#WriteCBC tip and task from Richard Roper
BY Richard Roper
7th Nov 2024
Welcome to our November 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 Richard Roper, non-fiction editor and bestselling novelist (Something to Live For, When We were Young, and This Disaster Loves You). Richard is also the tutor of our two-hour Zoom Writing Your Synopsis – Masterclass. Enrol now and learn how how to write a compelling one-page novel synopsis (course runs 9 Dec 2024).
Richard's Writing Tip
- Whether it's two old friends who share a secret, a swoon-worthy love triangle, or the old gang getting back together for one last bank job...it is vital that your characters are distinct, and that the dynamics between them help drive the plot.
Plot, setting, quality of prose – all are important. But it’s characters that stick in the mind long after you’ve closed the book. And you can forgive any number of faults if there’s a character (or characters) that really takes hold of your imagination.
Which leads us nicely onto Richard's task . . .
Richard's Writing Task
- Two characters are on a walk when they come across something, or someone, completely out of place. Write a mini-scene where we see how these characters react to this unexpected event.
We’d love you to write a tweet-length (280 characters of a standard Twitter/X account) response prompted by Richard's task.
When writing your mini-scene, remember that the way your characters react to the unexpected event needs to work with who the characters fundamentally are. Your characters' actions need to have clear, credible motives behind them in order to be remotely believable, and keep your reader on-side.
There are times when people act out of character, in life as well as in fiction. But here too, you need to make sure their behaviour is convincing.
Here are few tips on writing believable characters to inspire you:
- As a starting point, begin by figuring out the key traits that will define your characters and underpin much of their behaviour. Instead of trying to work out the traits that underlie their personality and behaviour, begin with some traits that might be useful for your mini-scene. Ask yourself questions about how these traits show themselves in your character’s personalities, and then think about how to demonstrate the traits in action.
- Think about the potential motives behind your characters' actions. In each case the motive needs to work with who the character fundamentally is. For example, do they act strangely? Do they make choices and take actions that go against their usual moral code? Do they snap and make quite sudden, illogical decisions. You, as the writer, should always know that reason, and should be sure that it is consistent with who your protagonist really is.
- #WriteCBC is an exercise in economic writing. You don't have very many words to play with, so make those first impressions count. Readers can intuit a lot about a character from even the smallest interactions. Everything we say and do – the way we move, behave, speak, how we dress and present ourselves, the choices we make – it all conveys information about who we are as individuals. As characters, in fact.
We can’t wait to read your tweet-length scenes. Tweet @cbcreative with your responses to Richard's task and you might win a free six-week online writing course place (worth £230). Competition closes Fri 8 Nov, 10am UK time (winner announced at 11am). Find out about rules and prizes here.
Congratulations to this month’s winner, Madeleine Armstrong @Madeleine_write:
- A woman’s legs stick out of a bush ahead; silver shoes catch the moonlight.
Ana slows, then jumps, as the woman erupts into a tuneless rendition of Fairytale of New York.
“We should help.”
Dan, smoothing his dinner jacket, yanks her past.
“Best not to get involved.”
What an intriguing entry! Madeleine hooked us immediately with the woman in the bush – the detail of her silver shoes was particularly captivating. We’re left asking asking many questions: Why is she in the bush? Is she okay? Why is she signing? Is this the aftermath of wild Christmas party? We loved how you made the two characters contrast in their reactions – with the protagonist wanting to help and Dan being very curt and prim and proper in his dinner jacket. We were left with the impression that he didn’t want to depart from his set expectations of the evening or get his smart jacket dirty! We were left desperate to read on. You really nailed Richard’s #WriteCBC task! Well done, Madeleine – you get a free place on an online writing course (worth up to £230).
And well done to this month’s runners-up – each getting a £50 course discount – Kayleigh Daniele @KayleighDaniele and Jackie Healy @JackieH08827298 . Congratulations, all!
To redeem your prizes please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk
We loved your #WriteCBC entries this month. Stay tuned, #WriteCBC will be back with a festive twist in December!