Drop a Line
Have you ever not received a comment on an essay, story, or poem you wrote for a YeahWrite challenge? Did you assume the reason you didn’t get any comments was because your writing was subpar?
Your writing wasn’t subpar.
You know how I know? If it was subpar, the YeahWrite editors would have taken the post off the challenge and sent you gentle constructive criticism to improve it.
So why did your post not get any comments? Probably because of time. We’re all busy with jobs, families, classes, and social lives. Sometimes editors and YeahWriters alike just don’t get around to dropping a line.
One of the reasons I continue being involved in YeahWrite is so I am not sending my blog posts into a void. I know if I post on a challenge that some of you will read it. I know when I sit down to start a new post that you are all out there cheering me on, and a lot of times I start writing with you all in mind.
I’d like to think that the built-in audience is a reason all of you participate, too. If it is, please try to leave some love on the submissions as much as you can. Sometimes you can’t, and that’s okay. But let’s keep YeahWrite a collaborative space for writers, please.
–Nate
Welcome to Week 465
We’re kicking off the week in style at YeahWrite with 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.
*Note that our microprose grid now opens on Saturday at 12 midnight and closes on Sunday at 11:59pm ET. You’ve got a whole 48 hours to get your submissions in! Voting will open with the rest of the grids on Wednesday.
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: 20/20 Hindsight
For 2020 we’re looking back at stories. Didn’t get a chance to write one in January? That’s fine: jump in whenever you can.
If you have a story or essay to work on, tag in: March’s challenge is to rewrite your work using a limited number of adjectives. We’re activating our verbs and participating in our participles this month to try to strip the purple out of our prose.
Check out this month’s challenge and some suggestions for how to succeed 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 BLAH BLAH BLAH. Have fun!
Fiction|Poetry Mandatory Prompt
March is here! Hooray! We made it.
I [Nate] have noticed calls for submissions lately that use structural requirements, so I thought we should practice those. By “structural requirement,” I mean a cosmetic prompt that does not affect the plot, such as “the last word of your story must be onomatopoeia” or “The opening line must be a proverb.” Our second prompt will be one of our stand-bys. You must incorporate both prompts to enter a fiction story into the challenge.
This week’s structural requirement is:
Your story must end with a word repeated three times.
This week’s tried-and-true prompt is: an occupation.
One of your characters must be an employee at an ice cream shop. This character must be INTEGRAL, which means their job must affect the plot in a meaningful way. To test if you have made the occupation integral, give the ice cream scooper another occupation and see if it would significantly affect your plot. If it does, you are approved.
Poets: This month, we’re playing with rhymes in a new way: by moving them from the ends of lines to… well, wherever you want them. Check out our technique-based March slam then explore that technique to write a poem of your own. Or write a different style of poem incorporating at least one of the prompts above. Or some combination of those things, if you’re feeling extra fancy this week.
Poetry Slam - It Rhymes on the Inside?
In 2020, we’re turning from “how to write a poem” to “what is a poem?” with technique-based slams. This month, we’re playing with rhymes in a new way: by moving them from the ends of lines to… well, wherever you want them. Check it out.
Microprose Mandatory Prompt
It’s the first Saturday of the month, and that means it’s time for 48 in 48!
Here’s how it works: we give you a prompt, and you have 48 hours to write a response in exactly 48 words. Submissions will close on Sunday at 11:59pm US Eastern time. Voting opens on Wednesday at 10:00pm, which gives you plenty of time to read this grid—and the others!—before you vote.
In January, we asked you for water; in February, it was fire. We’re sticking with the elemental theme for March. This month’s prompt: write a 48-word story that takes place in the air.
A few rules:
- Air must be present. That is, we’re not looking for stories about the absence of air (choking, asphyxiation, etc.).
- The entire story must take place in the air.
- By “in the air,” we mean (for example): on a plane, on a trapeze, up in the clouds (but not on a mountain). On a swing would be okay, or a ski jump, if mid-air. Your setting can be “supported” in a vehicle or on a suspension device of some sort, but your characters cannot touch or be supported by a planetary (or asteroid, or… come on, stop trying to think of ways to avoid using the prompt) surface.
- Your story may take place on a spaceship if the ship is in atmosphere, but not if it’s out in the vacuum of space. (In the process of taking off or landing is fine, as long as they don’t actually touch the ground.)
- Remember that we’re looking for a full story, not just a description!
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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Loading InLinkz ...YeahWrite Super Challenge
Super Challenge #15 (nonfiction!) is officially underway! Good luck to all our remaining contestants as they anxiously await their Final Round results. 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:
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.
