Writing Hour Roundup: 2 August 2022

“The People’s Friend” Writing Hour is held every Tuesday at 11 a.m. on Twitter and it’s always a brilliant time! It’s a time when we can get together with writers for a chat.

Every week we summarise everything that went on for those who missed out.

This week we chatted about characterisation, reading habits and we gave you a writing prompt.

How is everyone this week? Are you starting to feel autumnal? The temperature is certainly dropping.

There are some subtle signs that summer is coming to an end. But generally, it’s still warm if a bit cloudy.

Like most of you, I’m definitely not ready to let go of summer just yet!

Have you ever been on a writing retreat? Did you enjoy it and did you find it improved your writing?

Quite a few of you have been on a writing retreat in some form or another.

It’s great to see that those who have been on one found that the experience helped your writing!

When you’re creating characters for a story, how do you make them realistic and multi-layered?

This was a great discussion with lots of different techniques.

Sometimes they can develop on the page:

#PFWritingHour Q3. I let them reveal their story as I write. Often they surprise me.

— Amanda Giles Author (@GilesAuthor) August 2, 2022

Perhaps they have a significant backstory:

A3. There’s always some aspect of my character’s past which impacts their present. In my last WIP, my main character had been abandoned by her sweetheart, yet still clung to the hope her lighthouse would lead him back home even though she knew she had to move on #PFWritingHour

— Kitty-Lydia Dye (@KittyLydiaDye) August 2, 2022

Or, maybe you could start with a real person:

I think you have to initially base them on real people and then build on from that

— John Darley (@JohnDarley11) August 2, 2022

Cat Lumb has even written a whole blog post full of her advice:

I wrote this blog post on this exact topic a while back…
Creating Unique, Relatable Charactershttps://t.co/dvfpWC2qi0 #PFWritingHour

— Cat Lumb (@Cat_Lumb) August 2, 2022

Do you read every day?

The vast majority of you said yes and the rest said most days. As some of you pointed out, it’s not just novels! Short stories, poetry, articles and non-fiction all count, of course.

Reading is so important when it comes to writing. But, before all of that, it’s just fun and so good for our wellbeing.

So many of you said that it’s part of your bedtime routine, or a way to set you up for the day.

Usually read at least one PF story when I get to bed, as it gives me feel good vibes. I then read more PF when I wake up..

— Jo Derrick (@yellowjo) August 2, 2022

How about a three word story starter? “Map”, “lawyer” and “wedding”.

We always love reading the stories and scenarios you come up with for these.

Here are just a few!

As a lawyer, Emily was reliable and trustworthy and a very good choice to be maid of honour at her cousin’s wedding. No one expected her to miss the ceremony because she couldn’t read a map.

— Sally (in Suffolk) (@SallyWriteType) August 2, 2022

“I’ll draw you a map,” Mum says when I ask for the secret to a happy marriage. “Look! On one side there’s your wedding. There are rocky mountains in the middle. Don’t try to cross them! On the other, there’s a lawyer.”

— Jenny Worstall 🌻 (@JennyWorstall) August 2, 2022

The wedding dress had been made of a map during the war. The map was printed on silk and was all my grandmother could get. I remember tracing the countries with my fingers. Burma, where my lawyer grandfather had been imprisoned

— Louise McIvor (@lou_mcivor) August 2, 2022

You can invite one author and one poet to dinner. Who would you choose?

Your top three choices for author guests would be Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie.

When inviting poets to tea, you’d go for Pam Ayres, Sylvia Plath and W B Yeats.

We’ll see you at our next Writing Hour on Twitter — 11 a.m. on Tuesday 9 August, 2022.

Or click here to see our previous roundups.