IT IS MY SEASON AND I DONT CARE WHO KNOWS HOW HAPPY I AM
It’s pouring rain outside. I just ate grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. The sun goes down at a reasonable @#!$!@# hour. And I have more energy than at any time of the year.
Which is good, because it’s been a long summer mostly off from personal writing projects, and on for work-work, other people’s ideas, and that kitchen remodel. But now I’ve got a mug of cocoa, a little warm circle of light to sit in, and all I wanna do is jump back in.
But it’s not that easy, is it? It feels like I’ve forgotten how to write. I used to churn 2K+ words a day, and now I’m struggling with a couple paragraphs. But just like non-metaphorical muscles, my writing muscles are still there. I just need to build them back up with a few short stories, some fun writing projects like that fanfic I’ve been thinking about, and a cozy character sketch or two. And the grid’s a great place to do that (well, not the fanfic, that’s a copyright issue and is private for just-me), because it reminds me to build in time to my week for writing, and to read other people’s writing. And hey, someday I might even make it back to the top of the popular vote!
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 three 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 our 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 #442 Weekly Writing Challenge Staff Picks:
Microprose
When it comes to fears, one of my biggest ones is not knowing the difference between what’s real and what’s, well, all in my head. The horror in Ruby’s story comes from the understanding that no matter what we try to do or tell ourselves, it won’t make a difference—if there really is something to be afraid of. The second-person narration heightens the terror by putting us inside the story. In the end Ruby gives a timeless and ubiquitous fear a beautifully modern take: “apply therapy and drugs so you stop seeing monsters” coupled with “the monsters are real.”
Horror without violence and gore is hard to pull off. It requires the writer to make a deep emotional connection with the reader and then manipulate that relationship. Doing all that plus sticking to a short word count? It’s trickier than it looks.
In …safe, Shannon uses subliminal imagery to present us with a paradox; in the presence of so much light and warmth, we should still be fearful. Light and dark are commonly used motifs in literature to convey positive and negative emotions [you can read more about it here, and about black and white dualism here]. Shannon contrasts images of light and dark in this short piece, and draws our emotions from happiness and comfort (light) to fearfulness and distrust (dark). Initially, they give us every reason we should not fear, every reason to let our guard down. Underlying each statement of safety, however, is a reference to a deep fear. By writing phrases in the negative and referencing symbols of darkness, Shannon hints at the folly of feeling too comfortable. The final sentence confirms our growing sense of creepiness. By using ‘and yet’, they slow the pace of the narrative and give the reader an opportunity to reflect on the juxtaposition of the reasons for feeling safe with the underlying message of fear.
“The call is coming from inside the house.” It sounds cliche now, but it’s actually a summary of one of the most effective techniques in horror: Start by listing all the little things that are subtly wrong, and then cut to the BIG one that you should have seen all along, the one standing…right…behind… excuse me. I’m going to go sleep with the light on now.
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #442
Jump in! That’s terrible advice if you live near me and are thinking about swimming, but pretty good advice no matter where you live if you’re thinking about a personal essay. Like made-up stories, personal essays can hold a reader’s attention better if you start where the action starts. If you only had three sentences to get a reader interested… could you? Some openers that might grab you:
I hadn’t realized horses were so tall – or so fast.
The train pulled away without me.
“I think you’ll be fine,” he said doubtfully.
One of the things I pay a lot of attention to as an editor is voice. If I edit my author’s voice out of their work, they’re not going to want to hire me again, because the final product sounds like me, not them. Just like authors, characters have their own unique voices. Maybe they have an accent or a verbal tic like a repeated phrase, but maybe it’s not as obvious as that. Maybe their word order starts to slip when they’re tired or stressed, going back to the linguistic structure of their first language. Maybe they don’t use contractions. Maybe they speak very precisely and calmly, always. But each character should speak differently, and that, too, should probably sound different from the narrator’s voice (unless the story is in first person, of course). Making sure your characters have unique voices can help demonstrate connections between them, distance them from each other, and keep them memorable.
What do you do when your shortcuts are taken away? We found out this week as writers tried to get a horror story onto the page in 60 words without using any of the easiest methods. No death? No violence? No blood? Stripping a genre down to its (figurative: no death!) bones requires a solid understanding of what those bones are. But once you know, you can write up from there. At a baseline, a horror story scares the reader as much as the characters. This means there needs to be enough specificity about what’s going on and who the characters are for the reader to invest in them and then be genuinely concerned about what happens next, expecting the worst. (Protip: this actually works for most genres- the major difference is what you expect to happen. Romance? invest in characters and be worried that they won’t find love. Fantasy? invest in characters and be worried that they won’t defeat the evil dragon.)
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 challenge grids will be kicking off right here at midnight!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #442
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.
