Reach for the stars
There’s an inspirational quote that makes the rounds periodically, usually slapped over some sort of adorable cartoon image or fantastic galaxy and with questionable attribution. It goes “Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” The same principle, sans backdrop, can be applied to your writing, but only if you embrace the stars. That is, we often start writing with a plan: we have an idea what we’re writing about, how long it’s going to take, and what we’re going to include along the way. But writing is as elusive as the moon, and you don’t always hit what you aimed for. It’s tempting to try to take an editorial whip to your story or essay and try to force it back on the track you intended… but what if you didn’t? What if you looked at the piece you were writing, instead of teh one you thought you were going to write, and just embraced it? That’s a scary thought. It means that instead of editing out the digression you’re on, you have to edit away the leftover bits of the piece you intended to write. And that means figuring out what you’re writing now, not what you meant to write. Sometimes that takes the eye of a beta reader or editor, and sometimes you can do it yourself. But if you trust yourself as a writer, you can end up with a fistful of stars… and a shiny winner’s badge.
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 the trends we’re seeing. 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 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 #406 Weekly Writing Challenge Staff Picks:
Fiction|Poetry
One of the trademarks of good horror writing is contrasting the themes of light and dark. In her story Laura played with these themes, providing a discomfiting contrast between the security of candle light, and the fear of the unknown that lurked in the darkness outside. She built sympathy by describing the main character’s desire for a romantic getaway, and through her second-guessing and dismissal of her own fears – something most of us are inclined to do. Laura used the first half of the story to establish setting, plot and characters, and to foreshadow later events. In the second half of the story, she built tension by keeping the sentences and paragraphs short, and the action moving. She also gave us a moment to draw breath by allowing her main character to feel comfortable and secure on her own. Finally, the resolution was described with a bone-chilling matter-of-factness that left us wondering whether the main character was also malevolent.
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #406
Something I talk a lot about is connecting your personal experience to experiences or emotions your reader has probably shared. But there’s another nifty technique you can use to build a bridge to your readers: connecting your personal experiences to a specific concept or lesson that you want to share. It’s another way of making the big concepts manageable without feeling preachy — did you read Our Debt this week? — and it’s a great technique to explore when you want to talk about something important to you that’s part of a bigger picture. Look for the way those big lessons are reflected in your own life, and you can teach without sounding pedantic to the reader. Just remember: trust yourself as a writer, and trust your reader. You don’t have to wrap up with a big summary or retelling or explicitly say “because I went to the lake on that day, I now know that there are signs of drowning that you should look for besides splashing. They are….”
When you’re telling a big story in a little space, sometimes to get the whole plot in you need to take a jump or two through time. But doing that risks losing your reader in the warp portal you’re stepping through (I just made warp portal up y’all I’m sorry, it’s late, pretend it’s a thing). Every time you step into a new scene, take a minute to be sure your reader knows where they are, who they’re with, and who’s speaking. You don’t have to say “Cemre and Alex were standing together in the woods at 3:30 that same day when Alex said…” but it’s nice if you put a visual signal in like *** or something, so your reader knows to look for context, and say “‘I can’t believe how boring school was,’ Alex moaned to Cemre as they got off the bus. Afternoon sunlight filtered down through the bare branches of the trees.”
That’s it for this week! Remember, we don’t always give out a pick on each grid; 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, next week’s challenge kicks of at midnight tonight!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #406
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.
