Finish lines
I’m trying to be a better adult this week, which means cleaning up around my desk. I’m not an inherently tidy person, and my desk (and the floor, and the little table) have a way of accumulating the dozens of things my spouse hands to me randomly over the course of a week or two before wandering off back to his own desk (which is clean because see above, he just hands me stuff like I’m gonna stop working and go deal with it?). This stuff in turn buries my own projects before I finish them.
The upshot of all that is that I found like three nearly-finished knitting projects on my desk. Things that will take 15 minutes (ok, a couple hours, but still) to wrap up, and then I’ll have an ACTUAL FINISHED THING. [ed’s note: it’s psychologically fascinating that junk I make is “things” and junk he makes is “stuff.” /rbg] Why didn’t I finish them before? Who knows. But it’s reminding me to take a look through my stories and see if any of them are in the same shape. Maybe I’ve got an essay half-done or that only needs a quick editorial pass, that’ll be ready for the grid this week. If most of the writing is already done, I’ll have the few extra hours I need to get it ready to win 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 #462
One of the best ways to keep your writing fresh is to play with structure (did you read Hema’s mosaic essay this week?). Just don’t focus on structure to the exclusion of substance. When you try too hard to tick off structural boxes like “foreshadowing” or “flashback” your work can sound stilted or coy, especially if you’re also trying to tick off a “big reveal” box. (FICTION WRITERS THIS MEANS YOU, TOO.) Let your story flow naturally the first time, and add those things in edits if you need them. It’s MUCH easier to add a little foreshadowing later than to foreshadow something that you’re not exactly sure you’re going to write. Maybe I’m talking to myself here, though, because I just had to rip out paragraphs of foreshadowing from this novel after the plot went somewhere else.
In nonfic, we talk about the “so what” that makes the reader stay engaged. There’s a so what in fiction, too, did you know? For nonfiction, the “so what” is “does your reader care about you and what you’re talking about.” In fiction, the reader still needs to care about the main character and what they’re doing. That means you need to know your main character pretty well, and let your reader know enough about them to make a connection… just like if you were writing nonfiction.
Y’all, it’s like writing is pretty much a set of the same principles whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. WHO WOULDA THUNK IT.
With only one more week left in the poetry slam, I wanna say… y’all are probably overthinking this. It seems like everyone’s struggling to get words on paper, but all you need to do is think of an object and its most obvious characteristic and then… not do that. Are roses red and blooming? Say “You’re like a rose, blue and closed up for the night.” Are nights dark? “Her eyes were like the night, spangled and pooled with lights.” Boom, unexpected metaphor.
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 #462
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.
