Writing Costume
Halloween is just around the corner. We live near an elementary school so we always get a ton of trick-or-treaters. My youngest is fifteen and doesn’t trick-or-treat any more, but last year he and his friends donned those giant blow-up t-rex costumes and roamed the neighborhood while playing the theme to Jurassic Park (wow, could I use any more dashes?). Needless to say, they were a huge hit with both kids and adults alike. I can’t wait to see what they do this year.
I’ve been thinking about how one of the fun things about Halloween is that you can be someone else for a night and, from there, how it might be fun for all of us to be different types of writers this week. If you never write fiction, how about giving it a go? If you write fiction, how about choosing a genre that makes you uncomfortable? Likewise, if you are a fiction writer, how about tell us a personal story? If all of this seems intimidating, how about trying something new anyway but give yourself permission to stop short of the allowed word count? Write a short poem or a 100 word story!
What do you say? Put on a metaphorical writing costume and show us your stuff!
–Spooky Stacie
Welcome to Week #446
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 – Don’t Quit Your Day Job
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.”
In October, we’re exploring that old, tired advice, “don’t quit your day job.” But should you take that advice, or is there a day job (or combination of day jobs) that’s right for you as a writer? Could writing be your day job? If not, how can you fit your writing life into your daily life?
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. It’s the last week of October, but at least one of our editors has been convinced it’s supposed to be the first week of November for ages. If you’d like, tell us about a time YOU lost track of time. Thought it was Friday on a Monday? Missed an appointment? It’d make us feel less alone if you shared what happened.
Fiction|Poetry Mandatory Prompt
Forget pumpkin spice lattes; this fall is gonna be all about CHARACTER.
It’s October and the second half of our twofer (two for one) deal. In September, we focused on writing active character sketches. This month, we’re switching back to complete short stories with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The two mandatory prompts are a main character taken from September’s Fiction|Poetry challenge and a setting. Your job is to use the featured character below to some degree in your own completed story. Make that character’s actions and reactions in the given setting true to the original. Age them up; age them down. Put them on an alien planet or floating down a river. Just keep the character as similar as possible.
You may just write to one or two of the character’s traits, if you wish; we give a summary of the character below to focus you. Or go whole hog on the exercise by plopping the exact character into the new setting.
What’s the point of this, you ask? Well, experimenting with other writers’ styles helps us develop or define our own.
This week’s main character, from YeahWrite #442 Fiction|Poetry winner, Lisa, is: Beverly, the fiery, ambitious, scheming builder.
The setting, from Editor and YeahWrite #444 Fiction|Poetry winner, Rowan, is: a sinkhole.
Poets: We’re exploring elegies over at the poetry slam. Write an elegy for the prompt character, or from their point of view, or write one for a different real or imagined loss. If you’re not in an elegiac mood, our nonfiction grid also welcomes poetry that expresses your truth.
Poetry Slam - Elegy
Halloween is in the air at YeahWrite, and what better time to explore funeral poetry? Come write an elegy with us, focusing on a real or imagined loss in your life and using your poetic vocabulary to share why it matters to you or your fictional narrator. See you on the grid?
A QUICK NOTE REGARDING OUR GRIDS: Inlinkz, which supports our grid format, is currently upgrading its offerings and website which can sometimes result in a glitch or two. If you upload a piece to the grid and notice it disappears later on, please email us and let us know. This has been happening to one or two pieces each week. We will happily add it manually once we are notified. We apologize for the inconvenience, and are looking into alternative services. Thank you for your patience!
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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
Super Challenge #14 (fiction!) is officially underway! Good luck to all our participants as they furiously finish their round one stories! 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.
About the author:
Stacie joined YeahWrite as its Fiction Editor in early 2013 before becoming YeahWrite’s Executive Editor in 2016. She blogs at Stacie’s Snapshots and Tidbits and was thrilled to be honored as a 2015 BlogHer Voice of the Year (VOTY) for this post. Before retiring, Stacie’s career involved developing new medicines for cancer and autoimmune diseases, work that resulted in more than twenty publications in scientific journals. Now, she enjoys daily hikes with her dogs and spending more time with her youngest son while her oldest is off at college.
