#WriteCBC tip and task from Lucy Holland
BY Lucy Holland
5th Sep 2024
Welcome to our September 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 Lucy Holland, bestselling fantasy novelist (Sistersong, Song of the Huntress and the Worldmaker Trilogy). Lucy is also the tutor of our brand-new nine-week Writing Fantasy course, with Zoom lessons, workshops and tutorials.
Lucy's Writing Tip:
- Fantasy fiction is more than escapism. It speaks in a universal language and offers an arena in which to explore real-world issues and concepts that might be less comfortably discussed outside a fantastical context.
Fantasy and science fiction can hold up a mirror to our own world. A tale about vampires and werewolves can become a commentary on racial discrimination. Royal abuses of power and court dynamics offer an opportunity to think about class.
To look forward into your imagined world, it can be helpful to look back at well-loved stories. Fairy tales, folk tales, religious stories and classic novels from around the world provide great jumping off points for both narrative structure and characters. These influences are a key part of the fantasy oeuvre. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings draws inspiration from many places, including Nordic mythology, Christianity and the epic Old English poem Beowulf. It is also often thought of as an allegory for the Second World War because of Tolkien time as a soldier in France during the Great War. Lucy's own novels draw inspiration from folk tales of ancient Britain, read more about this in our interview.
This leads us nicely onto Lucy's task...
Lucy's Writing Task:
- Choose a fairy tale/folk tale and a contemporary issue (e.g. Red Riding Hood & Deforestation or Rumpelstiltskin & the Gender Pay Gap). Now write a mini-scene which transplants this 'modern' issue into a fantasy or historical setting.
We’d love you to write a tweet-length response prompted by Lucy's task. Here is some more advice to help you get the ball rolling.
- Don’t do the expected. When the next element of the story seems obvious, stop and ask yourself if that’s what you want.
- The unreal or strange elements of your story must have consequence. A fairy tale can’t just be retold in different words without properly considering what lies at its root. The dark side of your story has to have weight, heft and consequence.
- Start small and build. Changing just one single detail of a story can transform its meaning entirely. Take the time to really think about how altering this one element would have a knock-on effect to other parts of the story and allow yourself to completely reimagine it and make it your own.
- Don't be didactic. You can talk about contemporary issues in your fiction without explicitly laying out a moral. Trust your readers to understand, you don't need to insult their intelligence by overexplaining things.
We can’t wait to read your tweet-length scenes. Tweet @cbcreative with your responses to Lucy's task and you might win a free six-week online writing course place (worth £220). Competition closes Fri 6 Sept, 10am UK time (winner announced at 11am). Find out about rules and prizes here.
Congratulations to this month’s winner, Ann Littler @annlittler
- With the sea witch vanquished, tendrils of magic mist search out Ariel, returning stolen property to its rightful owner. “Finally, I have a voice!” The Prince and his male courtiers laugh, exchanging knowing glances. He presses a finger to her lips. “We’ll see.”
We absolutely loved this modern twist on the classic fairy tale of The Little Mermaid. You cleverly played on Ariel's naivety, hinting to your readers that she will have to remain voiceless amongst a world of male courtiers. The history of silence is central to women’s history, not just fairy/folk tales. Well done, Ann – you get a free place on a £220 online course.
And this month’s runners-up – each getting a £50 course discount – areKaty @ldnkatyarcher and Lindsey Armstrong @ArmstrongLinz. Congratulations, all!
To redeem your prizes please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk
Brilliant fun – hope you all enjoyed it and see you next month.
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