Running hot and cold
While the weather’s cooling and the leaves are turning in the northern hemisphere, things are hotting up here in the world’s south. We’re careening into warmer weather with all the decorum and coordination of a toddler taking their first steps — sometimes we’re trundling peacefully in the mid 20s (that’s the 70ºFs for those of you not on ºC), sometimes we’re lurching headlong into the mid 30s (mid-90ºF) and peeling off layers of clothing as we go. This is simultaneously the most beautiful and the most frustrating time of year. Everything in nature is in a state of newness — babies abound, plants are aflame with blossoms, and legs that have been covered all through the winter are making tentative appearances in shorts everywhere. That is, until the weather suddenly turns and we’re all walking around sodden and wondering whether we should have packed away our winter woolies quite so soon. Still, it’s a time of abundance and, just quietly, it’s my favourite time of year. I’m at my productive best in this season. I’ve shed my winter whinging, haven’t yet begun my summer sweating, and am really hitting my stride in inspiration. What’s your favourite season to write? Come tell us over in the Coffeehouse 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: Symbiotic Possession
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 Symbiotic Possession. Demon (or other invading/controlling force) possession is non-consensual and forceful. But what if the controlling force and the host body are pals? Or maybe they have the same end goal. Perhaps they’re like squabbling siblings who goad each other until a more compelling external threat unites them. Once you decide how their mutually beneficial relationship works, come share your stories with us. 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:
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.
