#WriteCBC tip and task from Emilia Hart
BY Katie Smart
2nd Mar 2023
Welcome to our March 2023 #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 Twitter competition before, we’re excited to welcome you to our writing community. Get up to speed by reading this 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 former student and novelist Emilia Hart. Emilia was a student on our three-month Writing Your Novel course in 2020. After the course she gained representation from Curtis Brown's Felicity Blunt. Emilia's debut Weyward is out now from Borough Press. Read about Emilia’s time studying with us and her path to publication here.
Emilia’s writing tip:
- First-person narration is a great way of capturing a character’s voice. Think about how you can put the reader inside a character’s head. Consider word choice, phrasing, colloquialisms: all reveal how we see the world – and ourselves.
Emilia’s debut novel Weyward follows the lives of three women across three generations from the 17th century to present day. Narrative perspective is a hugely important tool in the novel, Emilia uses a mix of close third-person narration and first-person narration to place the reader in the minds of her three protagonists.
The prologue to Weyward brilliantly utilises the first-person perspective, we are introduced to Altha in 1619, she is awaiting her trial for witchcraft:
- ‘Ten days they’d held me there. Ten days, with only the stink of my own flesh for company. Not even a rat graced me with its presence. There was nothing to attract it; they had brought me no food. Only ale.’
The reader is immediately transported into Altha’s jail cell, which has appalling living conditions that are too dire for rats. This opening to the story is visceral, we can smell the unwashed flesh and feel the hunger of ten days without food. In the prologue it is yet to be revealed what has happened to Altha or what she did to end up imprisoned – the reader is compelled to read on to learn if she is innocent or guilty. The abysmal conditions make you feel empathy for Altha, flipping the the script – you villainise the jailers instead of the prisoner.
Emilia’s writing task:
- Using first-person narration, introduce your protagonist with the story of their birth. How do they feel about their origins? Are they ashamed, or proud? Do they even know the story of their birth? A lack of information can be its own story.
We’d love you to write a tweet-length response prompted by Emilia’s task. Here is some more advice to inspire you…
When you’re first getting to know your protagonist it's often a good idea to play with their voice – to explore their lives and memories using their first-person perspective (even if your novel will ultimately be a third-person narrative).
By tapping into your character’s unfiltered internal dialogue, you gain direct insights into their secret desires. Although, of course, it is also possible for them to deny their deepest and most shameful thoughts and feelings – and this can be interesting to explore too.
Some tips to help you craft your first-person scene:
- Action versus thought. Perhaps your character acts one way but feels differently because they are deceiving someone, trying to be polite, or feel ashamed of their true feelings about their origins.
- Sensory details. What’s triggered them to think of the story of their birth? Has a certain smell or old heirloom reminded them of their childhood home?
- Audience. Are they telling this story to another character or is it a remembrance happening only in their mind? Who they are sharing the story with will impact what details they reveal and conceal.
We can't wait to read your responses to Emilia’s task! Tweet @cbcreative with your tweet-length scene and you might win a free six-week online writing course place. Competition closes Fri 3 Mar, 10am (winner announced at 11am). Find the rules here.
Congratulations to this month’s winner, Rebecca Lewis Smith @beccalewissmith
- #WriteCBC She said it stormed for a full week from the day I was born. Power lines down, the midwife fearful to send us home in high winds. I’ve heard the story a million times. It’s why Ma calls me her storm crow. But I’ve looked it up. August 1957 was warm, fair and uneventful.
Rebecca's scene immediately drew us in, taking us right back to the day her protagonist was born with her powerful descriptions of the storm. We love the way she plays with the foreshadowing tropes of bad weather as an omen and then reverses our expectations at the end. As readers, we immediately distrust the protagonist's mother and are left wondering what else she could have lied about and the motivations behind her deception. Well done, Rebecca – you get a free place on a £220 online course.
And this month’s runners-up – each getting a £50 course discount – are Jess @Twiessica and Amelie Spence @AmelieSpence. Congratulations, both!
To redeem your prizes please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk
Brilliant fun – hope you all enjoyed it and see you next month. #WriteCBC will be back on Thursday 6 Apr.
Get your hands on a copy of Weyward.