There are 48 Ptolemaic constellations. There are also 48 hours remaining in which our Round Two writers will produce a work of nonfiction. Coincidence? Yes. Entirely.
In Round Two, we’ll be looking for persuasive essays. A persuasive essay utilizes logic and reason to show that one idea or position is more legitimate than another. It attempts to persuade a reader to adopt the writer’s point of view on the topic. The argument must always use sound reasoning and solid evidence. It can do this by stating facts, giving logical reasons, using examples, and quoting experts. It can also utilize emotion effectively, but it should not depend on emotional appeal or require the reader to find the writer sympathetic in order to make its point.
Our round two prompts are open-ended questions. That means there’s no right answer. We’ll be judging these essays on how thoroughly and convincingly the author answers the question. The judges don’t have to agree with the answer, but the answer will need to be supported by more than my mom’s old standby of “because I said so.”
Writers, your group assignments should have arrived in your email this morning! Hit us up at superchallenge@yeahwrite.me if you don’t have a group assignment. As always, if your work merits a content warning, please consider including that on the title page. Check your email for a refresher on what makes a content warning useful to you and your readers, and doublecheck the rules for what else should be on your title page because, spoilers: not everyone did that for the first round. Don’t lose the easy points!
Now that I’ve ranted, let’s get to the Round Two assignments:
Group 1
What is the worst piece of advice you’ve ever heard, and what makes it ‘worst’?
Let’s break this question down a little bit.
We’re looking for advice, not general suggestions. That is, “you should try cutting out gluten for your bad back” is advice, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is not advice but an aphorism. (Sorry, celiacs, I know you get picked on a lot. And you know that cutting gluten won’t fix a fused vertebra. So we’re even?)
And we’re looking for something you’ve personally heard. As far as we’re concerned, “heard” can be something that’s been said to you in person or in print, or something you read in an exchange on social media that stuck with you, but it can’t be thirdhand. That is, your friend telling you about something they read in an advice column that sounds terrible to you? Pick a closer example. You’ve been given bad advice, and people have been given bad advice in front of you both in person and online. We’re not looking for “hypothetically if this were said to me it would be bad” we want real examples, and we want to know why it was wrong for the person being advised (or just generally wrong-headed). And hey, if you’re about to give the “you should just be real nice to the cop who pulled you over” example, consider adding a content warning to your title page. Thanks!
Group 2
What’s a book you’ve read that nobody else should have to read, and why?
For this question, we’re looking for a book you’ve read. I know, it’s right there in the question, but there’s always that one kid in the back who’s like “I really want to hate on 50 Shades of Grey, but I don’t want to read it.” Me too, kid, me too. But not for this essay question. It has to be a book you’ve read.
Now that you’ve figured out what book you’ve read is the actual worst, tell us why nobody needs to read it. What makes it bad? Did you just not like it? Does it have no intrinsic worth? Is it actively racist or sexist? Is it one rape fantasy after another, but not in even a vaguely hot way? (consider a content warning for that one, thanks!) Could you feel your IQ dropping as you struggled through the pages and you want to save the rest of us from your fate? Let us know.
Wait, wait, there’s more!
Don’t post your story anywhere on the Internet until after our judges are done and you get your feedback! But if you want to talk up the competition or live-tweet your writing process, use the hashtag #YWsuper. Just remember not to include identifying details about which story is yours!
Your essays are due Sunday at 10pm US Eastern Time. Remember to check the rules for formatting, including all those fiddly details like title page, font, and filename. Don’t get disqualified on a technicality! We know it seems really useless at times, but all those rules have a purpose, from helping get your file where it needs to be to making sure you’re read anonymously and fairly.
Email your questions to superchallenge@yeahwrite.me—we will not be reviewing other email addresses or social media for your questions over the weekend and we want to make sure you get the answers you need!
We hope you have as much fun with the prompts as we had picking them out. Good luck, and good writing!
About the author:
Rowan submitted exactly one piece of microfiction to YeahWrite before being consumed by the editorial darkside. She spent some time working hard as our Submissions Editor before becoming YeahWrite’s Managing Editor in 2016. She was a BlogHer Voice of the Year in 2017 for her work on intersectional feminism, but she suggests you find and follow WOC instead. In real life she’s been at various times an attorney, aerialist, professional knitter, artist, graphic designer (yes, they’re different things), editor, secretary, tailor, and martial artist. It bothers her vaguely that the preceding list isn’t alphabetized, but the Oxford comma makes up for it. She lives in Portlandia with a menagerie which includes at least one other human. She tells lies at textwall and uncomfortable truths at CrossKnit.
