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Well, here we are. The final round of Lucky Number 13, YeahWrite’s nonfiction Super Challenge. We don’t have 13 writers, of course, but 12, and they’ll be competing for those sweet cash prizes.
This round you’re free to write personal or persuasive essays, wherever inspiration takes you. You will, however, be working within the tight constraints of a sentence. Each writer will incorporate that sentence into an essay about… well, about whatever you like. The catch is that the sentence shouldn’t stick out or sound unnatural. Words should flow, nuance should be on-point, and our judges shouldn’t be able to tell where your writing ends and our prompt begins.
Now that that’s cleared up, let’s get to the sentence:
Your final round prompt is:
It was nothing like I’d remembered.
You must use this sentence in its entirety, no changes. That means no verb tense change, no adding a comma and continuing, no making it the end of another sentence. The only permissible change is to enclose it in quotes to make it part of a dialogue. If you do that, it can be paired with other sentences (that is, it doesn’t have to be the only thing in the quotes).
Example:
1) It was nothing like I’d remembered. For one thing, there was a unicorn on the cliff. That was definitely new.
2) “Well,” she said thoughtfully. “It was nothing like I’d remembered. For one thing, there was a unicorn on the cliff Friday, and I’d never seen one of those before.”
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! Not to mention you could accidentally contact a judge!
You’ll receive your feedback on August 28, and we’ll announce our winners on August 30, at 3pm Eastern Time.
We hope you have as much fun with the prompt as we had picking it 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.
