The little things
Sometimes it feels like writing is all you’ve got left, the one thing that will always be there for you. Through thick and thin the words spill out. Good? Bad? Who knows. Write another poem. Other times, one little thing can make it completely impossible to write a single word. Your glass was on the wrong side of your plate at breakfast, or you only have your second-favorite flavor of soda, or you can’t find any blue underwear. No matter which kind of writing week you have, we’re here for you. And if you can’t get your own words out, remember to drop by and read everyone else’s, leave a comment (maybe that’ll break your writer’s block) and tap that heart to help someone else 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 the trends we’re seeing. 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!
And for our ninth birthday we added a little something new. Our commentariat commendation goes to a writer who has gone above and beyond to offer help and community to someone with work on the grids. You don’t need to post to the grids to earn it, but you do need to read and comment. We’re looking for comments that go beyond “I liked this” to “this is how you can make your work the best version of itself” by pointing out issues kindly and giving praise where it’s warranted. You can check out our Critic’s Guide for examples of what we mean, but we don’t limit the commentariat commendation to posts with the concrit badge on. There are definitely still ways to help and support authors who don’t feel confident asking for robust criticism, and we trust our community to find them. On weeks when we see a comment to commend, we’ll let you know in the Roundup section.
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 both grids. If you earned the highest number of votes in any challenge, you are this week’s Crowd Favorite! If you came in 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!
YeahWrite #483 Weekly Writing Challenge Staff Picks:
Nonfiction
We often talk about hooking a reader into our writing early, but don’t always examine what that looks like. In this essay, Amber places her hook in the very first sentence, in just twelve words. She establishes setting and tone, and then pivots to the unexpected. Amber shows us a clear image of the setting (summer in South Jersey), and uses standard summer tropes (warmth, relaxation, vacations, fun) to set up a jarring contrast in the second half of the sentence. There’s a marked tone shift, inviting us to read further, to explore the incongruity between our halcyon expectations of summers at the beach, and the terrifying inevitability of drownings. Through a series of comparisons, Amber sets up a clear demarcation between the naïve, self-assured visitors (the “shoobies”) and the more experienced, cautious locals. The motifs of loss and return, of emerging from and being reclaimed by the sea, and the anthropomorphism of the ocean ascribe it a callousness and relentlessness of purpose. Vivid imagery and phrase repetition work in concert to link and contrast the different settings and experiences, so that what could have been a preachy “us vs them” essay becomes instead a contemplation of mortality, luck, and the meaning of inevitability.
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #483
I’m going to take a page out of Asha’s book and talk about expectations this week. When you write about an experience or memory, one way to keep it from feeling stale is to play with your reader’s expectations. That means knowing your tropes: is the ocean calm and sweet-smelling, or does it smell like rotting seaweed and lurk at the edge of the sand waiting to steal children? If it’s summer, are all the trees covered in green leaves and is the sun warm? That’s expected. So expected that you almost don’t have to write it; you can just say “it’s summer” and people will fill in the blanks for you. But if you’ve got an image or emotion that runs counter to the common vision, use it to keep your reader interested. “It was summer, and the ground was covered in ice as I picked my way across the patio.” “I walked between the brown, dead trees of the summer forest.” See what I mean?
Christine says I throw her under the bus a lot. Sorry, Christine. Please go stand in the road for me again?
One thing she and I learned when we started working on joint projects was that we write best together in present tense. There’s an immediacy to present tense that keeps the story churning along even when we have to take breaks for days or sometimes weeks. “She’s not far,” I hedge, conscious that I’m alone in a stranger’s house and that only my dead mother knows I’m here. See what I mean? The problem is, some of these stories work better in past tense, because past tense allows for more foreshadowing, different phrasing and different knowledge on the narrator’s part. And those are key giveaways to spotting tense changes, even if you’re one of the lucky few who gets all the verbs swapped out correctly on the first try.
I’m kidding, there are no lucky few who get all the verbs swapped out correctly on the first try. Moving from past to present or present to past doesn’t mean just adjusting the verbs for the actions the character is taking; you have to change out all the verbs for memories, too. In present tense:
It makes me think, suddenly and irrationally, of sitting at the kitchen table, my mother’s head bent over mine and a pencil in my fist as I tried to work the math notebook. “I can’t,” I’d said, pushing the book away. “Just tell me.” / “I can’t do it for you,” Mom had replied. “I could tell you the answer, but I can’t learn how to come up with it, and that’s the point of homework. You aren’t supposed to be learning the answer. You’re supposed to be learning how answers work.” And then she’d pulled the book toward me.
But here’s what that looks like in past tense.
It made me think, suddenly and irrationally, of sitting at the kitchen table, my mother’s head bent over mine and a pencil in my fist as I tried to work the math notebook. “I can’t,” I’d said, pushing the book away. “Just tell me.” / “I can’t do it for you,” Mom replied. “I could tell you the answer, but I can’t learn how to come up with it, and that’s the point of homework. You aren’t supposed to be learning the answer. You’re supposed to be learning how answers work.” And then pulled the book toward me.
You can even write that, with a little editing, so that part of the flashback is in present tense. Weird, huh?
It made me think, suddenly and irrationally, of sitting at the kitchen table, my mother’s head bent over mine and a pencil in my fist as I tried to work the math notebook. The memory was clear and bright, my voice in my ears saying “I can’t, just tell me.” / “I can’t do it for you,” Mom had replied. “I could tell you the answer, but I can’t learn how to come up with it, and that’s the point of homework. You aren’t supposed to be learning the answer. You’re supposed to be learning how answers work.” And then she’d pulled the book toward me.
I guess what I’m saying is there are more moving parts to swapping tenses than just changing all the verbs one notch back or forward on the dial. Give real thought to which verbs should change in what way. And then go back and check who knows what when, because your present-tense narrator—even if they’re an omniscient third party—won’t have all the information your past-tense narrator does.
That’s it for this week! Remember, we don’t always give out a pick on each 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 challenges kick off at midnight tonight!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #483
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.
