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Little talks

It happens. You’re at a party, at work, at the bus stop, and somebody launches into a fifteen minute version of a story that all boils down to something like, “the neighbor’s cat stole my laundry,” and you wonder, did they really need to put in all the details about the neighbor’s daughter’s boyfriend and the cat’s last vet appointment? In the meantime, your coffee has gone cold, your eyes have glazed over, and you’re wishing you hadn’t stopped to say hello.

As you microwriters know, sometimes the most effective stories are the short ones. The two-or-three-liners. The ones that get to the heart of the matter and make their point with a finely sharpened knife. Do some stories deserve to be longer? Of course. But even those stories benefit from a little cutting and paring, so hone your skills here.

Listen to the words I say

Changes are coming to the micro challenge in 2020! We’re not quite ready to divulge all the details, but you’ll want to keep your eye out for December’s micro challenge post. In the meantime, we can tell you what’s not changing: monthly micro grids, tight word counts, focused prompts, and a quick turnaround time. We’re excited for what’s next, and hope you will be too.

Don’t forget: November is #NaNoDoMore month!

Okay, there’s a big difference between a microstory and a novel, but even if you don’t have a novel in you, you get credit for Doing More this month if you participate in the micro challenge!

Gone, gone, gone away

Sometimes loss isn’t a bad thing. This month we’re looking for a 47-word micro story that contains an object you are (or your main character is) happier without.

A few tips:

  • By “object,” we mean a tangible thing. Not “weight” or “jealousy” or “my ex.”
  • Related: your object may not be a person or creature. No dead pets, please.
  • A successful story will show us what your object is and demonstrate the contrast between before and after.

Got it? Good! Get going, and give us your best!

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:

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How to submit and fully participate in the Microprose Challenge

Basic YeahWrite guidelines: must be in response to the prompt found post above; your entry can be dated no earlier than Wednesday, November 6; nonfiction, fiction, whatever, told in exactly 47 words. You may enter only one microstory per weekly challenge.

How to submit and fully participate in the challenge:

  1. 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;
  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; and
  5. 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…

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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.

christine@yeahwrite.me

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