Get the picture?
Interestingly, I’ve now been writing the weekly winners’ post for so long that the thing that takes the most time is picking out the header picture. Not because I hate looking at pictures, but because I love it. There are so many pictures out there, and they’re so nice, and the photographers are so talented, and I’ll often find myself drawn to one that turns out to be really unusable, and I want to talk about that for a second.
When I find a stock image to use in a post, I do the same assessment for it that I do for my story: who’s in it, and who’s the audience? And one of the things I run across again and again in a search for photos that aren’t just white people staring longingly at white people (I can turn around and see that on my couch, thanks, yes, he’s adorable) is that the photos are still taken by and for people who aren’t the subjects. What do I mean? Well, a couple weeks ago it took me over an hour to find a photo of a Black child that wasn’t “look at this poor kid” but was just a kid living their life, laughing or blowing bubbles or climbing on something. Guess how many photos of white kids I found doing those things? Mhm. See the problem? All I was finding were exoticized images taken by white people that fit into a narrative white people have, instead of realistically depicting a range of subjects. We do this in writing, too: it’s easy to simplify and make exotic people “not like us” in one way or another, whether it’s age, race, gender, or ability. (More on this in the fiction roundup, folks.) Remember when you write: if a person who superficially resembles a person in my story read it, could they see themself in it as a whole, complex, human? If I don’t know for sure that the answer is yes, I need someone else with relevant experience to at least skim through the story and doublecheck it. Because they’re my audience, too, and I want to make sure they know it by writing stories that don’t make them feel exoticized and excluded.
Speaking of stories, scroll down to see who won the popular vote this week for theirs. 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!
But we don’t limit kudos to posts: our commentariat commendation goes to a writer who has gone above and beyond to offer help and community to authors with work on the grids. 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 find a comment to commend, we’ll let you know in the Roundup section.
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 #487
Here’s a fun exercise to try, which will help avoid a problem that’s been popping up on our nonfiction grid lately: start from the middle and write outward.
Often we start our stories at the chronological beginning, or our essays with a bunch of facts and then try to zoom in on a point. But the next essay you write, try flipping the script and starting by writing a sentence that says the thing you’re trying to say in your essay, whether that’s “honestly it’s fine if I turn into an old cat lady, that’s #goals” or “there are valid critiques to be made of any politician but demeaning their body isn’t ever going to be one.” Then write outward from there, gathering the information or anecdotes your reader needs to understand your point. Plug those things in around your so-what (oh, did I sneak in another way to nail down your so-what? oops), write a little connective tissue to hold them together, and you’ve got an essay with a point, and with supporting information that connects back to the point without a lot of extraneous fluff hiding your good ideas.
I like to throw Steven King under the bus a lot, and I really really need him to stop being a garbage person on Twitter so that I can use his good ideas and advice without feeling weird about it. Steve, if you’re reading this, check yourself before you wreck yourself. ANYWAY. My point is, I read IT (many spoilers in this link) for the first time when I was the age that Bill, Ben, Mike, Eddie, Stan, and Bev were supposed to be in the book, and I thought, as I so rarely thought in those days when I consumed books like I was starving, this guy gets it. He remembers being a kid, and how kids think. Kids may speak in simplified sentences often, but it’s a lack of vocabulary, not a lack of reasoning capacity or intelligence or imagination. They think just fine. My point is, the way kids talk and think is usually not the way adults write kids talking and thinking. So if your major exposure to kids talking—especially young kids, who have a tendency to say things like “I want to see what the inside of your head looks like”—is books written by adults, you’re probalby going to sound like an adult doing an oversimplified kid voice (also looking at you, cartoons that have adults doing that fake kid voice in the voiceover). And hey – this goes for any group that doesn’t look or sound like you, from rural vs city folks, to different ethnic groups, to old people. Remember to listen to the folks like your characters, if you want your characters to sound believable to them (and isn’t that your audience?). And that people think more often and thoroughly than we give them credit for.
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 #487
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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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.
