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Did you miss us?
The final round of YeahWrite’s 23d Super Challenge starts, well, now. Our judges are waiting with bated (not baited, ew, check those homophones) breath for your essays. I have a hunch it’s going to be a close one, based on the great essays in the first round. So this is a great time to remind you, before I lose your attention again, don’t miss the easy points. While you’re sitting there waiting for inspiration to strike, do yourself a favor and
- Put a title page on it. No, seriously, rough in your title page. Then you won’t forget it later. In a close competition, you need every point you can score, and this one’s a gimme.
- Remember, for this round you just need the title of your story and the prompt. And a content warning if that’s relevant. I like to put a placeholder for that so I don’t forget to add it later, when I know what’s in my essay. We’ll remind you again at the end of this post.
- Don’t get fancy! You don’t need borders or three different font sizes or fancy fonts, and in fact, please don’t. It’s just a way for the judge to make sure they’ve got the right story, and to check for content warnings. You will not score more points for not following the overall directions on font, I promise. Imagine a cute winky-face emoji here or something.
- Put a hard page break between the title page and first page. Don’t just hit enter a lot. It looks more professional.
- Save that file with the correct filename. If you’re going to save a bunch of versions along the way, put DRAFT 1 at the start (not the end, if your filenames get as long as mine) so you know which version you’re looking at.
There, now you’re still looking at a blank page, but you’ve already scored some points with the judges. On to the hard part!
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 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
I had more [noun] than I knew what to do with.
This prompt was brought to you by memories of our former EIC, who once flew across the entire country with a suitcase full of tiny erasers for handouts at a convention. Literally full. There was nothing else in the suitcase. We have pictures.
The noun you insert in the brackets could be as definite as “erasers” or as conceptual as “chutzpah” but besides enclosing the sentence in quotes if it is part of dialogue in your essay, it’s the only change you can make. This is a complete sentence prompt. Not a phrase. No changing punctuation, no adding or subtracting words. No changing up the verb tenses. I know I’m hammering on this and it might feel a little condescending but every Super Challenge it breaks our heart to see someone try to expand the prompt and get DQ’ed. It’s not “I have more [noun] than I know what to do with.” and it’s not “I have a whole lot of [noun], more [noun] than I know what to do with.” Nor is it “I had run out of [noun] but I had more.” 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, March 23rd, and we’ll announce the winners on Friday, March 25, 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.
