Hey, honey…
Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s talk about all the cool stuff coming up, ok?
It’s about to be April, which means a new poetry slam and a new post in our Year of Fearless Writing series. Those both go live on April first, but I promise I’m not April Fooling. Since next week’s grids open tonight, you’re still welcome to use March’s poetry slam technique, or hold out for a shot at April’s.
Super Challenge 12 is also kicking off in April, and we’ve only got a few days left of discounted early registration. We’re excited about the prompts for this challenge and we hope you are too—in fact, I just saw two calls for submissions for anthologies looking for updated or continued versions of fairy tales, and one for stories set in the universe established by an out-of-print (and -copyright) book. Hey, that sounds like our first round prompt! But don’t worry—we won’t make you read a whole novel to enter.
April also marks a prompt style change for our fiction|poetry grid. We’re always adjusting the prompt for that grid, trying to keep it fresh and interesting. If there’s a prompt style you love but haven’t seen yet, why not drop us a line and let us know? We’ve ranged from “just include this word” to this month’s more complicated “include the answer to this question” to “try out this genre”—we want to give you a chance to stretch all your writing muscles. Even if a prompt style isn’t your exact cup of tea I highly recommend you try to get on the grid at least once in any given month: the lessons you’ll learn will serve you well on your way to the top of the popular vote.
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 #415
Casino Royale may have been the first James Bond novel, but it was the twenty first Bond movie. Still, it’s the book I want to talk about today, because in it Ian Fleming does something really interesting. Bond is in a casino, about to make a fantastic and subtle play in a game of cards. This play will establish Bond’s character and intelligence for the reader, it’s a fantastic show-don’t-tell moment, and there’s only one thing standing in Fleming’s way: he knows that whoever’s reading the book probably doesn’t play Baccarat. In fact, so few people play the game that for the movie it was replaced with poker (I have some feelings about this as a choice; poker is not at all a good analog for baccarat and the play doesn’t work—Bond comes across as slick and brutish rather than subtle and canny).
So anyway, Fleming ends up taking two entire pages out of the book to make sure you know how to play the game before Bond can make his move. The interesting thing (besides the rules) is that he manages to do it without breaking the narrative flow.
See where I’m going? Sometimes you’ll look at an essay you’re writing and realize that in order to really get a point you’re making your reader will need some background. There are two ways to accomplish that: weave it into the essay, or add a link. If you weave it into the essay, it’s important to make the inclusion as slick and seamless as possible so that your reader doesn’t lose track of your point by the time you have a chance to make it. If you use a link, be sure to make the link text visually distinctive so that your reader knows there’s more information to chase down if they’re puzzled.
Once upon a time I was given a competition prompt which forced me to write a romantic comedy. The end result was, well, let’s just agree to call it “not my finest work.” And I’m not a terrible writer, so why was the story so bad? Because I don’t read or watch romantic comedies. I just don’t. If you, like me, are writing in a genre or format that you don’t read, your story or poem, like mine, is most likely not going to be great. You’re going to end up reinventing, badly, things that already are genre tropes, or missing major elements of the genre or format.
When I recommend stretching your writing muscles, I’m also talking about reading and analyzing. If you want to write steampunk and you never have? Yes! Do it! But read some steampunk first. Get a feel for what you want to write. If you’re writing poetry but not reading any, you’re going to end up making the same tired mistakes that beginning poets make instead of drawing from the rich history and library available to you. And your poetry is going to suffer for it. (It’s not just you: I’m currently making my writing partner watch all of the BBC Hornblower miniseries because she wrote something utilizing half the tropes in Napoleonic War British Navy Sea Opera and I want her to be aware and conscious of all of them as she’s writing so that she can make real decisions about whether or not to include them and how fully.)
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #415
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
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