Waiting for the Fairy
I used to think I was the kind of writer who needed to ruminate on my ideas in order to convey them properly, but then I started participating in writing contests and found myself completing finished short stories within 48 hours. Are they perfect? No. But they’re solid (usually) and they didn’t take a week of daydreaming and a month of procrastination to conceive.
I also used to think that I only wrote good stuff when inspiration hit me out of the blue. Like my talent and motivation for writing only came when the Writing Fairy waved his magic wand and gave me a good zap. Yeah, no. It seems like after receiving every three-pronged prompt from NYC Midnight I think I’m never going to come up with something, but then I just start writing and eventually characters and a plot that interests me comes.
Now I trust that if I put my butt in the seat and start, inspiration will strike.
–Nate
Welcome to Week 449
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 – Time Confetti
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 November, we’re focusing on time. Do you have time to write? How can you find or make it? One way is to schedule dedicated writing time, but another is to assemble it out of the time confetti all around you. If you don’t have enough time to do what you want, there’s still probably something you can fit into the time you have. Take a look at some ways to free up your time to write!
NaNoDoMore
Don’t get us wrong: we love NaNoWriMo. Several of our editors have “won” the 50,000 word November challenge. But as we’ve gotten older, families and jobs and, well, just life things, have taken over. But that doesn’t mean you can’t score a November win, even if you, too, don’t have time to bang out a whole novel. Check out our NaNoDoMore challenge, which asks you to do just that: more than nothing. Do something new. We’ve got 30 days’ worth of challenges for you to check out (some of them would take you more than one day, 30 is just a convenient number) and completing any of them can earn you a chance at our prize.
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 wish that came true—or didn’t. Have fun!
Fiction|Poetry Mandatory Prompt
November is a busy month for writers; there are competitions galore, including our own NaNoDoMore. This month we’re bringing back an easier prompt format, though we still have two mandatory prompts. The first is a picture prompt, and the second is an emotion. This prompt pairing is a good challenge to see how well you can show, rather than tell emotion.
The photo prompt to incorporate into your story is below. You can access a downloadable version of the photo by clicking on it.
Image by Ryan McGuire/Gratisography
[Image: a man wearing only a white sleeveless undershirt, brief-style underwear, sandals, and a yellow helmet with (beer) bottles attached to each side with straws leading to the man’s mouth. The man is facing away from the camera, using a push-style gas lawn mower to mow a large area of grass surrounded by deciduous trees and shrubs. Late afternoon or early morning sun slants through the trees.]
Use this image to inspire your plot, setting and character(s). Some questions you may want to consider: Who is this person? What is the backstory that led them to this moment? How does what they are wearing inform you of their personality? Consider taking five minutes to look carefully at the photograph before you start writing.
The emotion prompt, from YeahWrite Editors, is: bashful. For the purposes of this week’s story, we’ll be using definition 1 from the link: uncomfortably diffident and easily embarrassed; shy; timid.
Remember not to use the emotion prompt word itself in your story. Instead, try to convey the emotion in other ways. For example, you might consider how the emotion is physically or verbally expressed; how a character might hold their hands or set their jaw, what a character’s posture is like or their tone of voice or their behavior. Show the reader how this emotion manifests, don’t just tell us that the character is feeling the emotion.
Poets: We’re exploring the kimo, a three-line counted form, over at the poetry slam this month. Since this form has a “no motion” requirement, the image prompt is a nice pairing for it, isn’t it? Or write a kimo about anything else, or another form of poetry incorporating either of our prompts. If you want to write something that’s neither a kimo nor uses the prompts, our nonfiction grid does also accept poetry that expresses your truths.
Poetry Slam - Kimo
Between NaNoWriMo and family visits, who has time for a long poetry form? Not us, anyway. This November we’re focusing on the kimo, a three-line counted form with just a little more breathing room than the three-line counted form you probably already know. Come string some syllables together with us 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 Final Round submissions! Missed 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:
As a professional editor and writer, Nate has published his work in numerous English and history textbooks and in online reading programs. In February 2014, he found his way back to creative writing and began submitting to YeahWrite. Soon after, he became an editor of the Fiction|Poetry challenge. You can read his work at northwest journals, a blog that has been recognized by WordPress Discover, Five Star Mix-tape, Genealogy á la Carte, The Drabble, and BlogHer’s Voice of the Year. He lives in Chicago with his partner and a mini-Bengal tiger.
