#296 Me Against the World with Rebecca Heyman

This week, we're running a takeover in collaboration with Reedsy freelancer Rebecca Heyman! The winner of Rebecca's contest will not only be awarded $250 — they’ll also receive a special bonus prize: personal feedback from Rebecca herself. For your chance to get insight from one of Reedsy’s very own professionals, read on! Here's Rebecca:

Hi, writers! I’m Rebecca Faith Heyman, longtime Reedsy editor and creator of First Line Frenzy®, an ongoing community learning project for writers. You can check out my profile and thousands of other professional freelancers’ profiles on Reedsy’s Marketplace here.

Over the years, I’ve hosted dozens of first-line critiques with Reedsy Live, and the most popular request I get from all of you is: “Can you look at more? One line isn’t enough.” Well, the opportunity has finally arrived.

No matter what genre I’m reading or editing, compelling, complex characters pull me in and keep me turning pages. Some of the most memorable characters in literature are those who fundamentally struggle to navigate the world: socially, like Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice; physically, like Katniss in The Hunger Games; mentally and emotionally, like Aza in Turtles All The Way Down. These characters are in constant conflict with the world as it is, but they can’t simply submit to the status quo. Their journeys require constant negotiation between being true to themselves and conforming to the wider world.

This week’s prompts invite you to explore some of the ways a character can be in conflict with the world. I’ll be on the lookout for stories that accentuate the tension that arises when a character struggles to be who they are in a world that doesn’t readily make space for those who don’t fall in line.

Special Update: The Results

Rebecca's top pick for her takeover was "Mouths Full of Rain" by Kane Theissen. Here's what she had to say about the winning story: "This story drew me in immediately with a gold star-worthy first line: 'I didn't mean to create a frog cult.' The spare, honest delivery of this strange little fact set the tone for the rest of the story. Wry, funny, and sharply observant, we get the feeling this narrator has accepted his perpetual loneliness, his otherness. But the real magic of this story comes from the balance of offbeat humor ('Every lizard looks like it escaped from a reptile expo and developed a nicotine addiction.') and equally offbeat hope ('If the apocalypse is already happening, why not curate it? If it's already broken, why not break it on purpose? Why not fill the cracks with something soft?').

In my part of the world (the U.S.), I feel like so many of us are looking for something soft to fill the cracks — to keep together what is so woefully at risk of falling apart. There's something so romantic about the idea that we can save the world — and each other, and ourselves — by leaning into our strangeness, our humanness, the oddities that make us unique. But this story also shows us that to change the world, we often have to sacrifice our sense of normalcy; we have to be willing to let go of what we think we know in order to make space for what we hope is true. Buried at the heart of 'Mouths Full of Rain' is a line that I will tuck in my pocket and carry with me for a long time: 'Change should feel like violence. This felt like surrender.' Just gorgeous.

Kane, your story made me laugh as much as it made me think, which is why I chose it as this week's winner. Thank you for sharing this incredibly special work with us."

Congratulations to contest winner Kane Theissen and the runners-up, Daniel Griesdorf and Rebecca Hurst!