New Year’s Evolutions
Like an inspiration-type Pokemon, YeahWrite occasionally evolves. This year, that means the Nonfiction Know-how is retiring in favor of its evolved form: the Technique Toolbox. “TnT” is a more dynamite acronym than NfKn anyway. That’s been bugging me for a while.
Don’t worry: you’ll still get all the nonfiction tips and tricks at our disposal. This change will just add some more-fiction-focused writing help as well. And of course it all crosses over. What you learn about plot arc in fiction will help shape your ability to tell a personal story, and what you learn about persuasion from nonfiction will help you add nuance to your fiction and make the reader really hate that bad guy.
Like most of us, the YeahWrite editors are kicking off 2018 with a promise to ourselves and each other to write more, read more, and edit more. That means we’ll be looking around the web for inspiration, and some of that inspiration will show up in our posts. One of the topics at a recent group chat was the downside of prompts and inspiration: the posts that look overwhelmed by it.
Let’s face it: if your readers are wading through more prompts and shoutouts than they are actual post, you’re probably losing their interest. So this month we’re going to walk through some ways to give credit for your inspiration while keeping your readers’ eyes and brains focused on the important part: your writing.
Front and Center
Where is the main text of your post?
If it’s not the first thing the reader sees, it should be. Much like beginning in medias res, beginning with your actual story draws the reader in. Think about it. Do you want to read a bunch of “why I wrote this story” or do you want to read a story? As a reader, why are you here?
This means that your shoutouts, whether visual or verbal, need to be modified for subtlety. It also means that if your post isn’t longer than your shoutouts, you’re probably not writing enough words. There’s a tipping point beyond which yes, it’s a challenge to fit more prompts into your writing but it’s not necessarily doing your writing any favors. Find it, and don’t go past it!
A Picture is Worth No Words At All
If you’ve got a picture prompt, there are two ways to handle it subtly. One is to make it the “featured image” in your post. This may mean cropping or resizing the picture, or refocusing on a specific area of the image. That’s okay! You can do that! You’ve already done it in your writing.
Another way to include a picture prompt is to put it at the end of your post and talk about where you found it. If you do this, take a second to look at the post in its entirety: is the picture physically as large as the rest of the post? Reduce it. Consider putting it in a “thumbnail view” so that it doesn’t overwhelm readers but they can click to enlarge. And for accessibility, consider captioning the picture like so: [Image: an antique toolbox with several shallow drawers, all closed].
If you’re making a picture prompt the featured image, it’s ok to include a note about it at the end of your post and a link to where you got the prompt. We’ll give you some suggestions for wording at the end of this post.
Word Up
What do you do when your prompt is a word, phrase, or description? Well, the easiest thing is to include that word, phrase or description at the end of the post, not the beginning. Try putting it in a smaller (not so small that it’s illegible) font or making it a dark grey instead of black to visually cue your readers that what they’re about to see is not part of the story.
These visual cues are important because depending on your writing style it can be pretty easy to “just keep reading” after the story is technically done. Another way to visually cue your reader is to insert a divider between your work and your prompt. If you do that, take a look and make sure you don’t need another one afterward to make your comment section clear too!
Hold Me
The last thing I want to talk about here is linkups. Last chronologically, I guess, not emotionally. Linkups are fantastic ways to get more eyes on your writing, meet other bloggers, or get prompts and inspiration. But they can also have huge badges (ask me about the old YeahWrite badge) and lots of images and backlinks.
If you can, keep those badges and backlinks in a single line at the bottom of your post. This may mean that if you link to more than one linkup you’ll need to use columns or move images around but trust me, it’s worth it. You’ll get more comments if your readers don’t have to scroll through miles of badges to find the place to leave their thoughts.
OK, OK, but about those samples…
What’s a good, but subtle way to talk about where you found inspiration? Well, after your badge or line of badges, you can add some of the following phrases. Consider using a smaller or paler font to keep the main focus on your text.
- This week I drew inspiration from Linkup Party. [If you do this, put a link to that linkup where the italics are.]
- I’m trying out a 50 word microprose post with the crew at YeahWrite this week. Won’t you join us? [Obviously, put in the right wordcount and a link to the micro post with the rules and grid.]
- A little fiction inspired by the rules at Fiction Prompt Site. This week we had to include a character whose occupation was baker. Check it out! [Don’t forget to use the name of the site, and link back.]
- This image by Flossy McFlower on her photography website was the prompt for this week’s post. [Make sure you link to Flossy’s website.]
See what these shoutouts have in common? They’re super short, tell your reader where to find more information, and don’t just spill your thought process about why you wanted to enter a challenge all over the page. Instead they let your story speak for itself.
But what if you’ve used more than one prompt? Check these out:
- I’m trying on a couple prompts this week: a character from Priya’s Fiction Ideas Site and a setting image from Aham’s Weekly Challenge. Why not check them out for your own work? [Remember to link those italics. See how you can give your reader the full image without taking up your whole post?]
- I was looking hard for inspiration this week and found a couple sites I love: [links]
- Setting inspiration from the image above, courtesy of Malika’s Daily Ideas. My character Jacq is inspired by a prompt from Vadik’s Weekly Prompts and the golden ball came from Nate’s Notions. [link, link, link. don’t clutter up your text with a bunch of URLs.]
See how I didn’t bullet or list out the inspirations? This keeps them from being visually more imposing than the text of your post.
A Couple Rules
Obviously, there’s no way I covered every possible source of inspiration on the ‘net in this post, so here’s a few quick rules that will help you deal with new ideas and challenges:
- Your shoutouts shouldn’t be bigger/longer than your post. This means reducing images and consolidating/linking ideas without describing them.
- A reader should be able to tell immediately where your text ends and your thanks/shoutouts begin.
- Don’t reiterate every word of a prompt. Instead describe the type of prompt and link to the permalink for the prompt at its site.
- Remember: YeahWrite loves your prompts but we love ours too. If you’re writing for other challenges or linkups, you’re welcome to link to our Weekend Writing Showcase but not to our main challenge grids.
- Try to stay focused on what your readers need to know. Why is it important to you that they understand where your prompt came from? If you want them to join a challenge too, try to link everything they need to know to do that. If the post is a departure from your norm and you don’t want to confuse them, just throw in a few words about “trying something new for [site, permanent URL of that challenge].” Otherwise, most challenges and sites now have badges that speak for themselves!
See you – and your inspiration – next week!
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.
