Ch-ch-ch-changes!
While our antipodean contingent heads into spring and the US and Canada burn to the ground everywhere there’s not 5 feet of standing water ease into autumn, change is on everyone’s minds. So it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the September changes coming to YeahWrite, but I’ll give you a quick rundown anyway:
Microprose returns next week! It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so put your teeny tiny thinking cap on and give Micro Editor Christine something great to welcome her back from vacation. Please?
There’s a new poetry form making the rounds, and it’s called sijo. A Korean form that lands structurally between a haiku and a sonnet, the sijo’s a quick read and just challenging enough to keep experienced poets interested while short and flexible enough to be accessible to beginners. Try out the September Slam!
This month’s Nonfiction Know-how veers away from technical tips to give you a style prompt. Try out a tutorial and learn more about yourself along the way! Shoutout to the good folks at Dead Housekeeping for letting me borrow their idea. If you want to read some really fantastic short-form tutorial essays, head over there. And keep an eye out for YeahWrite alums while you read!
Fictioneers, registration for Super Challenge #6 is OPEN. What are you waiting for? Take advantage of those early bird prices this month.
And last but definitely not least, there’s a new toy in our bag of tricks: classes! Registration for Summaries for Pitch and Page opens on Tuesday, and the class will be taught in early October. If you haven’t made your way into the coffeehouse to read what it’s all about and vote for a time segment, go do that – we want to make classes accessible for everyone. And don’t worry if you can’t make the class time: video will be available later.
Whew, that’s so much new stuff I almost forgot I’m supposed to be writing about the old stuff: our weekly challenge grids and popular vote winners for this week. Besides the popular vote, we also have the option of handing out an editorial staff pick to any post on our grids. Our editors comb the grids to find, not just the best writing on this grid this week, but what we think is pretty darn great writing anywhere anytime. Picks are based on writing quality, how successful the author is in conveying information, and just plain style. The great part is that we don’t have a finite number of picks to hand out. That means that if two, three, five, or even all the works on one grid are fantastic, we can give them all kudos- and we’d love to, so keep that great work coming!
On weeks when we don’t award a staff pick, keep an extra close eye on the Roundup. That’s our rundown of trends we see from week to week. We try to highlight the good stuff and point out problems that more than one writer is struggling with. There’s probably a handy tip in there for you right now, so check it out!
Once you’re done reading through the Roundup, keep scrolling down to check out who won the popular vote on both grids. If you earned the highest number of votes in any challenge, you are this week’s Crowd Favorite! If you came in first, second or third, you get “Top Three” honors. Grab your badge from our sidebar!
Looking for your badge? Both grids have the same Winner, Editorial Staff Pick, and Top Three badges. It doesn’t clutter up our sidebar, and they’ll still look pretty on yours!
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #333
Let’s talk about building metaphor. Metaphor can be a good way to convey an image, because it’s a shortcut that gives the reader something they’re familiar with to attach their brain to and use as a tool to understand something unfamiliar. When you’re building a metaphor, it’s okay to reach for the unexpected, like Courtenay did this week with her diagnosis like a new sweater. To build an unexpected but apt metaphor like that, try listing the traits of the thing you’re talking about and then pretending you don’t know what the list describes. So if I were building a metaphor to describe how my dog greets me at the front door I would write a list like “loud, irresistible, pushes your body, enjoyable, predictable but only to an extent.” And then I’d look at that list and say “My dog greets me like a spring flood.”
Knowing too much about your characters is only a liability when you try to convey all that knowledge to your reader whether it advances the story or not. Just like you have to pick and choose when writing a personal essay (nobody cares what you did between 3 and 4 pm if the story takes place over lunch and dinner) you have to pick and choose these details about your characters. Did your character’s dad expect them to do well in school? Okay, it’s great that you know that because it’s going to inform their interactions with other characters, including their own kids, but you don’t have to tell the reader that in a story about the character walking in the woods and meeting a bear. Sorry, I still have bears on my mind from that hiking trip.
That’s it for this week! If you’re lost in the middle of the grid and wondering how you can get a little more feedback on your posts, check out our membership perks! If you’re more the self-help type, remember to scroll through our writing help section for tips and tricks. Even if a post isn’t directed at your favorite grid, there’s probably a handy hint for you in there anyway!
Everybody: before you go, please take some time to leave your favorites a little love in the comments, and don’t forget, the Weekend Writing Showcase opens tonight at 6pm Eastern US Time!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #333
The thumbnails are now sorted in order of most votes to fewest. Ties in the overall number of votes are broken by number of editor votes.
Congratulations if you’re at or near the top! Writing well is hard work, and we’re honored you’ve chosen us this week to showcase your entry.
If you’re at or near the bottom, don’t be discouraged. You’re in the right community for learning and growing as a writer, and we are always available with resources for those who ask nicely.
To our readers and voters: thank you! See you next week.
Loading InLinkz ... Loading InLinkz ...About the author:
Rowan submitted exactly one piece of microfiction to YeahWrite before being consumed by the editorial darkside. She spent some time working hard as our Submissions Editor before becoming YeahWrite’s Managing Editor in 2016. She was a BlogHer Voice of the Year in 2017 for her work on intersectional feminism, but she suggests you find and follow WOC instead. In real life she’s been at various times an attorney, aerialist, professional knitter, artist, graphic designer (yes, they’re different things), editor, secretary, tailor, and martial artist. It bothers her vaguely that the preceding list isn’t alphabetized, but the Oxford comma makes up for it. She lives in Portlandia with a menagerie which includes at least one other human. She tells lies at textwall and uncomfortable truths at CrossKnit.
