Welcome, fictioneers!

OK, that was a little cloying. But I get excited every time we kick off a Super Challenge, and I’m incredibly excited about this prompt. I hope you are too. I love reading anthologies built on worlds or stories that are out of print, where writers take a chance and explore their own ideas with established histories. And we tried to pick stories for you to build on that fit well into calls for submission so that those who are so inclined can take their feedback from this round and polish the story for a market.

I’m also excited to announce our FINAL PRIZE AMOUNTS:

First place: $225
Second place: $175
Third place: $125

So now that I’ve chattered at you about me, and about you, let’s talk about the stories. You should already have received your email with your group assignment and some tips about what we’re looking for, but let’s talk a little bit more about it before diving in.

This round you’ll be writing a sequel to a story. 

There are no restrictions on characters, settings, genre or plot, but the story must be an effective sequel.

Let’s take a minute to discuss what “sequel” means in this context:

• Your assigned story (it’s short, we promise, and in the public domain) will have characters, a setting, a plot, and a genre. You’re going to need to employ at least some – but not necessarily all – of those things in order to make it clear that your new story “happens next.” Tell us what happens after the assigned story has been completed. You can pick up immediately after the end of the story, or you can skip a few (or a lot of) years.
• Your story must be a complete, stand-alone story, that works even if a reader hasn’t read the original assigned story.
• You don’t need to use the same main characters! If the story is Cinderella, your sequel might follow the Fairy Godmother on her next assignment. Or it might be a story from the Prince’s point of view about what it’s like being married to a girl you’ve met twice. Or a story about one of their children. Just remember if you make it a story about the kids, you’ll need to refer to enough of Cinderella and the Prince’s story to show readers whose kids they are.
• You don’t have to match the tone or storytelling style of the original work. Make the new story your own, whether that means changing the voice to a more colloquial one or telling a horror story with fairy tale characters (or a fairy tale with horror story characters). 
• You don’t need to summarize or re-tell the original story (that would be mean; you’ve only got a thousand words), but if you’re going to use plot points from that story you’ll need to include or refer to them in a way that doesn’t assume the reader already knows about it. The idea is to tell a new story, and we’ve just given you some history about the characters and setting. Make sense? Great.
• You may not change anything that happened in the original story. So use the version we’re giving you, because folk tales and fairy tales often have more than one version with different events. If someone dies in the original story, you can’t change that story so they live (but you could resurrect them over the course of your story, or they could turn out to have been a vampire all along, or anything else that would explain adequately why they can be alive without changing ANY part of the original story).

Now that that’s cleared up, let’s get to the assignments:

Group 1

Diamonds and Toads

Just click the link to read the story! There are so many versions of this one, but please use the one we chose. For one thing, it’s one of the shorter tellings, and you don’t have that much time. Good luck!

Cultural note: In this story, Fanny is a name (or a nickname for Frances or Myfanwy), but Goody is not. It’s effectively a friendly title for a woman who’s your elder, like Granny or Auntie or Ajumma (아줌마).

Storytelling note: Since the setting for this story isn’t locked in, you may substitute an equivalent ranking titled person for “King.” Not a lesser rank, though!

Group 2

The Crows

 Just click the link to read the story! 

Editor’s note: The first paragraph of this story is a counting rhyme that you need to know in order to understand the story, so feel free to include it as part of your worldbuilding but it’s not actually part of the narrative arc of the story.

Storytelling note: Notice that there’s also a “narrator” character in the story. They are fair game as a character, too.

Group 3

Molly Whoppie (also Molly Whoopie)

Just click the link and read the story! There are a lot, and we mean that, of versions of this story. Please use the one we gave you, although you’re free to spell Molly’s name with any of the variants. So Molly or Mollie or Whoppie or Whoopie or Whoopee (which is the way I learned this one).

Cultural note: “carle” is a Scottish slang word meaning “man” or “fellow” or in the modern vernacular “bro” or the like.

Storyteller’s note: pay attention to the setting, it’s pretty specific! Also note that in this version of the story the giant’s wife does NOT die within the bounds of the story you are given.

Group 4

The Goose Girl

Just click the link, and read the story! There are several versions of this story, so please use the one we gave you.

Editor’s note: You don’t have to work the poem into your story if you don’t want to; and if you do, feel free to adjust the words so long as you keep the meaning intact. This isn’t the best translation of the poem, but it’s one of the clearest translations of the story.

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!

You’ll receive your feedback on May 15, and we’ll announce who’s moving on to the next round that day at noon US Eastern Time. We’ll be moving the top three writers from each group, for a final round of 12 writers.

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.

rowan@yeahwrite.me