Looking Forward to Winter
Look, anyone can tell you I’m Team White Witch. Neverending winter is my idea of a perfect climate. But fall is pretty great, too, and we’ve got a lot to look forward to this fall. So even though temperatures where I live were well into the 90’s (low 30’s for my Celsius crowd) this week, it’s starting to smell like fall when I go outside, and the pumpkins on my one surviving vine are working on becoming pumpkin-shaped, and the last of the blackberries are so ripe they fall apart and stain your fingers, and I am here for all of it. Plus, it’s only a couple weeks until Super Challenge 10 kicks off, and I’ve got some good news about that too: the prize pot has reached almost $200 and it’s only going to go up from there, so tell your friends and family they want to come on down to the best, cleanest little competition on the net. We’ve got amazing prompts lined up already, so why not give it a shot if you’ve been hanging back? And the feedback you get from the competition will probably give the rest of your writing a boost – maybe 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 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? All our 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 #386
You know that feeling when you’re scrolling through social media and you come across a post and you just comment “same” or “relatable”? That’s the feeling a really good personal essay should give you. Whether or not you share the writer’s exact experience, you can probably identify the feelings they have as feelings you have. Bonus points if they never explicitly have to come out and say “I was sad when…” or “I didn’t like it when….” right? Look for those moments in your own writing. Unlike diaries, personal essays are written for an audience, so if you’re having a hard time stepping into an audience’s shoes, grab a trusted friend and ask a few questions:
- Could you see yourself in this situation, or am I writing a “me, me, me” essay?
- Did you have feelings, or was it more like listening to me talk about my feelings?
- Where did you get bored? What made you roll your eyes and say “get on with it?”
- Honestly, and you don’t have to tell me where, but did this essay make you judge me a little bit?
Those are all things that can push an essay about even the best and most relatable subject down in the rankings.
As much as we like to say “show, don’t tell” every story needs some backstory, explanation, or exposition. One great way to do that is through dialogue between characters, or having a character think about those things. BUT WAIT. HOLD UP. One major amateur mistake is having a character think or talk about something that particular character would have no possible way of knowing. When you need exposition in your story, make sure each character is only speaking from their personal well of knowledge, just like you would have to if you were writing in first person from their point of view.
I’m gonna say something for this month’s micro roundup that I’ve said before, only maybe a little less diplomatically, because it’s cost several people an editor’s pick by now and I want you all to get those picks when you deserve them! I know the word count is tight on micro, but when you just delete a bunch of words like “the” and “a” you don’t sound sparse or terse, you sound like someone who deleted a lot of words to make word count. Or like Captain Kirk. It’s perfectly possible to write within a small space without deleting the words you need to sound smooth and precise. It’s just a little, you know. Harder. I believe in you, though. You can do it!
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 #386
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
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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.
