The dudes stories are emerging
Who got my Tropic Thunder reference in the title? Only me? Oh, okay then. Fine, I’ll get on with it. I did a week long online workshop on flash/micro writing last week, which got me thinking about the story behind the story. The workshop was designed for people over 50, and participants had to use elements and experiences from their own lives to write flash fiction and nonfiction pieces every day for five days. At 50, I was the youngest in the group. Reading other people’s responses to the same prompts gave me a chance to examine my own writing a little more critically and ask some important questions. Did I include all the prompts? I posted one story that didn’t include a single prompt, then quickly removed and reworked it (yikes!). What was the story I was trying to convey? Not the plot, not the events that happen within the story, but what my story is really about. The one that missed all the prompts was about parenting a teen who is in that liminal space between childhood and adulthood, but that wasn’t the plot of the story, nor does it explain the events in the story. This week I want you to think about these two things; have you included all the prompts required, and what is it that you’re trying to convey with your story?
–Asha
Welcome to Week 451
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!
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 first week of Eggnog Season, as declared by Rowan, so… let’s write about eggs. The kind you cook, the kind on Twitter, or whatever egg might mean to you. Or write about something else – it’s an optional prompt.
Fiction|Poetry Mandatory Prompt
November is here and it’s a busy month for writers; there are competitions galore including NaNoWriMo and even our own NaNoDoMore. This month we’re bringing back a familiar prompt format to make things a little easier. We still have two prompts and both prompts are mandatory. The first prompt is a picture prompt, and the second is an emotion that you will need to convey through your writing. This prompt pairing is a good challenge to see how well you can show, rather than tell emotion.
The first prompt to incorporate into your story, a photo prompt, is this image by Renee Rauschenberger at Pixabay. You can access a downloadable version of the photo by clicking on it or by clicking on the photographer’s (or artist’s) name.
Image credit: Renee Rauschenberger/Pixabay
[Image description: A person wearing a cowboy hat rides a horse at sunset in what appears to be a desert landscape. The horse and rider are turned to the left of the frame. To the left of the horse and rider a saguaro cactus (click the link to learn more about saguaro cacti) stands taller than the rider seated on their horse. The cactus, the person, and the horse are all in silhouette against the background of an orange sky. Also in the background, a yellow sun glows in the centre of the frame towards the low horizon. The sun appears almost directly under the horse’s head. In the foreground at the bottom of the frame, grasses, twigs and shrubs appear in silhouette.]
When we say incorporate the photo, we mean “use the image to inspire your plot, setting and character(s).” Some questions you might want to consider: Who is this person (or this horse)? Why are they riding at sunset? Where are the horse and rider going? Where in the world (or another world) is this scene taking place? What has brought the rider and horse to this place? Consider taking five minutes to look carefully at the photograph or think carefully about the image description. Don’t write during this time. Set a timer on your computer, phone, watch, or an old fashioned egg timer to help you keep track. Start writing only once the five minutes are up.
The second prompt, from YeahWrite Editors, is to use the following emotion: apprehensive. For the purposes of this week’s story, we’ll be using definition 1 from the Merriam-Webster dictionary: viewing the future with anxiety or alarm : feeling or showing fear or apprehension about the future.
Remember with the emotion prompt not to use the word itself in your story. Instead, try to convey a sense of 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 know there’s one more day left in the kimo, but our December tradition is a free-for-all of poetic forms we explored during the last year, so that includes the kimo. For our fiction|poetry grid you’re welcome to utilize one of this year’s forms, or to write in any form you prefer using one or both of our fiction prompts. Won’t you join us on the grid?
Poetry Slam
I know there’s one more day left in the kimo, but our December tradition is a free-for-all of poetic forms we explored during the last year, so that includes the kimo. Won’t you join 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!
Loading InLinkz ...
Loading InLinkz ...Microprose Challenge Opens Wednesday
This week has the first Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means (for this month, at least, stay tuned for IMPORTANT CHANGES): our tiniest challenge will be open for under 24 hours, starting Wednesday at midnight! Every microprose challenge has different rules, so you’ll need to keep your eyes peeled and your fingers fast. Need a quick link to the challenge? This one goes live when the microprose grid opens.
Micro Weeks are Moderated Weeks!
YeahWrite Super Challenge
Congrats to Chrissie Rohrman, our Super Challenge #14 champion, as well as Charlie Rogers and Gail Webber for rounding out the top three! 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.
About the author:
Asha lives near the beach in Perth, Western Australia, but hates sand between her toes. She 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. In addition to short stories and personal essays, she is currently working on a novel set in the Perth hills. Asha is published in a variety of places including Modern Loss, PANK, Dead Housekeeping, and SheKnows. You can find her inconsistent blogging at Asha Rajan Writer.
