC1830)
Summary: Based on the episode The Grand Swing, young Jamie’s thoughts are explored as he faces the shock and responsibility of crashing a wagon and killing a horse. Written for the 2025 Chaps and Spurs Challenge.
Rated: G, Word Count: 2778
Saucy Sally Picks a Pocket (by CareBear)
Summary: Saucy Sally has a birthday wish that will take a fortune to fulfill. How does she solve this problem? By picking some pockets of course! Written in answer to the 2025 Brandaversary R-Rated Story challenge.
Rating: MA/R (language, sexual situations & descriptions)
Word Count: 13,039
Fireworks, Friends, and Innocent Prayers (by DJK)
Summary: Little Joe and friends manage to arrange “the grandest sight the town has ever seen”, and it only required a little deceit and disobeying. This prequel was written for the 3rd Quarter 2025 Chaps & Spurs Challenge.
Rating: Teen Word Count: 5822
The Weaker Sex (by Pat D in PA)
Summary: Marie Cartwright comes home from assisting a neighboring woman to find … Written for the 3rd Quarter Chaps and Spurs Challenge.
Rating: K/G
Word Count: 2,067
Let’s Play Chess (by LillianMontane)
Sumary: Hoss teaches Joe how to play chess. Written for 3rd quarter chaps and spurs.
Rating: G Word count: 1280
Saucy Sally and the Birthday Surprise (by Pat D in PA)
RATING: MA/R
SUMMARY: Not long after Adam returns from college, he begins to wonder if he should have come back at all, as his father doesn’t seem to recognize he’s not the stripling youth he’d been when he left home more than four years earlier. It takes a wise young woman of the world to potentially set both Cartwright men straight and help heal a rift that threatens to destroy the family.
Written in answer to the 2025 Brandaversary R-Rated Story challenge.
(10,230 words)
The Horse Auction (by LillianMontane)
Summary: Adam and Joe go to a horse auction.
Rated: K+ Word count: 1239
The Burden of Guilt (by CareBear)
Summary: Adam carries a self-enforced burden of guilt, haunted by memories of the past that are dredged to the surface by Delphine’s death.
Rating: T (violence) Word Count: 6823
High Stakes in Ragtown (by DJK)
Summary: The Carwright brothers stopped in Ragtown for a bath, food, and a trip to the saloon. They picked the wrong saloon. Of course, Opal did not think so.
Rating: T/PG13 Word count: 12,217
The Infinite Curse of a Lonely Heart (by Pat D in PA)
Summary: Unrequited affection, if not actually love, permeates this prequel tale of the Cartwrights as a church social becomes an unexpected source of disappointment and frustration for some, and wonder for others. Written for the 2025 Ponderosa Paddlewheel Poker Tournament.
Rating: K+/T Word Count: 13,275
Not Til We Find Him (by Patina)
Summary:. A missing son, a father’s search. A WHIB and WHI for The Crucible.
Rating: T Word Count: 5,353
A Rare Courtship (by Tavia42)
Summary: Hoss and Joe become convinced that their father intends to marry the Widow Hawkins – and that it’s up to them to save him from this terrible fate. A “What Happened Later” for “The Burma Rarity.” Written for the 2025 Ponderosa Paddlewheel Poker Tournament.
Rating: PG | Word Count: 8,040
If at First You Don’t Succeed; or, A Lesson in the Cartwright Way (by JC)
Summary: There are a few simple rules for growing up Cartwright: 1. Never underestimate your father. 2. Don’t forget the first rule.
Rating: K Word Count: 1195
