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A voice
There’s nothing like reading a biography of a celebrated author to make one feel inferior. Right now I’m reading a biography on Jane Austen, and it’s making me despair of ever becoming even one iota as skilled. In her early years, she is described as “gifted” and with a “natural talent” she doesn’t need to develop very much in order to become an accomplished writer.
This is not my story.
While as a child my propensity for making up stories was duly noted and I received many a pat on the head for my early literary experiments, I have had to struggle to find my voice. This is partly due to my ability to imitate other writers, which I have a tendency to do depending on what I’m currently reading. However, it’s not what I want. I want to write with my own voice.
If you are struggling to find your voice, I suggest practice, practice, practice; and if you want to stretch your imagination, there is always the optional prompt:
What did you do last night?
The optional prompt can serve as inspiration for your fiction or poetry. Use the question, word for word, in your story or poem, or just answer the question. Your imagination can feel free to keep it rated G or not. Already have a different story thought up? No problem! Use the prompt only if you need it.
We’ve gone unmoderated for the summer months. That doesn’t make it a free-for-all, as posts still need to meet the minimum guidelines listed below, but it does give you some more room to get creative.
Look! There’s more!
Looking for a challenge? We’ve got many options to choose from. Here’s a list of all of the poetry slams and focus on fiction features so far. Feel free to revisit a fiction genre or poetry form you enjoyed, or catch up on something you missed the first time around. Still drawing a blank? You can also find writing exercises in the coffeehouse to get things started.
Is this your first time here?
Check out Sunday’s post which kicked off the week here at yeah write. If you don’t think you can remember to check back every Sunday, sign up for our email blasts. We send them directly to your inbox. No fuss!
Yeah write #222 fiction|poetry writing challenge is open for submissions!
Basic yeah write guidelines: 750 word limit; your entry can be dated no earlier than this past Sunday; fiction or poetry only.
How to submit and fully participate in the challenge:
1. In the sidebar of this week’s post, please grab the code beneath the fiction|poetry badge and paste it into the HTML view of your entry
2. Follow the Inlinkz instructions after clicking “add your link” to upload your entry to this week’s challenge grid
3. Your entry should appear immediately on the grid if you don’t receive an error message
4. Please make the rounds to read all the entries in this week’s challenge
5. Consider turning off moderated comments and CAPTCHA on your own blog
This summer, all our grids are unmoderated which means submissions meeting the basic guidelines will be published Thursday on yeah write. Those entries will be open to a popular vote with the winner celebrated on Friday.
Thank you for sharing with us your hard work! Good luck in the challenge…
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