Creative Copy Challenge (CCC) is a shining example of the all the good things about social media communities.

The brainchild of Shane Arthur, CCC underscores the theme of this blog – Keep it simple, clear & uniquely yours.

Shane took a simple idea, created a clear set of instructions and the result is truly unique. Here’s how it works:

• Shane comes up with 10 random words or phrases
• He posts them twice a week at Creative Copy Challenge
• Writers and wannabe writers are invited to use the 10 words/phrases in a “cohesive, creative short story”

The CCC Community

The site posted its first entry on December 8, 2009. As of May 16, 2010, 116 writers have been hooked.

And I warn you – you will be hooked.

CCC is an addictive, point of pleasure where you find short stories, ongoing series, poetry and more, filled with sex, murder, heart-wrenching sadness and laugh-out-loud humor.

Perhaps the best thing about CCC is the community.

It’s a global community of professionals – some writers, some not – and people from all walks of life.

The CCC community is all about fun. It is an oasis of support and a place where you know you will always be welcomed. And who couldn’t use a place like that from time to time?

The CCC Creators

Shane joined forces with Collective Inkwell partners, Sean Platt and David Wright to make his idea a reality.

Recently, I did an email interview with Shane about CCC. I’ll let him tell the story of their collaboration.

Check out the interview then get thee to CCC – I promise you will never regret it!

An Interview With Shane Arthur

1. Provide some background on you, Sean & David

Shane Arthur: I met Sean through the Copyblogger community. He’s a frequent quest poster there and I read Copyblogger every day. We commented back and forth on a few occasions.

I knew from the correspondence we had that he was the type of dude with character and a trustworthy way about him, so I approached him about the CCC. Dave is his partner in crime, and I met him (digitally) at some point before the CCC began.

2. How did the theme of CCC start?

Shane Arthur: I used to troll the poetry boards and noticed some poets would post lists of words to use as inspiration for poems. I thought this was a cool technique to crush writer’s block, so I just started creating random word lists and trying to come up with a story around it. I didn’t think very much of it, even though it was very helpful to me personally.

Some years later, I was reading a Copyblogger post and a commenter mentioned that he needed more creative writing skills and was thinking about taking a class, if only he had the time. That immediately awakened the memory I had of the random word lists I did so many times prior. I wondered if this hobby of mine could be of use to others, and determined that it would indeed help.

I had previously taken Jon Morrow’s “Partnering for Profits” course so I knew that to get ideas off the ground, you should partner with other talented people and let a team bring an idea to life. I knew I wanted someone in the Copyblogger Third Tribe community to do this with. I knew Sean also wrote fiction and stories on his other sites, so he was a perfect match.

I approached him and Dave about the idea and since they are extremely busy, and this idea required little to start and maintain, they jumped on the idea. Within two days, we had a site designed and ready to go. It came together almost like magic, or fate knew it was to be before we even did.

3. Was this a “just for fun” or did you want something more from it?

Shane Arthur: Well, it is real fun to do these challenges, but we all thought that in some form or another something cool financially could also come of this. We didn’t know how (still don’t really☺), but we just went with it anyway. We had ideas that perhaps a series of paperback books could come from the challenges. Perhaps it would get so huge that someone would buy it from us and pay me to administer the challenges in my UnderRoos.

All this still can happen, but for now, we are just happy having fun and building up fascinating content for everyone to see. We get thousands of visitors each month and there are many people out there reading these challenges but not commenting. The average time spent on the site is over 6 minutes, which is amazing.

4. What has surprised you the most about CCC?

Shane Arthur: I can’t believe how many styles of writing and methods of completing the challenges has come to life. People do short form submissions, long form submissions, rhyming submissions, submissions where they do the words in the order that they appear in the challenge, submissions in reverse order, and submissions in even and odd patterns. People have even started doing submissions where they come up with a story from one person’s point of view, then do another from the other person’s point of view.

The creativity is simply amazing. I’m blown away by it all really. Also, I love how you welcome new members by actually taking the current list of words and incorporating them into the welcome message. I never would have thought to do that. Another reason I love the CCC.

Editor’s Note: I didn’t pay Shane to say that but I did agree to send him cookies – the man has simple needs.

5. What has CCC taught you?

Shane Arthur: The CCC has taught me that there is a boatload of super talented writers out there that should be writing full time. It’s taught me how much pain is out there in the world, too. Some people’s submissions seem so personal in nature; I’m amazed and taken aback.

6. What is your favorite/most challenging part about CCC?

Shane Arthur: Besides seeing those emails that let me know another excellent submission is out there for me to read, I love to choose the words. I choose them as quick as I can, not thinking if they relate to each other as to not ruin the magic of the process.

The most challenging part is actually reading all of the submissions and comments. Each challenge ends up being about 11,000 words total. That’s a lot of reading and tough to keep up…and we only have 116 submitters thus far.

7. Where do you see CCC going?

Shane Arthur: I’ll refer back to my prior answer. I see some of our submitters getting books published (you included). Editor’s Note: From Shane’s lips to God’s ear – or a great publisher!

I see us creating some CCC compilation books. I see someone buying us out and allowing me to administer this and get paid to do so. That would be the ideal outcome of all of this.

Group Hug

I want to thank Shane, Sean and David for creating a fun site that never lets you down and allows you to dream your most secret dreams.

Go ahead – put them in writing – the CCC community is waiting to welcome you!