It’s Spoopy Season aka Prep Season
Happy Friday, yeahwriters! As we move into October, the temperatures cool even further, and the leaves begin to change. Perhaps you indulge in your first pumpkin spice latte of the season or pull out your favorite sweaters and blankets for the ultimate cozy sesh in front of the television. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Well forget all about it. Because I’m here to remind you that October, aka Spoopy Season, means November is right around the corner. Whether it’s NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo, or NaNonFiWriMo (yes, apparently that mouthful is a thing), October is prep season for the inevitable rush that these November writing challenges bring. So before you get too comfortable and fully transform into your best Fall self, grab a notebook and pen to take with you. Maybe you’ll outline a bit while sipping on that Fall-tastic latte? Maybe you’ll bust out some character sketches while watching your favorite scary movie? Either way, you’ll thank me come November.
~Arden Ruth
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: Monster and the Maiden
We’re taking a cue from this year’s Scarlet Quill Society and getting some practice incorporating – or subverting – popular tropes. As we head for Halloween, this month’s Scarlet Quill Society theme is… Cryptidkeepers. Or more eloquently put, Monsterfuckers. In that vein, this week’s assigned trope is Monster and the Maiden. What does that entail, you ask? Well, one is (usually) a human and the other is anything else, and together, they work to achieve a common goal. To be clear, the couple does not have to openly be in a relationship, sexual or otherwise. In fact, platonic partnerships are more common, but we want to see what you will do with it, so don’t forget to share your stories! If you need more information on the prompt, click the link and check out the description!
What will your take be on this trope? Play with the prompt, and when you’ve got your story down, come tell us about it! Bonus points if you do it on WIP Wednesday! 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
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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 October’s post, containing not just our new trope but a serious lesson in how many ways Rowan can say “monsterfucker” without actually saying “monsterfucker.” From the works of Chuck Tingle to the many faces of Ganondorf, get ready for our hottest monster lineup ever. We’ve got a killer panel of horror writers lined up for you, coming atcha this month for the low low price of $5 (or free with your YW membership). This month’s live discussion will take place on October 16 at 5pm US Eastern.
Did you miss September’s post? This one was about why the physical and mental injuries you’re putting in your stories might not be doing what you think they’re doing, and how to work with them more realistically. And you can always hop on over to YouTube watch the recording and check out what our expert had to say on a pay-what-you-can basis! If you have a good time, leave a tip and we’ll love you forever.
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.
2023 Anthology? WATCH THIS SPACE!
At YeahWrite, like it says on the box, we believe that your words – and your voice – matter. That has always been the core of our mission: to help authors develop and share their individual voices, whether they write romance, fantasy, mysteries, literary fiction, creative nonfiction, or anything else. It’s all storytelling, and we want your stories to shine.
That’s why we’re excited to help them shine in print for the first time! Our 2023 anthology, opening soon for submissions, will include 20 flash stories (fiction and creative nonfiction) that have a clear authorial voice and an innovative structure: braided stories, epistolaries, stories told as logbooks or news articles – these are just examples of the sorts of stories we are excited to publish. Can’t figure out your genre? Not a problem, we’re not genre-limiting this one! So dig back into your archive for that special story to dust off and tune up, or get ready to put pen to paper for that new idea that will help you procrastinate on the other writing you should be doing.
Because we love our newsletter subscribers, we’ll give them an early heads up with all the submissions guidelines. We’ll also send you details on the Kickstarter we’re planning that should help make our anthology even better!
Spontaneous Writing Challenges
About the author:
Behind the scenes, Arden is currently working on the first novel of her Fated Paths trilogy. She also published a number of short stories and a fantasy anthology which can all be purchased on Amazon. Arden lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and two rescue pups. To read more of her stories, visit her website.
