Cantstopwontstop
Our birthday week is creeping up on us. Can you believe it’s been seven years since the first YeahWrite post? We’ve seen a lot of changes in that time: who remembers the brief period in history when we were called “lovelinks?” We’ve added grids: first fiction, then microfiction, then the Super Challenge itself. We’ve played with prompts (y’all, I hated the video prompts, I’m not going to make any secret of that, mostly because I was trying to write at my day job and I couldn’t watch a 7 minute video AND write a story, plus I didn’t have sound? That made the challenge, er, challenging).
Okay that was a lot of windup to “I’m going to be spending today hitting refresh on my order tracking because I finally get swag!” We’ve put together a collection of our favorite items on our own page, but don’t forget to check out our Threadless store for the full array. And if there’s something you want but don’t see, drop us a line!
Anyway, I can’t wait to sit around in my YeahWrite teeshirt and YeahWrite lounge pants writing in my YeahWrite notebook, hoping that this is the essay, story, poem or micro that will propel me to the top of the popular vote. But it’s not all about the popular vote at YeahWrite, folks. We also have our editorial staff picks to hand out. See, while there’s a popular vote winner every week, we don’t always give out a staff pick. Our editors comb the grids to find, not just the best writing on our 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. If you got a staff pick this week, grab your badge from the sidebar and wear it with pride! 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.
The other benefit of the editors’ pick, of course, is that unlike the popular vote we’ll tell you why we liked that post. So don’t just skip reading the blurb if it’s not about your post; you’ll pick up some handy pointers about what makes good writing great that you can apply to your own work. For more of that critical feedback, keep an eye on our Roundup for a quick rundown of trends we see each 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 Editorial Staff Picks and Roundup (and congratulating the winners in the comments), 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!
YeahWrite #362 Weekly Writing Challenge Staff Picks:
Fiction|Poetry
I could write an Ed Pick on that title alone. You know it’s good because it was the first title you saw where you had to find out what the story was about, didn’t you? I definitely needed to know. And the story of the elemental’s last gift to its human did not disappoint. I loved the way the magical element is introduced early and in a subdued way, making it feel natural to the setting. As the plot unfolds, we are given clues to what an elemental is, and by the time we’ve figured it out, it has risen into the sky and then it has its moment and then the story is done. One of the things Laura does masterfully is match the reader’s experience of curiosity and revelation to the characters’ journey through the plot, not giving too much away but not making you feel like she’s hiding the ball, and this story was no exception.
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #362
Oh is that what it takes to fill the nonfiction grid?
Just kidding. But not. But yes. We know you love a challenge – we do too! On the other hand, prompted nonfiction is probably the hardest genre to write in – just ask our Super Challengeers! Still, you’ll be seeing more prompts, games, and individual challenges popping up on the nonfic grid, so even if fiction’s your usual jam keep an eye out. Something might spark your fancy!
One of the hardest things about writing a 750-word story is figuring out how much story fits in that space. Especially if you’re not writing in a modern setting, you don’t have a lot of room to worldbuild, add dialogue, put in characters, and still have a plot happen to everyone. Still, if you find yourself writing a paragraph that summarizes a lot of action, you might have too much story. If you’ve got room to foreshadow, then fiveshadow, then sixshadow, you might not have enough.
An old art teacher of mine used to take our drawings, nicely done on a sheet of paper larger than our torsos, and put a different piece of paper over the top, with a little square cut out. He’d move that square around until he was satisfied with what he saw inside it, and then tape it to our paper. “There,” he’d say. “That’s your drawing. Draw that. Now make it the whole drawing.” Writing flash fiction is a bit like doing the same thing with a novella-length piece of writing. Pick your window. Figure out what you can see in it. Move your window around until there are characters and plot inside. Shift it forward and backward in time until you’re interested in that window’s view. And write that and nothing else. Don’t describe the rest of the novella, just write what you see.
That’s it for this week! Remember, we don’t always give out a pick on both grids; if we were impressed by several posts on one grid we’ll give them all picks, and if nothing really stood out for us we’ll hold off. If you didn’t get a pick this week, read back through the Roundup to see if you can use some of this week’s tips and tricks.
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!
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 #362
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.
Nonfiction Challenge
Loading InLinkz ...Fiction|Poetry Challenge
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.
