Whether it's your first time or your sixth time, writing a novella in 12 weeks isn't easy.
As a 2021 ONC Winner and 2023 Honorable Mention, I would know. After years of participation and reflection, I have lots of advice to share on how I did it. In...
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Ahh, prose. The actual words on the page. The descriptions you work to perfect so they'll be utterly spellbinding for readers. That's what good prose is: descriptive, engaging, and above all, clear. Bad prose, or prose that is confusing or muddled (aka purpose prose) is a big no-no. Especially duringa writing contest like the ONC.
Since I'm not an expert on the English language or a huge fan of my own prose/style, I've complied some prose-related videos made by the lovely ShaelinWrites (who also runs the Reedsy channel) and RachelWrites. Both are Canadian Youtubers with Creative Fiction Degrees, and I really recommend checking out their other writing videos if you haven't already. They are great resources and write some stellar short fiction.
Here is video number one, which focuses on how to avoid that pesky purple prose.
The second, also by Shaelin, explains the classic "show, don't tell"/"describe, don't explain" advice with great depth.
Rachel Writes made this rad video about verbs. The trick she talks about is simple, but oh-so effective!
Then there's this great video about how to improve your descriptions and imagery.
And another about word choice, diction, and function.
Finally, if you want to see live line edits, Rachel and Shaelin have these amazing series where they edit their subscribers submitted work or some of their old stories. Here is one of Rachel's.
