#WriteCBC tip and task from Kirsty Logan
BY Kirsty Logan
12th Jul 2024
Welcome to our July 2024 #WriteCBC prompt challenge. I hope you’re ready to be inspired by our latest writing tip and task! If you haven’t taken part in a #WriteCBC X/Twitter competition before, we’re excited to welcome you to our writing community. Get up to speed by reading our blog full of information about how to play and the prizes on offer. It’s a lot of fun, and you might just win a free place on one of our six-week online writing courses.
This month’s special guest is Kirsty Logan, award-winning novelist and short story writer (Now She is Witch and Things We Say in the Dark). Kirsty is also the tutor of our brand-new six-week online course: Writing Gothic & Supernatural Fiction. Enrol now and learn how to write the strange and make the uncanny feel real.
Kirsty's Writing Tip:
- Don't try to cram too much into your story's beginning. Think of the start as a welcome mat. A beautiful, burnished brass doorknob. Or a gleam of light, just visible as the door begins to open. It’s not the whole house; it’s not even a whole room.
When someone picks up a book for the first time, they are very likely to start off by looking at the cover, then reading the first few paragraphs. Often it’s that crucial first page which will make them decide whether to read on or set the book down again.
The key to writing a strong opening and getting your story moving from the word go is to give your reader something intriguing without giving away too much too soon. Give yourself somewhere to climb to, emotionally, across your story. Don’t peak too soon.
You should make sure that, by the end of your tweet-length mini-scene, you have asked the question which drives your story, and which readers will want to know the answer to. That’s what will make them want to read on!
Which leads us nicely onto Kirsty's task...
Kirsty's Writing Task:
Use one of these opening lines to start a story. Twist it as weird as you like!
- She promised herself that was the last time.
- From the moment I saw them, I was obsessed.
- He frantically wiped his fingerprints off the glass.
We’d love you to write a tweet-length response prompted by Kirsty's task. Here is some more advice to help you get the ball rolling.
A strong first line usually does one of three things:
1. Introduce us to a protagonist.
2. Tell us when and where the story is happening.
3. Set the tone for the novel and show us what genre we’re in.
These are not hard and fast rules, some authors choose a more experimental approach to their opening and some manage to do all three things at once!
Here are few more tips to inspire you:
- Don’t make the mistake of thinking you have to give your reader lots of information about characters and place before you get your story going. Get your story moving instead. Show don’t tell!
- When you've chosen your opening line to start your story, interrogate your ideas with 'what if' questions. 'What if' questions can take you on a journey that builds story and plot.
We can’t wait to read your tweet-length scenes. Tweet @cbcreative with your responses to Kirsty's task and you might win a free six-week online writing course place (worth £220), eligible for use on our new Writing Gothic & Supernatural Fiction. Competition closes Fri 12 Jul, 10am UK time (winner announced at 11am). Find out about rules and prizes here.
Congratulations to this month’s winner, Emma Finlayson-Palmer @FinlaysonPalmer
- From the moment I saw them I was obsessed. Their tiny bodies all bent out of shape. Feathers and claws everywhere. The newsreader said it was a natural phenomenon, but there was nothing natural about it. Livestock perished, then sirens warned - humans would be next.
Wow! What a dark and gothic entry! The imagery of the 'feathers and claws everywhere' immediately sets a creepy and ominous atmosphere to your mini scene. We loved how you jumped off Kirsty's starting sentence, drawing us into this otherly world without revealing too much. We were left desperate to read on. You really got to the heart of this #WriteCBC task! Well done, Emma – you get a free place on a £220 online course.
And this month’s runners-up – each getting a £50 course discount – are M.W. Wolf Ltd @MW_Wolf_Ltd and Jade is editing @jadedeterville. Congratulations, all!
To redeem your prizes please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk
We loved your weird and wonderful entries – #WriteCBC will be taking a summer break in August, but we can't wait to see you back in September!
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