the speakeasy at yeah write #78 is open
I never decided to start writing fiction. It’s just what happened. Until someone invented the blog, my only relationship with non-fiction was fantasizing about how awesome it would feel to write some kind of big historical treatise. That would last until I realized how much work that would be, and how lazy I was. Then it was back to telling stories where I could make things up. I like it when all the citations point back to my brain.
That’s why I’m honored to be hosting the first all-fiction-and-poetry week at the Speakeasy. It’s my jam. My world. There’s a craft and beauty in all kinds of writing, but it’s made-up stuff I get. The really good part – my favorite part, really – is that I’m here for the best possible theme: Tales of the strange, the supernatural, and the unexplained. If fiction is the town where I live, fantasy is my home address. When done correctly, fantasy is a glimpse into things at once beyond our understanding and elementally familiar. When we glimpse the truly strange we remember how vast, how unknown our world can be, and we feel a bit of the unknowable within ourselves. We feel small, but we also feel revitalized by remembering that anything – truly anything– is possible.
Writing Broken Magic taught me a vital lesson, and I’m going to share it with you. This is, I believe, the very heart of writing about the strange:
Magic doesn’t behave.
It just pretends to. It gives us just enough of itself to make us think we understand before yanking out the rug. The truly strange is wild, uncontrolled, always slipping out of our grasp. If it worked exactly as we expected, if it’s no stranger than your blender or your DVD player, then it’s not the Strange anymore. It’s not Unexplained. What makes the fantastic fantastical is that you can’t predict it, can’t control it. You feel it, know it maybe, but you never understand it.
That’s what I’d like you to think about as you work on your entries this week: the truly strange is strange because it’s got a foot outside of our world, and while it might play by some of our rules, it doesn’t play by all of them. Which rules it follows might not be the same today as they are tomorrow.
The only rules magic needs to follow in fiction are the rules of awesome storytelling. Awe yourself and you’ll awe your audience. I’ll get to that in later weeks.
The winner of this week – and the next three – will win a copy of my novel, Broken Magic. It’s a coming of age story about the awkwardness of high school, the pain and joy of love, and the wonder of seeing the unexplained.
I’m so excited to get to spend the month with you all. Now bring all the Weird you can muster in 1,000 words or less.
Tales of the Strange, the Supernatural, and the Unexplained
Be sure to use the mandatory visual prompt
Grid closes to submissions October 10, 11:59 pm
Voting begins October 11, 12:00 am, ends October 11, 9:00 pm
Winner announced Friday, October 12, 12:00 am
Please visit the yeah write challenge grid.
OK. i’m a huge fan of fiction but have never even tried my hand at the supernatural, etc. that said, i’m soooo willing to do so and might have something worthy of linking … but i’m just not sure how much of that creeptastic prompt needs to be in my piece.
I’m so happy to hear you’re in! The prompt needs to be referenced in some way, but doesn’t need to be the central point of the story. As long as we can see the prompt’s presence in/influence on the story in some way, it’s good.
If Flood sees any problem prompt-wise she’ll let you know. My advice is to not get stressed about it! If you can see the prompt in it, we probably can, too.
Can’t wait to see you on the grid!
where is everyone??
I’m wondering the same thing. Is everyone out there feeling fiction-shy?
Hmmm… I’d love to read more, too! Come out, come out wherever you are!!
Maybe wearing the scary costume when I introduced the grid was a tactical error.
For me, it’s just a crazy week. I knew what I wanted to do for my nonfiction piece. This one is something I’ve been threatening Flood with for some time, but I’ve finally got it stompled into semi-submission now. CONCRIT WELCOME.
Nice to see you on the grid! Can’t wait to read your piece!
How will the winners be announced (just a posting of say the top 3?) and does the grid move with the votes like the challenge grid, or is it a mystery till it’s done?
And I JUST star the ones I liked best….no excel spreadsheet to fill out…right?
Correct! Just star the ones you like best! The grid won’t move around until voting is closed, though after you vote, you’ll see – I think – the vote totals under each person. Once everything closes, a winner-post will go up in the right order.
Let me know if you have any other questions!