Tuesday 23 August 2011

Meeting Report: 15 August 2011

On 15th August, we were delighted and privileged to welcome Adrian Butcher, BBC radio news journalist, editor and producer, who had kindly spent a good deal of time reading, critiquing and judging the entries in our radio play competition. Adrian began by outlining his work at the BBC and how he was responsible for distilling the raw material of the news into scripts to be passed to the newsreaders.

He then gave general pointers for what makes a good radio play, including a gripping start, a riveting, coherent story, engaging characters, realistic dialogue and a strong ending before announcing the winners. Roz Balp came first with ‘The Blue Painting’ which was praised for its sound plotting, well-painted characters and crisp dialogue. ‘The Abomination’ by Mark Towner was second; the judge was won over by its ingenious story and setting, humour and pace although not a lover of sci-fi. In third place was Amanda Giles’ ‘Moondance’, which engaged the judge from the start with its story-telling, convincing characterisation and dialogue. John Vallender’s ‘When the Cat’s Away’, with its irresistible humour, believable dialogue and storyline, came fourth.

We would like to thank Adrian, who took time out of a very busy schedule to give such painstaking and thorough analysis of each entry. He was generous with his praise and encouragement while being constructive with his suggestions for improvement.

For enquiries about activities and membership please contact the membership secretary at membership.hwg@gmail.com or visit our website: http://www.hastingswriters.co.uk/


Sunday 7 August 2011

Meeting Report: 1st August 2011

The theme of our meeting on 1st August could well have been summarised as ‘Faint Heart Never Won Fair Publishing Deal’ as three authors spoke about their books and very different experiences of the publishing world.

First off the mark was our own Richard Holdsworth who showed admirable fortitude in navigating the shark-infested waters of self-publishing. Despite being bitten several times he has, thankfully, had great success with his two popular autobiographical works, Six Spoons of Sugar and In the HOT Seat – and picked up several awards for life-writing along the way.

Second was another successful member of the group: Kate O’Hearn demonstrated the huge sacrifices and tenacity necessary to realise her dream of being published. However, all this hard work has paid off in Kate’s case, and her two exciting children’s fantasy series, Shadow of the Dragon and Pegasus, have achieved great success with the Pegasus books now being international best-sellers.

Last, but certainly not least, was a visitor to the group, Ian Morson, who generously gave of his time to share his journey from librarian to crime writer. Ian specialises in medieval detective stories and is the creator of William Falconer and Nick Zuliani; he is also one of the Medieval Murderers group of writers. He gave an inspiring account of the perseverance, common sense and ‘pot luck’ necessary to succeed as an author.

Members of the group are very grateful for authors' honesty and generosity in sharing their experiences; we are now more aware of the pitfalls and the rewards of treading the sometimes treacherous path of published writing.

For enquiries about activities and membership please contact the membership secretary at membership.hwg@gmail.com or visit our website: http://www.hastingswriters.co.uk/