Round 2 Closes in:
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Things that are short
Our list of writers. 48 hours. 1000 words. This intro.
You’re not here to listen to me talk. You want your prompt. I understand. Let’s do this!
In the final round of the Super Challenge, your prompt is a sentence. You’ll be incorporating it into your essay wherever you like. You can use it as the first or last sentence, repeat it throughout as a hook, or just slip it in somewhere in the middle. The catch is, it should sound like your sentence. If the mere idea of a sentence that isn’t yours invading your work makes you want to cry like the last ten memes I saved in my phone, we’ve put some great tips in this Navigating Prompts post.
Your essay can be personal or persuasive, but it can’t be over 1,000 words! Fortunately, your title page (check out the revised rules for a final round title page below) and any content warning you think is appropriate for your work don’t count.
Ready? Here’s the prompt you’ll be swearing at us about all weekend:
Final round prompt
What [can/could/should] I do to help?
You can use any of the modal auxiliary verb options (that’s your new vocabulary term for the week) in the brackets in your sentence. You may enclose the sentence in quotes to make it part of dialogue. Those are the only changes you can make. This is a complete sentence prompt. Not a phrase. No changing punctuation, no adding or subtracting words. No pluralizing manual. The only other change you can make is to add quotes if you’re putting it in dialogue. Every Super Challenge it breaks our heart to see someone try to expand the prompt and get DQ’ed. It’s not “What could I do to help them?” and it’s not “What can I do to help, do you need anything?” Nor is it “what should I have done to help?” It’s exactly what you see up there. Please, just copy and paste it, okay? (I mean, make it not bold, but there are so many chances to make a mistake retyping, protect yourself as best you can. Highlight it if you have a beta reader to let them know that they cannot edit that sentence. Every other sentence, but not that one.)
Wait, wait, there’s more!
Don’t post your essay 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! You can also discuss your essay in the judge- (and judgment-) free Super Challenge channel on Discord.
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.
For the final round, the title page should include only your title, prompt, and any content warning you think is appropriate.
Example:
The Bobsled
Prompt: “We called her Rosebud, because we could.”
CW: medical trauma, hospitalization.
Email your questions to superchallenge@yeahwrite.me or post them in the Super Challenge channel on Discord—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! (Also, we don’t want you to accidentally email your questions to a judge; it’s happened! Don’t be that guy!)
You’ll receive your feedback on Wednesday, September 15, and we’ll announce the winners on Friday, September 17, at 3pm US 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.
