Onomatopoeia
Look, it’s a better header than “carnival noises, ding ding ding” but that’s what’s going through our heads this week as we cheer for our Super Challenge winners! This turned out to be one of our harder prompts, with many writers struggling to interpret at least one genre. There’s a value to changing it up like this, though. As one of our editors complains (it’s me) would you rather get your least favorite genre, knowing it’s someone else’s sweet spot, or would you rather stretch a little with a genre that’s unlikely to be anyone’s usual writing mode? Prompts like this keep you stretching to write your best. And besides, while it’s only a guess, we strongly suspect that the next year is going to see a lot of anthology prompts that look like this one, so you’ve got a leg up on all the other competitions, too! If you’re not in the winners’ circle this week, it’s still worth reading your feedback to see where you might be able to touch this story up and find it a home.
We hope you’ve had as much fun writing, even through the struggle, as we had coming up with this prompt set. Once again, anything that went right is entirely due to our admin team’s untiring work behind the scenes, and anything you hate (yes, including the prompt) is probably my fault. Unless it’s your feedback, because hating feedback for a month or two and then sighing and working with it is every writer’s prerogative and destiny.
But speaking of only one winner….
I’ll quit chattering. I know why you’re here. So with no further ado, here we go:
First Place
$200
Alyssa Beatty
The Almost America
Second Place
$150
Kate Goodheart
Anchorage
Third Place
$100
Jessica Vergara
Dear Dr. Dodo
Honorable Mention:
- C.A. Raine – Industrious Endeavours
- Kristen Ray – Breathing Space
Runners-up:
(in alphabetical order)
- Chad Frame
- Jennifer Gunner
- Corrie Haldane
- Jennifer Huckabay
- Jordan Lopez
- Oonagh McBride
- Dan Scammell
Congratulations again to everyone who entered. Hopefully you’re finding your feedback useful and relevant! If you’re mad at your feedback right now, try walking away from it. Everything about your story is fresh and feels personal, and that’s a hard time to hear feedback. Set a reminder and look at it again in a month or so, or get a trusted reader to help you make the connections or see if it’s fair, even if you don’t like it or disagree with a decision or suggestion. In the meantime…
Wait, wait, there’s more!
Writers, if you don’t have your feedback, please send us an email at superchallenge@yeahwrite.me, ’cause that email should have reached you on Wednesday.
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.
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.
