Repairing my pants
Those of you who have encountered NaNoWriMo will be familiar with the terms planner and pantser in reference to writing style. Planners, as the name implies, tend to map out the parameters of their story and have a clear idea of who their characters are before they start writing. Pantsers have a rough idea of what their story–or at least the beginning of it–looks like and who the main characters are, and will fly by the seat of their pants (see how that works? Pantsers fly by the seat of their pants) and allow the plot to unfold. Do you rigidly map out plot, characters, scenes, and narrative arcs like a structured planner? Do you have a more loosey-goosey idea of your story, a general coterie of characters, and a willingness to let events unfold like a free-form pantser? Or, do you like most writers, fit somewhere in between on that spectrum?
I used to be a confirmed, unashamed pantser. Last minutes were my favourite minutes. I had a close friend who’d say ‘if it wasn’t for last minutes, I’d never get anything done’, and frankly me too, girl. Me too. Unsurprisingly, my pantser ways which worked for short stories and flash fiction, didn’t translate so well to novel writing. I can’t wing it and hope the characters will drive the plot. I can’t wait for a visitation from some magical writing muse. I actually have to put in the work of planning and structuring. I’ve even invested in sticky notes and display boards to create plot and character maps. I know I could do that in a plethora of Apps and programs, but I haven’t given up all my procrastination techniques yet, okay? Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
~ Asha
Welcome to Week 411
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 Saturday 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.
Technique Toolbox: Year of Fearless Writing – Finding a place to submit your work
Ready to take yourself seriously as a writer? Not sure how, or not convinced you’re ready? We think you can, and are, and will be. This year is our Year of Fearless Writing, where we’re going to focus on the craft of writing, not the art, to take you from “I write” to “I’m a writer.”
Our February focus will be getting something onto your submissions spreadsheet. We’re talking about how to find a market that wants to publish the things you like to write. You probably have a “dream publication” that you’d love to see your name in, but there are dozens if not hundreds of markets looking for your work right now. Learn how to find them and take this month’s YFW challenge, right here!
Nonfiction: Optional Prompt
The nonfiction grid has no mandatory prompts. However, each week, we will give you an optional prompt in case that helps your mostly-true story juices flow. This week’s prompt is to write about a time you had a food accident of any kind. Have fun!
Fiction|Poetry Mandatory Prompt
Prompt Up is our mandatory weekly writing prompt for the fiction|poetry challenge! Here's How It Works! February is for experimenting! I just made that up, but why not? We’re going to use prompts from Brian Kiteley’s The 3 A.M. Epiphany. Not gonna lie—they’re challenging, but the new year is still fresh and horizons aren’t going to broaden themselves!
The writing style prompt, chosen by our YeahWrite #409 fiction|poetry winner, MM Schreier, is: Write a short story between two people in love who are so attuned to each other they can, in a sense, read each other’s mind.
Paraphrasing from the book: Love is a very overdone subject in writing. Try to find a new angle, a love that surprises us. Maybe do a little research into the chemicals involved in falling in love and write a sci fi story. Does the couple have a jealous friend? How does the couple’s infatuation look through that POV? Again, February is for experiments.
The second prompt, chosen by the YeahWrite editors, is an object that must be worked into the story. The object prompt is: a baby’s tarnished silver rattle.
Poets: February’s poetry slam is ekphrastic poetry- check it out right here, and write a poem in that style. Or you can write a poem incorporating our writing style prompt or our object prompt. Or all three! (Just not neither- you have to pick at least one prompt.)
Poetry Slam - Ekphrastic
Tired of writing about writing? Write about art instead, with this month’s poetry slam. Ekphrastic poems take a piece of visual art and envision a scene for it, describing the art and imbuing it with extra meaning. Give it a shot!
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Our tiniest challenge with the biggest bang is open the first Wednesday of every month from midnight to 10 p.m.
YeahWrite Super Challenge
Congrats to Myna Chang, the champion of Super Challenge #11 and Margaret Shafer and Dani Nichols who rounded out the top three! Well done, Super Challengers! Did you miss out on this Super Challenge? Well Super Challenge #12 (Fiction!) opens VERY soon so make sure you sign up for our email blast so you don’t miss out on any 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.
About the author:
Asha keeps moving from one side of the world to the other. Her most recent move has taken her back to Perth, Western Australia where she grew up. She lives near the beach but hates sand between her toes. It’s a real conundrum. Asha began blogging at YeahWrite in October 2014 with this post, and YeahWrite was lucky to pull her on board as a Contributing Editor in December 2016. She is currently working on a novelette that grew from a series of flash fiction pieces. Asha is published in a variety of places including Modern Loss, PANK, Dead Housekeeping, and SheKnows. You can find her inconsistent blogging at Parenting In The Wilderness, or at her fiction blog, FlAsha Tales.
