Words and words and words
I’ve been reading (and writing) a lot of poetry recently. I love poetry. I love reading it and I love writing it. I also love cannibalising poetry techniques to use in my fiction and my creative nonfiction. You’ve probably heard the advice that all writers should be reading poetry, and yeah I’m going to repeat that: every writer should be reading poetry. Not exclusively (though I wouldn’t be mad at you if you chose to), but in addition to the other reading you’re doing. You don’t have to read Dead White Men Poets™ either. You know the ones; Keats and Yeats and Byron, Shakespeare and Wordsworth and Whitman, and all the others I’m not going to list. I’m not saying you should never read those poets, but I am giving you express permission to skip reading their work — we’ve all read too much of them in high school. Instead, I’m challenging you to read more broadly; try reading women poets and First Nations poets and trans poets and poets from other excluded communities. Poetry is a great way to get a quick insight into a poet’s life and perspective, and reading perspectives that are different to our own broadens our thinking in untold ways. You could start with the poem I poached the title of this introduction from: Words by Kamala Das. Reading poetry also prompted this week’s… well… prompt. This poem specifically: Mixup by Kate Baer, so you may want to read that too before you have a go at the prompt. Want to tell us what poetry you’re reading? Come find us on Facebook or Discord.
~Asha
This Week’s Writing Prompt is:
This week, your job, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story, essay, or poem incorporating the following prompt:
Trope: ‘Freaky Friday’ Flip
We’re taking a cue from this year’s Scarlet Quill Society and getting some practice incorporating – or subverting – popular tropes. Poetry led to this trope, but it’s a common and familiar one. It’s a benign form of the Body Snatcher trope and you’ve likely come across it in movies like Freaky Friday or 13 Going On 30, Big, Freaky, Little or even Shrek the Third. Essentially, two or more characters swap bodies through some magical or “scientific” means (think gamma rays or radioactive goo). What might happen if people are suddenly thrust into vastly different bodies and experiences? How might they react? Would it be a positive or negative experience? Would they want to go back to their old bodies or would they resist? You can read the poem, Mixup by Kate Baer, that motivated this prompt, and you can read more about the ‘Freaky Friday’ Flip on the TV Tropes website. Share snippets of or links to your best story in Discord or on Facebook!
Stuck? Check out last year’s — no, year before last! — series on responding to prompts!
Share your response in the Coffeehouse, located both on Facebook or Discord, by linking your blog post, Google Doc, or other file. Check out your fellow YeahWriters’ responses, and don’t forget to leave them some love in the comments!
Looking for our weekly grids? After nearly ten years, they’ve been retired. Read more about the latest changes to YeahWrite in the #500 Weekly Writing Challenge Kickoff Post.
The Schedule
We will release a new prompt on our blog every Friday at 12pm Eastern. Then it’s up to you! Write your response to the prompt on your own blog or website and share the link in the Coffeehouse, located both on Facebook or Discord. If you prefer to keep your work under wraps (and away from the eyes of potential publishers), you can still ask for beta readers in the Coffeehouse and share your work privately! Every Monday, we’ll check in to see how you’re doing and what your writing goals are for the week. Wednesdays are “Work-in-Progress Wednesdays.” Share a few sentences or even a paragraph or two in the Coffeehouse (no more than 250 words, please). Even if you’re not done writing, this could be the boost you need to stay motivated. Did you publish a book? Do you have a story in a magazine? The First Friday of every month is for self-promotion, where you can share commercial links to your work for purchase. (You can always share the news that you’ve been accepted for publication, though!) And of course, the entire community is here 24-7 to share your victories and setbacks, challenges and accomplishments. So come on in, pull up a chair, and say hello. We’re all writers here.
Upcoming and Ongoing
Sign up for our email blast so you don’t miss out on any upcoming classes, workshops, or competitions.
Scarlet Quill Society (Free Workshop w/ Optional Paid Benefits)
Welcome to the secret back room where the Scarlet Quill Society meets. In this year-long workshop, we’ll be focusing on tropes! Love ’em or hate ’em, you can’t avoid ’em. For the purpose of this year’s workshop, we’re defining a trope as a building block of storytelling. It’s a device or pattern of events that is used to solve plot or character problems or communicate meaning efficiently and effectively. Check out May’s post for a discussion of how tropes can present convenient answers when you’ve written yourself into a corner, or when you can’t get going. Then join our Managing Editor for a Zoom meeting on May 23 to talk in more depth about the topic, or even solve your personal problem story!
Scarlet Quill Society workshop posts are always free. In addition, we are offering a couple add-ons that we think you’ll find exciting and worth a few bucks a month: face-to-face (okay, virtual) monthly gatherings to delve into the topics and answer your questions, and an editorial backroom on Discord! And for a bonus, if you’re a paid SQS member and you can’t make it to a meeting, you can still send us questions beforehand and we’ll make sure to cover them.
Sign up for a membership today to join the Scarlet Quill Society and automatically receive the Zoom link and password for every meeting. One-off monthly meeting tickets can also be purchased on Kofi. At YeahWrite we believe information wants to be shared. If you can’t afford to join us for society meetings, we post the recording about a week later, and you’re welcome to leave the tip you can afford (even if that’s just a nice thank you comment). Check out our YouTube channel for more.
Super Challenge #28 (Fiction)
YeahWrite’s Super Challenge #28 (flash fiction) is officially underway! Good luck to all our participants as they anxiously await the first round results. Don’t want to miss out on all the fun? Be sure to sign up for our mailing list so you don’t miss out on any future Super Challenge updates.
WIP Write-Ins, AKA Co-Working Hours
Join Christine every Wednesday from 9:00am – 11:00am Pacific Time for regular WIP Write-ins. Other sessions will be scheduled in the future, so keep an eye on our calendar and we’ll be sure to post announcements of pop-up sessions in our Discord and Facebook groups. See you there! If you’ve been meaning to join us but can’t do Wednesdays, we’re checking our calendars now so make sure you’ve responded to the Discord poll for times! [Ed’s note: if you add that calendar to your own Google calendar, it’ll change the times to match your time zone automagically. No more searching “what time is 9am Pacific in Warsaw?” You’re welcome. /RBG]
NOTE: NO WIP WRITE-IN ON MAY 17!
Spontaneous Writing Challenges
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. Asha writes flash fiction, short stories, and creative nonfiction. She is published in a variety of places and you can find links to her work at Asha Rajan Writer.
