From now until December 30, 2014, The Young Voices Foundation is accepting short stories from students in grades K-12 for their writing contest, Young Voices of America Tell Their Stories. You can write any type of story you want but the story can’t be longer than 10,000 words. Follow this link to enter and make sure you read all the rules.
Thanks, Mikaela, for sharing this contest with us. Good luck to everyone who enters!
Not just for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades anymore! The site now includes kid-friendly writing rubrics and checklists for 6th grade. Based on the Common Core Standards. Free. Easy to use. Complete. Get yours here.
Neve has risen to the challenge and continued the group poem, Unicorn, with two awesome verses. Follow the link to see how she did it.
Awhile ago, Elsy asked for suggestions on how we might celebrate the site’s birthday, which is February 4. Mikaela responded by suggesting a writing contest. I’d like to know how everyone feels about this idea. Feel free to comment below.
Mikeala came up with a fantastic idea for Group Projects: working together to write poetry. Someone would write the first verse, then someone else would write the second verse and so on. She’s done this with her friends and I think it sounds like a lot of fun.
So I’ve added a new section called Group Projects~Poems. You’ll find it listed over there on the right – keep scrolling down!
To get started, select this link: Instructions. You’ll find some topics you could write about, but don’t feel like you’re limited to these topics – you can start a poem about anything you wish, as often as you’d like. Just remember that if you’re starting a new poem, give it a title so I can list your poem under the Group Projects~Poems section for others to discover, read and continue.
Thanks for the suggestion, Mikeala – I love it!
Go grab something good to drink then hurry and come back. There’s plenty of great fantasy to read and comment on today!
In Chapter Four of Auras, Elsy cranks up the tension by letting us see how horrible the bad guys are.
In Chapter Four of Elsy’s Marked Five, you’ll be thrilled to learn what the title of this story really means.
Neve introduces a dangerous and deadly beast in her fantasy, Flight. She also requested our first-ever reader poll. I’ve included it at the end of her submission. Please take a second to add your vote to this poll. I know she’ll appreciate it!
I love being able to share all these great ongoing stories but remember: If you’re submitting a continuation of an ongoing story, please include the story’s name. We’re getting quite the collection and it really makes it easier on me. Thanks!
Elsy suggested a fantastic addition to the site: Polls you create for your own writing submissions. This is an excellent way for you to find out how others feel about your story, submission and/or writing. You can ask readers things like: Who is your favorite character? What is your favorite chapter? What do you think should happen next? For nonfiction, you could ask questions like: What fact did you find most interesting? What new thing did you learn? What else would you like to know about this topic?
I could go on and on, but as the writer, it’s really up to you. You create the poll’s question and the answer choices, then I’ll post the poll at the end of your submission. If it’s an ongoing story, I can post the poll wherever you’d like readers to tell you what they’re thinking.
Then, you can find out how readers are responding by selecting “View Results” at the bottom of your poll whenever and as often as you’d like.
If you’d like to add a poll to your submitted writing, you’ll need to include the following:
Fun, right? And it’s great information for every writer to have!
Not only did Elsy come up with this great suggestion, she also added to the Mystery Group Project, giving the main character a reason for being down in the basement while continuing the eeriness introduced by Mikaela. You should go read that, then add to the story. After that? I’m looking forward to posting some great polls, so you should get busy on those, too!
Comments
So here goes. Mikaela posted this question earlier today:
I’ve been thinking, I’d like to focus my attention to two or three stories at the most, instead of turning every idea into a story that I never finish. I feel overwhelmed at all the stories I’ve started, and I know that I probably won’t finish them all. So do you think I could remove Annavava, twilight hero (both versions) and Eagle? I know that’s a lot but I don’t think I’ll be working on those stories anymore, or at least for a while.
It’s no problem removing stories from the site. Just make sure you have a copy of your own before you ask me to. You might change your mind and feel like working on them again someday.
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announcements, Explanations, Site updates, submitting
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