Weekly Writing Challenges: Fiction|Poetry Archive
Navigating Prompts: Style over Substance
Style and substance What makes a story a really good story? Anyone can write a list of events: "this happened, and then this, and I felt like that, and then this other thing happened." That's not a story; it's barely a narrative. Stories aren't all about...
YeahWrite #546 Weekly Writing Challenge
Stylish! This month's "big project" is a style guide for a client I've been working with for a while—they're one of my favorites, but I'm also, in the dark and secret corners of my heart, pretty excited to have an official "NEVER EVER DO THIS THING" to point at when I...
YeahWrite #545 Weekly Writing Challenge
All this time No, not the Sting song—I'm talking about hours and minutes. The kids are off to school (in person, for better or worse; fingers crossed) and I have hours every day to... do what? I've gotten out of the habit of writing. But September is a time for...
YeahWrite #544 Weekly Writing Challenge
Shiny objects and bullish men Continuing the trend, I am also a huge fan of retellings. One of my first stories to get in the Top Three at YeahWrite back when we had a blog share was a retelling of Ariadne, who fell in love with the hero Theseus and helped him escape...
YeahWrite #543 Weekly Writing Challenge
Mirror, mirror No joke, but I started reading a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood last week. When I saw what this month's prompt was, I felt delighted at this bit of serendipity. Retellings are some of my favorite types of stories because reading one is like reading...
Navigating Prompts: Retellings
Nothing new under the sun There are people who will tell you that there are no new stories. Some will go so far as to put a number on it, and swear that there are really only seven stories in the world, or nine, or twelve, or thirty-six. Whether or not you believe...
YeahWrite #542 Weekly Writing Challenge
Doggy tales My husband recently saw a t-shirt with I like dogs and maybe three people written on it and almost bought it for me. Honestly, I'd have worn it everywhere. But the thing is, I like the people I meet when I'm walking my dogs. People are unguarded around...
YeahWrite #541 Weekly Writing Challenge
Vacation Mode: On When this post goes live, I'll be on my first vacation in... well, honestly I don't even remember the last time I went on vacation (pre-Covid times so too long!). And on this vacation, I'm attending my first wedding in two years. The world may be...
YeahWrite #540 Weekly Writing Challenge
Impromptu Of all the challenges of the past sneaking-up-on-two years, the one I wasn't expecting was the difficulty in coming up with prompts. Prompts are often inspired by what we're reading, what we're talking about, what we see and do. The things that inspire us....
YeahWrite #539 Weekly Writing Challenge
All work and no play Sure, it's an aphorism, but there's definitely a kernel of truth to it. When your writing starts to feel more like work and less like play, maybe it's time to take a breather. Take a half hour and write something completely different. Try out a...
