Abracadabra
These days, I’m trying to find a healthy balance between reality and fantasy. Sometimes I watch the news and I think: this has got to be fiction. How can this be real life? And sometimes I read a story, and think wow–the author was clearly prophetic. (Handmaid’s Tale, anyone?) It’s getting harder and harder to tell the difference, and so I find myself turning more and more to escapism: far-future science fiction, epic fantasy, fairytale re-tellings, that sort of thing. Just to give my brain a break, you know?
Alice knew what she was doing, going through that looking-glass. Lucy had the right idea, climbing into the wardrobe. Sometimes, we need a little magic in our lives to make reality less intimidating.
Cast your spell
This month, we want you to cast a spell in 64 words. We’re looking for stories that are not about being magical, but about performing magic. It’s not enough to mention a witch in your story; show us her incantations. Fairies are magical creatures, yes, but if you want to include one, show her granting a wish. Flashy or subtle, we want to see the magic and the result.
Some tips to help you:
- Really, show us the moment the magic happens. Make it clear that it’s magic, not science, not even mad science – and literal, not figurative magic! Unless it’s the result of a love potion or spell, “falling in love” doesn’t count as magic for this prompt.
- The spell must be completed – although not necessarily entirely cast – within the confines of your word count. We need to see results, even if we’re not (or the characters aren’t) sure what they are or mean. We don’t need to watch the witch brew her potion, but we do need to see the prince drink it and watch the effect.
- No plain old sleight-of-hand or other trickery. Houdini was a master, but unless you’ve got him actually murmuring incantations or calling on a Deep One, that’s not what we’re looking for.
- Sub-genres are fine: magic realism, urban fantasy, horror, divine magic, etc.
Sound like fun? Fabulous! Go make some magic!
PS: If you post a microstory this month, you can go ahead and check off #21 on your #NaNoDoMore list: write a complete story in under 100 words!
This is the badge you need:
Below is the YeahWrite badge you need for this month’s microprose challenge. Under the badge is a few lines of code. See that? Copy it and then paste it into the “text” or HTML view of your post editor. If you don’t copy it exactly, the image will not appear correctly in your post, and you will receive an error message when you submit the post to Inlinkz. If you have any questions regarding adding this code to your post or website, please contact us at editors@yeahwrite.me.
Need a hand?
Microprose sounds easy. After all, how hard can it really be to write a story with fewer than 100 words incorporating a prompt or two? But it turns out it’s our hardest challenge to really get right. Whether you’re a seasoned micropro or a brand new microwriter, it’s worth taking a minute to glance through the tips and tricks our editors have put together, like this quick refresher on what makes a micro great, or this one on how to incorporate mandatory prompts into adjudicated challenges. Make sure you make it to the vote this week: check your wordcount (we count those footnotes!) and prompts!
The microprose challenge ends in:
Day(s)
:
Hour(s)
:
Minute(s)
:
Second(s)
How to submit and fully participate in the Microprose Challenge
Basic YeahWrite guidelines: must be in response to the prompt found above; your entry can be dated no earlier than November 7, 2018; nonfiction, fiction, whatever, told in exactly 64 words. You may enter only one microstory per weekly challenge.
How to submit and fully participate in the challenge:
- Please grab the code beneath the microprose badge in the body of this week’s post and paste it into the HTML view of your entry;
- Follow the Inlinkz instructions after clicking “add your link” to upload your entry to this week’s challenge grid;
- Your entry should appear immediately on the grid if you don’t receive an error message;
- Please make the rounds to read all the entries in this week’s challenge; and
- Consider turning off moderated comments and CAPTCHA on your own blog.
Submissions for this week’s challenges will close on Wednesday at 10pm ET. Voting will then open immediately thereafter and close on Thursday at 10pm ET. The winners, as always, will be celebrated on Friday.
Thank you for sharing with us your hard work! Good luck in the challenge…
Loading InLinkz ...About the author:
Christine Hanolsy is a (primarily) science fiction and fantasy writer who simply cannot resist a love story. She joined the YeahWrite team in 2014 as the microstory editor and stepped into the role of Editor-In-Chief in 2020. Christine was a 2015 BlogHer Voices of the Year award recipient and Community Keynote speaker for her YeahWrite essay, “Rights and Privileges.” Her short fiction has been published in a number of anthologies and periodicals and her creative nonfiction at Dead Housekeeping and in the Timberline Review. Outside of YeahWrite, Christine’s past roles have included Russian language scholar, composer, interpreter, and general cat herder. Find her online at christinehanolsy.com.
