How would you start a riot?

Home Page Forums Fiction Writing General Writing Discussions How would you start a riot?

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 25 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #52427
    SeekJustice
    @seekjustice
      • Rank: Chosen One
      • Total Posts: 3365

      So, I need my main characters to start a riot in my book, like a big, on the street sort of thing. How on earth are they going to do that? I really have no idea. I’ve just had one of my characters make a passionate speech…and now I’m not really sure what to do.

      How would you start a riot?

      How are riots usually started?


      @daeus
      @jane-maree @salome01w4g @Emily @kate-flournoy @Shannon @dragon-snapper @whoeverelsewantstoputintheirtwocentsworth.

      INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.

      #52428
      Kate Flournoy
      @kate-flournoy
        • Rank: Chosen One
        • Total Posts: 3976

        @seekjustice what mood is the crowd in? The thing about crowds (especially excited, desperate, angry, or otherwise passionate ones) is that it only takes one small stone to make everything start rolling. It only takes one character bold enough to make a move— throw a rock, light a fire, start running— and all the rest will follow. So if you’ve already got them stirred up with a passionate speech, all it’s going to take is one person acting on that passion and voila. You have a riot. 😛

        Jane Maree
        @jane-maree
          • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
          • Total Posts: 909

          @SeekJustice I second what Kate said. If you’ve just had a passionate speech you can easily play off that with having someone in the crowd disagree and start throwing things, or agree and start throwing things. Mob mentality is a huge thing in situations like that so it’s not hard at all really.

          Writing Heroes ♦ Writing Hope // janemareeauthor.com.au

          Anonymous
            • Rank: Eccentric Mentor
            • Total Posts: 1330

            @seekjustice What reasons do the people have for starting a riot? I mean what’s the context. It all should flow like Kate said after you just have one character do one thing angry or “riotous”.

            #52437
            PrincessFoo
            @princessfoo
              • Rank: Loyal Sidekick
              • Total Posts: 194

              @jane-maree

              Mob mentality is a huge thing in situations like that so it’s not hard at all really.

              … You sound like you are speaking from experience. You too @kate-flournoy. Is this something we should be concerned about?

              #52438
              Anonymous
                • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                • Total Posts: 859

                @seekjustice I think the usual route is that someone comes in and starts disagreeing, the crowd gets riled up, some of them siding with the passionate speaker, others siding with the disagree-er.

                Or a government official comes in saying that the meeting is illegal and the crowd gets upset (think Acts 19: 23-41) .

                Like Kate said, you only need one bold person to start a riot.

                #52443
                Kate Flournoy
                @kate-flournoy
                  • Rank: Chosen One
                  • Total Posts: 3976

                  @PrincessFoo ehhh… I can neither confirm nor deny any past, present, or future dealings I may have had or will have with people of questionable character. *flips knives, stows them in her belt**pulls black mask over her eyes**smiles**somersaults away down the street*

                  SeekJustice
                  @seekjustice
                    • Rank: Chosen One
                    • Total Posts: 3365

                    @princessfoo careful, @kate-flournoy sounds a bit shady to me 😀

                    INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.

                    #52480
                    Snapper
                    @dragon-snapper
                      • Rank: Chosen One
                      • Total Posts: 3515

                      @seekjustice Let me put it simply.

                      Punch someone.

                      mandalor

                      • This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by Snapper.

                      ☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

                      #52481
                      SeekJustice
                      @seekjustice
                        • Rank: Chosen One
                        • Total Posts: 3365

                        @jane-maree @kate-flournoy @Shannon that’s true. we humans like to play follow the leader, don’t we? if someone starts it, we’ll follow along, even if we don’t necessarily know what’s going on or agree with it.

                        @Emily they’re angry about the way they’re being treated. they’re rebelling against the elite, but also encouraging the elite to join them, if that makes sense.

                        INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.

                        #52483
                        Sam Kowal
                        @sam-kowal
                          • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                          • Total Posts: 635

                          @seekjustice

                          *What @kate-flournoy and @jane-maree said*

                          I think the big thing is, mobs and riots go crazy, so they don’t need a logical explanation for the things they do, but they do need at least a small trigger for their actions. So, say there are two factions of screaming rioters, and one of them throws a stone. That’s going to cause everything to go violent, very quickly.

                          Or maybe they are all revolting against a government, and a couple of soldiers try to keep order, and they get stirred up against the soldiers and sttack them. Or maybe they storm a government palace, or tears down statues (which happens all the time in history)

                          I think, the big thing is, mobs can be so volatile they need one small inciting action and then craziness ensues from there

                          *Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
                          Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.

                          #52486
                          Sam Kowal
                          @sam-kowal
                            • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                            • Total Posts: 635

                            Hmm


                            @seekjustice
                            well then maybe they could start storming elite houses? And taking the elite hostage? I think they’d be too stirred up to do anything logical

                            *Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
                            Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.

                            #52498
                            Anonymous
                              • Rank: Eccentric Mentor
                              • Total Posts: 1330

                              @seekjustice Everybody else had good ideas so I doubt you need my input. 😀

                              #52502
                              SeekJustice
                              @seekjustice
                                • Rank: Chosen One
                                • Total Posts: 3365

                                @Emily I always value your input. 😀

                                INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.

                                #52504
                                SeekJustice
                                @seekjustice
                                  • Rank: Chosen One
                                  • Total Posts: 3365

                                  @sam-kowal well, it needs to get violent, because eventually the male main character is alarmed by the riot he’s started and tries to stop it and then the military come along and arrest several of the characters, including my female main character, so storming a house or destroying something might be a good idea.

                                  INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 25 total)
                                • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
                                >