You may say I’m a dreamer…
It’s Friday, and once again I didn’t get enough sleep during the week. But it’s for a good reason: I spent some of those extra hours chasing a real-life dream of mine. If you dream of being a writer, that dream may seem so far off. But if you don’t chase it, you’ll never catch it. Try to commit to doing one thing each week that moves you a little closer to your dream, whether that’s jotting down the outline for your novel in five color-coded pens or just spending fifteen minutes writing a short story on your phone at the bus stop. That’s the secret. Just maintain a little forward momentum. You can’t quit your job to become a writer every week, but you can put some words on paper (or a screen) every week. Even if it’s only five words. Or you can read a story in the genre you like to write in and think about how it works and what you can use in your own work. Or stop by the grids here – even in a week you don’t write – to read and offer constructive criticism to other writers. Every little bit counts.
In the meantime, let’s take a look at those grids, and see who made it to the top this week. 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 all the 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 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 #416 Weekly Writing Challenge Staff Picks:
Microprose
What We Know by Jen Mierisch
Here’s the thing: it’s really hard to write a good micro that isn’t just a character sketch, vignette, or summary. In What We Know, Jen takes advantage of the micro form to tell a story that would have been easy to overwrite in a longer form. Her tight, declarative sentences are more than just a summary of the action; they help escalate the tension while misdirecting the reader’s attention to the romance. Finally, instead of a coy twist, her ending clarifies the true plot of the story. It’s a spy novel in (very!) short form.
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #416
In this month’s poetry slam, I suggested that if you want to write poetry you should be reading it. The same advice goes for any nonfiction writing: read in the genre you write. Not all nonfiction is created equal. If you want to write a food post, read food blogs. See what people do well and how you can incorporate ther ideas. The same goes for travel, parenting, pets, grief, or any other subject you may want to write about. It’s 2019 and there’s very little untrodden ground out there for nonfiction. That’s fine: nobody will tell your stories just like you. But it also means you have a whole lot of people who have already made beginner mistakes for you to learn from. Take this wealth of essays as a gift!
Plot! What is it?
At its simplest, plot is what stands between your character (who wants something) and getting the thing they want. If you look at your story and you can’t identify a character with a want or need, some actions they take toward getting it, an obstacle, and consequences if they fail, you probably don’t have a plot.
Now, would someone invent a time machine to go back about three years and tell me that before I write the story I just found on my old hard drive?
The advice to kill your darlings is never more apt than when we’re writing microprose. While you may have come up with the perfect line, trying to shoehorn your story around it in a tight space almost never leads to a good finished product. Let go of an adjective, use an active verb instead of that verb-adverb pair, or (gasp) cut that sentence entirely to make room for the story you’re trying to tell, instead of the words you wanted to use in it.
That’s it for this week! Remember, we don’t always give out a pick on every 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 grids open tonight (well, technically tomorrow) at midnight!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #416
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
Loading InLinkz ...Fiction|Poetry
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.
