Challenges
Ever since Christine took over the voting post she’s been messing with me. She knows I like to follow up the voting post featured pic with a related picture for the winners’ post. So this week she snuck in and put this weird, vaguely obscene, mountain thing, with kind of most of a reflection. What am I supposed to do with this? Bob Ross? More mountains? This is just cruel.
What I’m saying is, I guess, that I struggled with this week’s photo prompt.
It’s good to work with prompts that aren’t necessarily in your wheelhouse. Or not your favorite style. It’s good to stay in the habit of writing, and you’ll learn something about yourself as a writer, even if you don’t land at the top of the popular vote that week. 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 #428
Something I find myself repeating when I teach creative nonfiction is “it doesn’t have to mean anything to your readers when they start. Show them what it means to you and they’ll care about it.” You don’t have to be heavy-handed about it, or say “I love this” over and over. Look at Parul’s post this week describing how a sense of community can be built around cricket. You don’t have to care about the game (in fact, not all of the people she’s describing care about the game) to understand the “so-what” of this piece, about how we connect and drift apart and build social structures — uninvited — around seemingly inconsequential events. Which in turn lends consequence to those events. Which reminds me: the other piece of advice I often give is “it doesn’t have to be about the most dramatic thing that ever happened to you.” We can’t all fall into the Grand Canyon- but we all have met a broken household appliance in our lives. And that? can give you plenty to write about.
(Not sure if you’ve given your readers enough, though? Grab a beta reader who doesn’t know you or your story and offer to trade work. You might be surprised at what you’ve left out!)
My mother cannot stop saying “when you assume, you make an Ass of U and Me!” While she’s irritating sometimes, she’s not necessarily wrong, especially when it comes to writing. Don’t assume your readers know anything about your characters – not even what they look like. Are you assuming things about your characters’ skin color, background, knowledge, and limb count that your readers can’t possibly know? Let them know.* What are you assuming your reader knows about how your world works? Do they really know? Have you told them (or at least implied) the rules of magic, or the law of the land, if that’s relevant to the plot? One of the reasons we get in the habit of making these assumptions is that they work well as long as we’re handing our stories to people just like us. If I don’t describe a character, someone who grew up in my same small town will make the same assumptions I do about what a “default person” looks and sounds like. But will someone who grew up in a big city think the same thing? What if the city is on a different continent? To reach more readers, make fewer assumptions.
*this is not an excuse for lazy writing. Don’t use race as a shortcut for specific individual characteristics.
That’s it for this week! 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! If you’re more the self-help type, remember to scroll through our writing help section for tips and tricks. Even if a post isn’t directed at your favorite grid, there’s probably a handy hint for you in there anyway! 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 challenges kick off at midnight tonight!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #428
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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