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Welcome to who’s on fourth! This month, we’re bringing you another editor interview! Next in the series features Arden of Arden Ruth Writes interviewing Christine of Trudging Through Fog, our resident microstory fanatic.

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yeah write on yeah write: Arden interviews Christine

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]When our microstory challenge first launched, we had no idea how big a hit it would be in our community. Opening each Wednesday, we challenged our writers to bring us their best answer to the ultimate question in just 42 words.

We also had no clue that we would be able to snag such a wonderful editor for that challenge. When the Trifecta Writing Challenge closed its doors, we were lucky enough to bring Christine on board. Not only did she bestow unicorny rainbows down upon us all, but she’s a damn fine writer. Christine burst on the scene, ready to wrangle in the micro writers of our community and mold them into something wonderful. Looking back on her first interactions with yeah write, I never would have guessed that intimidating was a word she would use:

“When Trifecta closed its doors, I was recruited to run the microstory challenge at yeah write. I think I may have posted once to yeah write before I came on board as an editor, but frankly, it was intimidating. I recall thinking, ‘Wow, these folks are hard core.’ It wasn’t until I started interacting with the other editors and our participants that I realized what a fantastic community we have. We do take writing seriously, and that’s a good thing – it shouldn’t be intimidating at all.”

Lucky for us, the intimidation didn’t last and Christine fit right in. If you’ll let me play Captain Obvious for a bit, the microstory challenge is definitely Christine’s bread and butter.

“The challenge of saying something beautiful and coherent in such a small space really appeals to me. It makes me consider my words carefully, place them deliberately. There’s no room for mistakes or unintentional ambiguity. I also love reading how other people interpret the ultimate question and following where their minds go.”

Reading any of Christine’s work can make you a better writer, but her microstories especially are pieces we should study vigorously. I usually end up reading her pieces upwards of 10 times. By dissecting Christine’s microstories, you can really learn how to speak to your readers and convey that answer to the ultimate question in such a clear but beautiful manner. Christine rarely spells it out for you; you have to dig for it. However, the digging is fruitful in so many different ways, and the treasure that awaits can only make you a better writer in the end.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Want some advice? Read the grids

Editorial advice isn’t usually handed out so freely. Are you a yeah write virgin waiting to dip your toes into the action, or are you a regular contributor wondering why your pieces tend to float in the middle or sink to the bottom? To be honest, Christine’s advice is similar for both:

To yeah write virgins:

Read the grids. Not just the one(s) you want to enter, all of them. Or check out a few entries on each if you don’t have time to read them all. I think this is especially important for the nonfiction bloggers and essayists out there. Yeah write is looking for the kind of essay that connects with the reader (we call this the “so what”). You’ll get a good sense of what works by reading the winning posts.

To yeah write regulars:

Read the grids. I’m not being flip here; really, if you want to know why other posts are doing better than yours, read the winners. Take a few minutes to really think about what made that winning post so good. Sign up for a yeah write membership if you want some really in-depth feedback.

To all our participants:

If you land at the bottom, if you get a love letter–don’t let it discourage you from continuing to submit. Think of it more as an opportunity to fine-tune your writing. Pay attention to what you learn. Also, spend a little time getting to know the other yeah writers – they’re a great sounding board and support network.

FYI – Moderation returns to yeah write the week of September 20th. Don’t let it scare you. Some of us wish for a love letter from Rowan. We know it can sting when you don’t make the grid, but there is such valuable (and free!) advice within each letter that can help bump you up to that next level of writing you’re searching for.

Also, don’t forget that any yeah write email subscriber can join the yeah write coffeehouse at its new home on Facebook. This is a great way to get to know your fellow yeah writers, as well as the editors.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Behind the scenes of Christine

Christine has been writing for quite a while. She first remembers a story from back when she was about eight or nine years old.

“It was a play about purple aliens who came down and one of them – me – was killed and everybody was terribly sad and there was lots of mourning. Let’s say I started with the melodrama early. Later it was angst-ridden and symbol-riddled poetry about unrequited love. Come to think of it, that hasn’t changed much, though I like to think I’ve gotten better. I wrote my first novel in 2006 as part of National Novel Writing Month; I haven’t looked at it since. But it’s only in the last few years that I’ve started taking writing seriously, as in, hey, this is something I might not totally suck at, maybe I should put more effort into it.”

I think all of us here in the yeah write community can agree that Christine is a force to be reckoned with. As for her blog, Trudging Through Fog, Christine admits that it’s mainly a place to store what she’s written, and most of it is usually written for yeah write.

“Lately it’s languished a bit; most of my creative energy is going towards the novel I am co-writing with fellow editor Rowan based on the Jade Dragon series I started way back at Trifecta. It’s a quasi-steampunk adventure set in the post-technological world of Loess. Most of it takes place on the Jade Dragon, a dirigible captained by the only starship pilot left after the planet was abandoned. It’s got political intrigue, murder and narrow escapes, fantastical inventions, and not a small amount of romance.”

Sign me up! We can’t wait to read it.

When Christine isn’t writing, you can find her doing all sorts of things. When she was thirty years old, she started playing Dungeons and Dragons, along with other tabletop role-playing games.

“The way we play, it’s basically a weekly cooperative storytelling session. It’s a wonderful way to try out different characters and test motivations, personalities, dialogue, etc.”

And of course, Christine loves spending time with her wife and two charming boys.

“My family is the warp and weft of my life’s tapestry. Love & wonder & the promise of forever are woven across it like gold & silver threads. More prosaically, I’m married (three times!) to my amazing wife. We’ve been together for 20 years. Together we are responsible for a 6-year-old bookworm, a 4-year-old tornado and two toothless cats.”

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Thank you Christine for letting our community get to know you a little better. You are such an important part of our team! Make sure you follow Christine’s blog, Trudging Through Fog. You can also follow her on Twitter at @hanolsy.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”21952″ alignment=”right” border_color=”grey” img_link_large=”” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”thumbnail”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator color=”grey” align=”align_center”][vc_column_text]Oh, you want more? Well here are five things you never knew about Christine:

1. She’s a language nerd. She speaks Russian and Danish, and has studied (with varying degrees of aptitude) German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Esperanto and HTML. 🙂
2. She added a second major about halfway through college: music composition. Her senior project was a composition for carillon and Very Large Choir.
3. She doesn’t eat eggs. Why? They just don’t taste good.
4. She still wants to be an astronaut when she grows up.
5. She has blue eyes, even though her driver’s license and passport both say green. She thinks that was wishful thinking on her part, and no one ever checked.

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Are you ready for the yeah write #228 weekly writing challenges opening this week? We hope so! Your badges await in the sidebar. Grab the code, paste into the text or HTML view of your post, then submit your post to the grids for a little friendly competition. We’re glad you’re here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]