Ideas, Relatability, and So What
Audre Lorde* said, “There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.” Your story about this, that, or the other has been told before. It’s also been felt a million different ways before. What you bring to it as a unique and individual writer is what can make it shine. Your perspective, turns of phrase, and sense of humor/candor/whatever is what makes someone feel it in a new way. The other thing it has going for it? It’s relatable. I can read your story and say, “Yeah, I’ve been there/done that/felt that, too!” That familiarity and relatability can draw a reader in, and your style can make them feel something new. But, the thing you MUST have to hold all this together? It’s the So What.
If you’re newer here, you may not know about the So What. If you’ve been around, maybe you forgot. This post has all you need to know. No matter how relatable your story is or how special and talented a writer you are, no one is going to care unless you give them a reason to. Make us want to know about your kid or your spouse or your job or your car or your house or your life. Make sure that when you tell your story, you know why. Your why should be the thing that sets you apart from everyone else telling a similar story.
Fiction or nonfiction, you must have a So What. Now go write something spectacular.
*Yes, I’ve used that quote in an opener before. If you read it last time, hopefully, you felt something different this time.
Welcome to Week 392
We’re kicking off the week in style at YeahWrite with both our competitive challenge grids in one post, plus prompts, tips, tricks and more. You asked, we answered! Keep scrolling down cause it’s all right here.
Submissions for this week’s challenges open on Monday at 12 midnight and close on Wednesday at 10pm ET. Voting will then open immediately thereafter and close on Thursday at 10pm ET. The winners, as always, will be celebrated on Friday.
Having trouble getting started? Hop on over to our quick guide. And don’t forget to doublecheck the full submission guidelines before you hit that button.
Looking For Microprose?
Our tiniest challenge with the biggest bang is open the first Wednesday of every month from midnight to 10 p.m.
Nonfiction Challenge
Bee Careful
While hiking in the woods earlier this week, I got stung by a bee. On my belly. I was walking along, minding my own business, when all of a sudden, OUCH. I looked down and there was a bee on my shirt, stinging me through the fabric. The bee was small, not a honey bee or yellow jacket, the two stinging insects I know I’m allergic to. I looked online later and thought it might be a sweat bee. Whatever it was, I’m allergic to that too. Fortunately, I “only” develop a bad local, an inflamed area about the size of a lacrosse ball (this time) or two tennis balls (when I got stung twice by a yellow jacket last summer). I’ve been too cavalier about getting an epipen, but I think it’s time considering bee allergies only get worse with more exposure. Is anyone else careless? If you’d like to tell us a story about something you should be more careful about, go for it. But there are no required prompts on the nonfiction grid, so feel free to write your mostly-true story about anything you’d like. I look forward to reading!
Technique Toolbox: The Joyride
Bored? Tired? Can’t figure out who your characters are and what they want? Try taking them out for a joyride in an alternate universe. What would your main character do if everything was the same except the setting? And don’t worry, nonfictioneers, this month’s Technique Toolbox has you covered too, with some tips for how to reframe your personal essays!
Nonfiction Challenge Grid: Basic YeahWrite Guidelines
Loading InLinkz ...Fiction|Poetry Challenge
Rowan Said It Best
Our winners’ posts every Friday offer insights into what the editors are looking for in stories, poems, and essays. Here’s a good tip from Rowan on how to write to a theme prompt: “Theme isn’t an easy prompt, is it? It’s not your plot, it’s not something concrete that you can check off a box and know you’ve included it. It’s a feeling. It might help to think of theme as a genre, or at least a little part of a genre. Theme is what bookstores look for when they’re setting up displays. When you’re checking your story or poem (or idea) for theme, ask yourself if it would feel at home on a bookshelf with other works where the “theme words” were included in the blurb on the back of the book.”
October Poetry Slam: The Pitch
One of the best ways to learn to write poetry is to read the work of established poets and see what they’re doing. Danez Smith just became the youngest-ever winner of the Forward poetry prize, so this month we’ll be spending a little time with one of their poems, PITCH FOR A MOVIE: LION KING IN THE HOOD deconstructing what makes it work and trying to write our own pitch-style poem. Join us!
Prompt Up!
Prompt Up is our mandatory weekly writing prompts for the fiction|poetry challenge! Here's How It Works!
It’s October and we’ve got two brand new prompts for you. The first prompt is a mandatory line of dialogue that can be used anywhere in your story. Your job is to match your writing to it. If they use a word or phrase you would never use, then create a writing style that would use that phrase. Just like September’s opening line prompt, the dialogue prompt should be incorporated smoothly and naturally.
The first prompt, from YeahWrite #390 fiction|poetry winner Asha, is: “I don’t normally attend funerals.”
The second prompt is a theme prompt. The theme is not the plot, it isn’t the rise and fall of action, it’s a more general sense of what the story is about. For example, a theme of Cinderella is good vs. evil.
The second prompt, from the YeahWrite editors, is: deception.
Poets: Write a poem using the line of dialogue somewhere in your work, or write a poem incorporating the theme, or write a poem in this month’s poetry slam form, The Pitch.
Fiction|Poetry Challenge Grid: Basic YeahWrite Guidelines
Loading InLinkz ...YeahWrite Super Challenge
Super Challenge #10 (fiction) is officially underway! Good look to our second round contestants as they furiously finish their stories. Did you miss out on registration? Make sure you sign up for our email blast so you don’t miss out on any Super Challenge announcements.
Winners’ Round-Up
In case you missed them, you can find last week’s YeahWrite staff picks and crowd favorites all laid out for you on last Friday’s winners’ post. Leave the winners some love in the comments. They will love you right back, we guarantee it.
Last call: This week’s Weekend Writing Showcase is still open for business until the challenge grids start at midnight! No moderation, no voting. It’s a laid-back relaxed kind of place. Just leave your commercial or sponsored posts at home. Drop by, share your work, and while you’re there, visit your fellow YeahWriters.
YeahWrite in the Wild
You read their words every week, but it's not often you get to see the people behind those words. Browse through our gallery and see if you can spot regular contributors or editors.
If you'd like to be featured in the gallery, simply head over to our Swag shop, make your purchase, then when it arrives send us a photo of you in/with your YeahWrite swag to editors@yeahwrite.me.
About the author:
Michelle submitted her first entry to YeahWrite in March 2012 and was brought on staff shortly thereafter. Over the years, Michelle has been an integral figure at YeahWrite, but in 2016, we were thrilled to have her step into the role of Editor-In-Chief. Personally, she has worked in the insurance/employee benefits industry for over twenty years and also fills her time as a freelance writer. Her work has been featured on The Huffington Post and xoJane, as well as several local sites near her northern NJ home. She blogs at Michelle Longo.
