Celebrate YOU
Many USAmericans will be celebrating the 4th of July this weekend, albeit not likely in the usual big social way of the pre-covid past, unless they’re in a location that hasn’t issued rules or guidelines, or where people aren’t taking those rules seriously, or… To be honest, I don’t much feel like celebrating, and I’m in Massachusetts, where things are (so far) going fairly well. It’s hard to justify celebrating the birth of a country founded on genocide and slavery, especially this year, when it feels like even the few steps we’ve taken toward good have been irreparably damaged in so many ways, from the courts to the hospitals, from sea to shining sea. There are days it just feels impossible to give a nod to anything about the USA. I’m so very sorry, rest of the world—and folks here at home. So I’m not going to be saying a lot of “Happy Fourth” to anyone this year—even if I was going out. It’s more complicated than “happy.”
I want to celebrate all of YOU, instead. I want to celebrate your writing, your creativity. I want to celebrate that you represent the best things we can be, and the community that we can build if we’re willing to make the effort to care about each other. Fill the grids this week with your awesomeness.
–Stacie
Welcome to Week 482
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: July’s challenge is to tell it in a different order. And not just as a flashback: we’re exploring the different structures possible for your narrative arc by rearranging the elements of the story!
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 “better.” What does that mean to you? Compare something, or think of a time you could have done better, or a time you were better. Or use it in dialogue: “That’s better!”
Fiction|Poetry Mandatory Prompt
July is here! How is this year simultaneously 500 years, and two weeks long? This month we’re giving you three mandatory prompts to work with; an image, a point of view (POV), and tense. Beyond that, let your imagination go wild. Want to write a steampunk mystery? Sure, why not. Want to write that rom-com you’ve got burning inside you? Go for it. Noir more your thing? Bring those smokin’ dames and smokin’ guns. Why not use this as an opportunity to try a genre, style, or voice that’s unfamiliar to you? Push some boundaries, but make sure you include all three prompts.
This week’s image prompt is this image by Stefan Keller at Pixabay:
You can find the image for download here, or click the image itself. Don’t forget the image credit in your post.
This week’s POV is: first person.
And the tense you should write your story in this week is: past tense.
Have fun, try something new, and come join us on the grids.
Poets: It’s halfway through July and we’re all feeling a little unmoored, so this month we’re exploring how to anchor a poem in space or time. Check out our technique-based 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 both? You might be able to do both.
Poetry Slam - Anchors Aweigh!
In 2020, we’re turning from “how to write a poem” to “what is a poem?” with technique-based slams. For July, we’re exploring space and time, and how to locate your poem on that X-Y axis. Don’t worry, no math is required, just a working knowledge of a date, time, or place that’s important to you. Check it out!
Microprose Mandatory Prompt
- We want literal rubies—the gemstone. Not a person’s name, not drops of blood, not a ruby-colored something else. We’re looking for actual pink-to-red pieces of corundum. There do not need to be seven of them, but there can be!
- The number seven can be seven things, a picture of a 7, or whatever you need, but get the word (or number, but it’s the same either way in terms of your wordcount) in there somewhere.
- We mean exactly seven. Not seven hundred, not part of 1776. Just seven, whether it’s a physical representation of the number or a count of things.
- Your story may be fiction or nonfiction, but it should be a complete story.
- As always, we are looking for prose, not poetry.
- Surprise us: you don’t have to tell the most unique story ever, but don’t fall back on lazy writing and tired tropes that can turn off your readers.
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 #17 (nonfiction) is officially open for registration. Sign up today! Make sure you also 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.
My observation for NF grid, I seem to be the lone voice still deep in the fog…