Short days, long nights
‘Tis the season where I consider mugging Stacie and taking:
1) her days off
2) her proper winter weather
3) those really cute dogs, or maybe just one of the puppies at the shelter where she volunteers (Glitter, baby, I’m coming) (her name is Glitter) (I can’t have three dogs) (does anyone want a dachshund).
I’d settle for the days off, though. Still, this is the shortest workday of the year, and I’m going to enjoy the lack of light before we start working our way (see what I did there) toward summer. Ugh, summer. I’m sorry, Australia, but no. You can have it. And we can have the popular vote results. What we can’t have, apparently, is a segue between this section and the chattery bit about how YeahWrite works. Sorry.
Besides the popular vote, we also have the option of handing out an editorial staff pick to any post on our grids. 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 #401
Sometimes I say writing fiction is about what you put in and writing nonfiction is about what you leave in. That is, when you’re telling a story about something that happened in your real life, you already know all the details and background and even what happened next. But does your reader? And do they need to, in order to appreciate the story you’re telling? For example, in my essay this week it was important for the reader to understand why I might think that was a perfectly reasonable name for a cookie, because otherwise instead of a “your parents set you up for this moment” story I would have been telling a “gosh, kids do the darndest things” story. Creative nonfiction is all about making sure enough of what YOU know gets on the page for the reader to understand your story. But it’s also about cutting: if you want to tell a story about grocery shopping you might write about making the list and about pushing the cart (or trolley, if you’re Asha) around in the store, but it’s not necessary to include the trip from the house to the store unless that’s where the story happens – your reader won’t know where their attention is supposed to be, and they’ll get invested in events and people that you’re not trying to write about, which sets you and them up for some disappointment when you don’t deliver the story you prepared them for. No matter how good the story you told was.
One of the things I love about writing fiction and poetry is the chance to delve into some really lush imagery from the landscapes of my mind or memory. One of the things I hate about writing fiction and poetry is hearing that my reader didn’t match up my description of those images to the images I was trying for, and came away with another impression entirely. It’s hard to re-read your own stories or poems and catch this, though, unless you have a week to walk away from them and come back fresh (which you don’t often, especially in a competition like YeahWrite’s weekly grids or Super Challenge) which is why it’s important to have a beta reader who will whisper sweetly in your ear “that thing about the nightingale’s talons closing around the branch is actually horrifying, plus songbirds don’t have talons, so unless you’re trying to make this story creepy, consider changing that.”
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #401
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 ...
You can have my weather. I definitely don’t need that. Also, talons LOL.