Writing Help
Looking for a few extra tips and tricks or craft hints? You’ve found YeahWrite’s Writing Help archive. Below, you’ll see a collection of the posts we think you’ll find helpful. Besides our monthly Nonfiction Know-How and Poetry Slams, we’ve included posts from past workshops, guest authors, classes, and the times one or another of our editors added some in-depth knowledge during a routine weekly post. Be sure to check out our favorite post: the one that defines the “so what.” Whether you write fiction, nonfiction, or correspondence, your reader should never be left asking… so what? We’ve also collected our best of the best posts about constructive criticism in one place, because writing help is also about helping each other write. Good luck, and happy writing!
Navigating Prompts: Style over Substance
Style and substance What makes a story a really good story? Anyone can write a list of events: "this happened, and then this, and I felt like that, and then this other thing happened." That's not a story; it's barely a narrative. Stories aren't all about...
Navigating Prompts: Retellings
Nothing new under the sun There are people who will tell you that there are no new stories. Some will go so far as to put a number on it, and swear that there are really only seven stories in the world, or nine, or twelve, or thirty-six. Whether or not you believe...
Navigating Prompts: Setting Descriptions
Location, location, location If you read a lot of—or any—fan fiction, you'll know that one of the most common tropes is "the coffeehouse AU." That is, take all the characters from the movie or book and... put them in a coffeehouse. Who's the bartender? Who's the one...
Navigating Prompts: Characters – Images
Is it possible If you put that search string into Google, you'll get a lot of autocomplete options. One of the most fascinating ones is "Is it possible to write a story without characters?" The answers are sure, certain: No. Yes. One of our favorite answers is "yes,...
Navigating Prompts: Action Prompts
Aaaaand.... ACTION! In the Western tradition - which most competitions follow - a story isn't a story unless something happens. Decisions need to be made, actions need to be taken, characters need to undergo transformations emotional or literal. Otherwise, what you've...
Navigating Prompts: Element-Based Genres
Sneaking a peek If you're anything like me, you're given to sneaking a peek into the market basket of the person ahead of you in line. Sure, it's gotten a bit more difficult with social distancing, but I can still make out a lot of the contents. I usually try to...
Navigating Prompts: Characters
Who goes there? It's possible to tell a story with no characters. Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" comes to mind, although even that sinks to anthropomorphism a bit. (CW: animal death) The first paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House is practically a...
Navigating Prompts: Landscapes and Landmarks
A picture is worth a thousand words It's a nice aphorism, isn't it? But in the case of a photo prompt, this could be a completely literal statement. A single photo—with or without people—can contain a multitude of stories both inside and outside the frame. So how does...
Navigating Prompts: Hit the road
Take this word and shove it Or rather—don't. As we've mentioned before, judges and editors want to see you incorporate a prompt, not just include it. They want to see where you go with your own story, told in your own unique style and voice, with pieces they give you....
Navigating Prompts: You Are Here
You are here There it is: the perfect prompt. A prompt that appeals to you in every way. A prompt that excites you so much that you can only hope to do it justice. Or maybe it's the opposite. Maybe you've got 24 hours to respond to this prompt and no idea where to...
20/20 Hindsight – Putting it all together
The final piece This is it: the culmination of a year of work! We've looked at your stories and essays inside out and upside down; we've changed their shape, size, and even point of view. Whether you participated every month or you decided to pick and choose the...
2020 Poetry Slam Roundup
Coda The last piece of music, the last stanza, the last closing remark. It's December, and that means it's time for the last poetry slam. This year we didn't focus on forms as much as techniques - I hope everyone learned something to take away, even if it's not for...
Cut the Strings: A Puppetmaster’s Guide to Characters – Complete
Do what I tell you! Do you ever find yourself yelling that at the computer screen or notebook page, while your characters resolutely refuse to participate in the plot? Do your stories feel wooden when you're done, even if the characters go where you tell them to? Is...
20/20 Hindsight – Tenth Variation
What if? 2020 has been a rollercoaster of a year, and we're sure we're not the only ones wondering if we've slipped into an alternative timeline or parallel universe—or maybe wishing we had. "What if" sounds like the stuff of speculative fiction—what if Hitler had...
One good turn
Have you ever read a story, certain you know where it's going, only to have the author take a sharp turn at the end? It's like walking through the forest and suddenly coming upon a pristine mountain lake. A turn like this can open your eyes to an entirely different...