National Poetry Month
It’s the first week of Super Challenge 8 and we’ve spent a good deal of it designing prompts. As Spider Robinson once wrote, God is an Iron. Somewhere on the list of “writing prompts you didn’t want life to assign you” is “write a eulogy for someone you’ve only met through other people’s eyes.”
It’s ironic, too, or perhaps poetic, that National Poetry Month is the month in which Marthe Reed “died, suddenly and tragically.” When we lose those we love, we’re often careful with our words – poets are precise. Reed was a teacher, an author, but also a passionate inspiration and ally for her students, friends, and colleagues. Her work was eclectic in both conception and execution, and if you’re not familiar with it, I suggest you wander through the much better eulogy over at the Poetry Foundation and follow some links. If you’ve only got time for one, though, try this brief glimpse into a much longer manuscript exploring the stories of the Thousand and One Nights and the different ways the characters, narrators, translators, and later authors have engaged with that story cycle. Reed’s work in allusion and her commitment to the liminal spaces we occupy should be part of every poet’s vocabulary, and to those who knew her personally the YeahWrite staff would like to extend our deepest sympathy.
And now, an awkward segue into congratulating our popular vote winners.
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 #365 Weekly Writing Challenge Staff Picks:
Fiction|Poetry
Michael’s work this week was exemplary on two levels. First, it’s a good story. A reader who knew nothing about any of the allusions, in-jokes, and subtleties contained in the work could still follow the plot, get the humor, and enjoy reading the post. Second, it’s a master class in putting in exactly the right amount of information to convey those allusions, in-jokes, and subtleties to an informed reader. The two Pleiades are never fully named (in fact, we don’t even know if ‘rope is Merope or Sterope), but the allusions to Elektra, the half-name, and the discussion of Thanatos, the use of Sisyphus’ boulder, ambrosia (this is a good time to point out that Michael, unlike so many writers, knows that ambrosia is the food and nectar is the drink), plus other allusions that I may have missed or forgotten to list here, all combine to give a reader with some base knowledge of Greek mythology an enjoyable sense of the story-beyond-the-story and a light and amusing new peek into the personalities of the deities involved.
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #365
So, it looks like this is a good week to discuss the difference between a tutorial and a set of instructions. The key part of the word tutorial is tutor – that is, the person teaching. Personal essayists can use the tutorial form to not just convey information about how to do a thing (instructions would do that just as well) but to convey information about what they learned about the thing. As you read back through the grid this week, look for that difference. Or hop on over to Dead Housekeeping to read a curated collection of personal tutorial essays.
It looks like everyone was as excited about the Pleiades prompt as we were this week! When we try out a prompt that folks have fun with and it generates great writing too, we’re likely to recycle that idea in the future, so let’s talk a little bit about what really worked for us in this week’s prompt. First of all, it was pretty easy to see who’d done their research. Look at The Creation Myth. The author took each deity’s distinct personality and mythos, updated it, and made tidy reference to it in the structure of the bigger plot. Second, we were impressed by the authors who (like Michael) took that character knowledge and expanded on it to really make the story their own, without losing the underpinnings of the prompt. Old gods, new stories? Yes please, we’ll take it. In fact, this notion is also one of the bases for our cross-genre prompt for the Super Challenge. That’s one of our favorite rounds to read and judge, and we’re waiting for it with bated (not baited, we’re not fish, ew) breath.
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 #365
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.
