Est. 2016Northern Spain
GREGG DUNNETT
Spring 2026 · Dispatches
Nº 03 · The Experiment · Coming 2026 · Pre-Kickstarter

The Write-
Off.

A writing competition for YouTube.

Eight bestselling authors. One Spanish villa. One week. Daily deadlines, surprise twists, weekly eliminations — and one book at the end of it. Best Story Wins.

Format — YouTube series + a book Location — Cantabrian coast · Spain Status — Pre-Kickstarter · 2026 Host — me (unless we find someone better)
01 — The pitch

It's Bake Off, for books — only you get to taste the cakes.

Lock eight bestselling authors in a villa rigged with cameras. Put them in writing pairs. Give them one week to produce four brand new stories — outlines on Tuesday, first drafts by Friday, books published by Sunday. Throw in surprise twists, a secret panel of editors, and a weekly elimination. At the end of the week, every surviving story is published as a single volume — and the readers (you) vote on the winning team.

Watching people typing isn't fun. We tried. So we built a format that brings out the drama in writing drama. The plot lives in the deadlines.

02 — The format

One week. Seven days. Drama compressed.

  1. MonArrival. Writing pairs decided at the welcome banquet.
  2. TueOutlines due by sundown. The first surprise arrives.
  3. WedBy night the editors have their say. By day the twists keep coming.
  4. ThuThe game in full swing. The race to avoid the cut.
  5. FriThe Elimination. One team leaves the villa, book unfinished.
  6. SatFinal pages. Title fights and blurbs.
  7. SunBooks published, however they land. You decide who wins.
03 — The place

A villa on the Cantabrian coast, in Spain.

We spent weeks scouting luxury villas we couldn't afford, then got this one cheap because the last guests were found dead in the pool. Should be a great place to write a murder mystery.

A clifftop villa on the Cantabrian coast, looking out to the Atlantic — the location for The WriteOff.
8 BEDROOMS · 4 WRITING DESKS · 1 SHALLOW GRAVE
A mocked-up gold trophy shaped like a pen nib rising from an open book — The WriteOff McGuffin.
(It won't really look like this.)
04 — The prize

The WriteOff McGuffin Trophy.

Solid. Gold. Plated.

Not vouchers. Not "exposure". Not a fruit bowl. The winning pair walks away with the most prestigious prize ever awarded in literature: a heavy gold-plated thing shaped (we think) like a pen nib rising from an open book.

Money comes and goes — this ruins your mantelpiece forever.

  • A fruit bowl, and a tasteful candle.
  • A cool stamp in their passport.
  • Actually, quite a lot of exposure.
  • Twelve months of bragging rights.
05 — The reader vote

When the week is done, the surviving stories are published together as a single volume. The verdict is yours.

01
One volume Every surviving story, published together in a single book.
02
You read You saw them written. Now you judge them.
03
You decide Support your favourites. Most votes takes it.
06 — The Kickstarter

We're making this properly. Which means we have to pay for it properly.

Turns out TV is expensive (who knew?). So we're turning to Kickstarter to get this made. If a lot of readers back the idea with a small amount each, the WriteOff happens. If they don't, it doesn't.

Everyone who backs the project will get the books from the show before anyone else, plus exclusive behind-the-scenes photography, signed editions of the work that led here, and various other things still being negotiated with my long-suffering family.

★ Want in?

Get told the moment the Kickstarter goes live.

Single email when the campaign opens, then nothing else from the WriteOff list unless you ask for it. Sign up over on the show's site, where the full pitch lives.

thewriteoffshow.co.uk Visit the show site & get notified →