Three groups, three prompts, two days, round one.
How’d that first round of the Super Challenge go for everyone? Once again, anything that went right is entirely due to our admin team’s untiring work behind the scenes, and anything you hate is probably my fault.
Writers, you’ve got your feedback. (If you don’t, hit us up!) If this is your first time with the Super Challenge, we give you your feedback before we tell you who moved on because we’ve found that you’re more interested in what the judges have to say before you know if you can cut yourself down with a “this part can’t have been that good, because I didn’t advance.” It really was that good, we promise. Just maybe the rest of the story didn’t meet the standard you set in that part – and now you know in what ways it fell short! If you’re advancing, the same thing goes for you: don’t ignore the spots you could have polished up just because this piece moved on. Take those lessons forward to the next round.
Before we announce who’ll be moving on to that next round, let’s take a moment to chat about it. This is the round I’m super jealous that you get to enter and I don’t. Starting Friday, the advancing writers will be working on combining tropes from two genres to make a blended-genre story. A few tips and pointers about this round:
- Look. Up. Your. Genres. Some genres are stylistic, while others demand checklists of elements. Know what you’ve got to put in before you try to write it.
- Even if you know one of the genres well, even if your name is actually Ngaio Marsh and we assigned you “mystery,” it’s good to think about not only what you believe is in the genre but what your judges might be expecting to see. Both genres need to be easily identifiable, so think about which elements of the two will work together and which will not.
- Don’t go offroading with your genres. Sure, there are noir stories that don’t incorporate crime, femme fatales, or hardboiled main characters… but this isn’t the time to be trying to write one. Stick to the main tropes for your assigned genres and let the interplay between the two provide the sense of freshness and innovation you’re looking for to show off your creativity. It’s okay if every story starts out “I knew the dame was trouble the minute she stepped through the broken glass door of my office.”
- There are no character, plot or setting restrictions, beyond what is necessary to demonstrate each genre.
Sound fun? Let’s see who’ll be taking on that, er, super challenge:
Congratulations to Our Advancing Writers
Last round saw some thrills, chills and spills, but it also saw some great writing. Let’s have a hand for the following writers, in alphabetical order, who will be advancing to the next round of the Super Challenge:
Nikki Bennett
Melony Boseley
Tara Davis
Nanette Day
Laura Duerr
Joshua Flores
Christina Grant
Michelle Hanley
Stephanie Lennon
Annmarie Lockhart
Jolan Marchese
J. Lynne Moore
Andrew Rodgers
MM Schreier
Jaimie Smith-Windsor
Trish Tuthill
Paige Vest
Gail Webber
Wait, wait, there’s more!
Writers, again, if you don’t have your feedback, please send us an email at superchallenge@yeahwrite.me, ’cause that email should have reached you about twelve hours ago.
Now that this round of the competition is over, you’re free to post your work anywhere on the Internet you like, or take our judges’ suggestions and rework your submission to send on to other venues. If you’re planning to post it on your personal site or blog, we’d love it if you dropped the link right here. Remember how useful it was for you to read other Super Challenge entries?
Loading InLinkz ...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.
