Celebrating 5 years of #WriteCBC: Writing tip and task from Anna Davis
BY Anna Davis
4th May 2023
Today we’re delighted to be celebrating five years of #WriteCBC and 12 years of Curtis Brown Creative! (My GOD that makes me feel old!).
Across 12 years, Curtis Brown Creative has gone all the way from being no more than a glimmer in my eye to its current shape as a highly successful writing academy, with almost 200 published alumni, a staff of 10 and a host of courses running online and in London, covering many genres and all stages of the writing process. Back in 2011, as I opened up our boardroom to 15 talented writers for the first time, I could never have dreamed we’d get to where we are today.
My favourite thing from our 12th year? Well, it has to be Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry – written while she was studying with us. It’s now the biggest-selling debut novel from a CBC student – and in fact the biggest-selling debut novel in the world this year. And don’t forget that Bonnie got her first publishing deal as a woman in her sixties. It’s never too late, writers!
And then there’s #WriteCBC! It’s been running on the first Thursday of every month for exactly five years now (with only a very occasional breather). We started it up to celebrate CBC’s seventh anniversary, and it was so popular on its first outing that it quickly established a regular crowd of contributors and even spawned a virtual Twitter writing group (that now has its own zine). Twitter is so often hostile and toxic – but I’d like to think that #WriteCBC is one of the places where writers can find a safe space, connect with other writers and generally have some fun. I hope we’ll still be here in another five years.
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, or a £50 discount to be used on the course of your choice.
So without further ado, it’s over to you lot. Help us celebrate our double birthday with a story or scene on the theme of anniversaries …
My writing tip:
- Anniversaries are dates of great significance – they can be a cause for celebration or a reason for hiding from the world. And of course they're also days that are frequently forgotten. For each and every anniversary there is a story – I would like to hear yours.
My writing task:
- Your title is 'The Anniversary.' I'd like to see a mini-scene or story which makes me want to read on. It can be humorous, dark, sad, celebratory, scary, weird – whatever you like but make it compelling!
Here are some of my top tips for writing a story opening or flash fiction scene that transports your reader straight into the action…
- For #WriteCBC, you only have 280 characters to get your readers invested. Make every word work hard and strip away words that you don’t really need. You’ll find you can cover an amazing amount in just one tweet.
- Don’t rely on clichés. We’d love to see something fresh, new and intriguing. If you do use a well-worn trope it’s fascinating to do something with it that that subverts our expectations. Give us something to hook us in immediately – something which makes the reader curious or establishes a mystery which must be solved.
- The action doesn’t need to be explosive. An unusual exchange between characters whispered in hushed tones can be as dramatic as a man bursting into a room with a gun.
- Take a moment to read over your draft before you press ‘tweet’. It’s also a good idea to read your mini-scene out loud to yourself to see how it sounds.
- #WriteCBC is a fun competition to help you stretch your writing muscles, so don’t be afraid to take some risks or leave the scene on a nail-biting cliff hanger.
So now it's time to wow me, and indeed each other. And I hope you have a lovely day – because if you've been taking part in #WriteCBC regularly, then it's your anniversary too. We can’t wait to read your tweets! Tweet @cbcreative with your tweet-length scene and you might win a free six-week online writing course place. Competition closes Fri 5 May, 10am (winner announced at 11am). Find the rules here.
Prizes:
Congratulations to this month’s winner, Lauren Shepherd @unwantedwhimsy...
- 'Martin’s brought his sourdough starter.' says Rachel. 'What do you mean?' Viv says.
- 'I mean he’s brought his sourdough starter with him; he’s put it in the mini-fridge in our hotel room. He’s upstairs feeding it now.'
- 'For fuck sake. Why’s he doing that?'
We really enjoyed Lauren's witty take on the romantic anniversary getaway! The protagonist’s conversation with her friend is full of humour and the funny frustrations that come from long-term partnerships. We can picture Rachel walking off, exasperated, to find a quiet corner of a hotel lobby to ring her friend and vent.
Well done, Lauren – you get a free place on a £220 online writing course.
And this month we're awarding five runner-up prizes – each getting a £50 course discount – to celebrate the five year #WriteCBC anniversary. These winners are Kate SF @KateSFWriter, Lornaamy @Lornaamy1, R A Rae @R_A_Rae, Catriona Lane @catnimmo and Laura Rose-Baker @mslaurarose.
Congratulations, all!
In addition to our usual prizes, we have also selected five recipients to get a free place on our 30-Day Writing Bootcamp (worth £30). These writers are Nancy Peach @Mumhasdementia, Joanne Surridge @josurridge, Martin Ross @MartinR87271882, lindsey Armstrong @ArmstrongLinz and S J Warner @SJWarner3. Amazing work from all of you!
Please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to redeem your prize.
*Recipients of the free 30-Day Writing Bootcamp places cannot exchange their prize for cash or for a discount off another course. Discounts and free place valid only on courses running in 2023.
If a winner or runner-up has already paid and enrolled on one of the applicable courses (yet to run), we will refund the £220 fee/£50 discount (as relevant).
If a winner or runner-up has already taken all relevant courses, they may gift their discount or full fee (as relevant) to another writer.
#WriteCBC will return in June, next month we’ll be hosting the competition a week later than usual. So please mark Thurs 8 June in your calendar.