On
4th
December, we
had our annual Presentation Evening. Sarah
O'Halloran, talent scout from the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency
gave a very entertaining talk and useful Q and A session on how to
prepare work for a literary agent or publisher, clarifying the
differences between a synopsis, a pitch and a blurb. She advocated
approaching it like a job application by making sure it was complete
and polished to give the work its best possible chance. She then gave
brief feedback on all the entries in our annual 3000-word short story
competition before announcing the winner of the coveted Catherine
Cookson Cup. Marcia Woolf was first with her beautifully executed
dark comedy, 'All Saints'; Anne Hooker's 'Moving On' was second;
Elizabeth Allen was third with 'Dereliction of Duty', and Roz Balp's
'Ducking and Diving' was fourth. Then, Vice-Chair, Kate O'Hearn
presented the certificates to the winners of the five varied
competitions of 2015 before handing the Writer of the Year Award to
deserving winner, Sally-Ann Clark. The rest of the evening was spent
eating, drinking and socialising. We look forward to embarking on
another year of writing on 4th January 2016.
Thursday, 10 December 2015
Manuscript Evening - 16th November, 2015
At
our last Manuscript Evening of the year, on 16th November,
two brave souls provided extracts from their work to be critiqued by
other members of the group. Bill Petsing read a section from his
memoirs, entitled 'Dad in the 1930s', which painted a vivid portrait
of family life in London between the wars. As a first-hand account,
it provided a valuable record and a fascinating slice of social
history. New member, Anne Hansen, then read her short story, 'The
Lost Weekend', an experimental piece, based on a personal ad. It told
the story of elderly love in a clear and charming voice. It had a
beautiful flow and some intriguing sexual tension. In the second
half, members divided into small groups to discuss various writing
issues, including how to portray an angel and how to find imagery to
convey emotion between two people.
Friday, 6 November 2015
Catherine Cookson Cup Entries - 2nd November, 2015
On
2nd November, we read out our entries for the annual
Catherine
Cookson Cup. This
year, our judge is Sarah O'Halloran, talent scout with the Madeleine
Milburn Literary Agency,
and
everyone had really pulled out the stops. There was a dazzling array
of genres, styles and characters. There was a granny who had left the
narrator a mysterious heirloom, an old dear who'd decided gambling
might be a solution to her money problems, an Italian contessa, whose
survival depended on the efforts of a faithful retainer and another
woman who had discovered a talent for teleporting. There was an
8-year-old boy street whose family lived in a factory doorway and an
18-year-old with a secret. There was a tunnel under an apocalyptic
world, another in which a husband was busy burrowing under his own
street and strange goings on in a hollowed out yew tree. There was a
19th century priest awaiting execution, a young woman who'd escaped
her past and a wife who'd got away with murder.
Saturday, 24 October 2015
Romantic Fiction Results - 19th October, 2015
On
19th October, we met for to hear the results of our final
competition of the year: Romantic Fiction. Judge, Hilary Mackelden,
first gave an account of her long and varied career as a writer of
stories, novels and plays before going on to define what she expected
from a short story in this particular genre, which remains her 'first
love' in her own writing. Her regency
romance,'The Bankrupt Viscount', written under the name of Caitlyn Callery, was shortlisted
for the 2015 Joan Hessayon Award. Unfortunately, many of our own
entries were discounted on the grounds of not really fitting within
the genre because they didn't focus on a developing relationship
between the hero and heroine, which – according to Hilary – is a
necessary component of romantic fiction. However, in general, she had
praise for our efforts, especially some of some of the more likeable
characters, the realistic dialogue and the interesting plots. The
winner, which was refreshing, original and a feast of the senses, was
Amanda Giles' 'Hector's Tale'. Maddie Blake was second with 'Top
Secret', which had all the elements of a love story and a sympathetic
heroine. Third was 'Out with the Geek' by Emma Boyde, praised for its
economy, detail and strong voice. Fourth was Marcus Towner's 'Indian
Summer, Later Spring' in which the feelings were beautifully
conveyed. Hilary also gave 'honourable mentions' to Sam Davey's
'Stupid QPID' and Godfrey Forder's 'Lost and Found'.
Tuesday, 6 October 2015
Preparing Your Manuscript for Publication Workshop - 5th October, 2015
On
5th October, our Vice-Chair, the best-selling children's
author, Kate O'Hearn, took time out of her extremely busy writing
schedule to help members to prepare their manuscripts for a literary
agent. This was particularly useful and timely as this year our
3000-word stories for the annual Catherine Cookson Cup Competition
will be judged by talent scout, Sarah O'Halloran, from the Madeleine
Milburn Literary Agency. Kate gave us tips on selling our work by
capturing an agent's attention in one minute, writing clear outlines
and tantalising synopses and scouring the 'Artists' and Writers'
Yearbook' to find the right agent. She also gave a fascinating and
entertaining account of her own experiences with publishers and
editors as well as useful, practical answers to our questions. We ended the
evening on a creative note as we attempted to write a first paragraph
that would ensure our manuscripts didn't end up on a bored editor's
spike. Kate was positive and encouraging throughout, so we all left
inspired to write and have our work published.
Again,
we congratulate Marcia Woolf on having another of her stories
shortlisted and were pleased to hear that Rachel Marsh has another
article on the 'Daily News Service'.
Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Romantic Fiction Entries - 21st September, 2015
On
21st September, we met for an evening of romantic fiction,
at which eleven members read their entries for the last competition
of the year. There was a surprising range of approaches, some of
which might have surprised readers of Women’s Weekly. We had
loss, longing and lust, love objects from the G.P. to the geek,
heroines who were poets and painters, QPID (say it aloud) in Regent’s
Park and inter-racial love in India. Stories were touching or wry,
played with the conventions of the genre or used them creatively.
Unfortunately there was not time to read a further four submissions
on the night, but they promise to broaden the range even further. We
look forward to our judge, Hilary Mackelden's, feedback on 19th
October.
We were pleased to hear that Marcia Woolf’s short story, Impatience, has been shortlisted for the Wells Literature Festival prize. Congratulations also to Rachel Marsh, who has been given and internship with 'Daily News Service', so please read her article here: http://www.dailynewsservice.co.uk/our-obsession-with-pedometers-a-step-too-far/
We were pleased to hear that Marcia Woolf’s short story, Impatience, has been shortlisted for the Wells Literature Festival prize. Congratulations also to Rachel Marsh, who has been given and internship with 'Daily News Service', so please read her article here: http://www.dailynewsservice.co.uk/our-obsession-with-pedometers-a-step-too-far/
Tuesday, 8 September 2015
Planning Meeting - 7th September, 2015
On 7th September, the group met to tackle the thorny issue of planning the 2016 programme. First we discussed the overall balance of meeting types before voting on members' suggestions for competitions. We then moved on to discussing our biennial themed charity anthology, which next year, will be coordinated by a team of three. Our Chair, Eileen Masters, presented various options regarding printing and distribution as well as themes previously suggested by group members. Jane Hempson-Jones from the coordination team had researched local charities who might be interested in promoting the project and receiving the profits; she presented a very clear picture of the type of work performed by each in the community, so members could make a more informed decision. We then discussed what themes might be linked to those charities before voting. We're hoping for as much group involvement as possible and a successful launch of the final volume.
Romantic Fiction Workshop - 24th August, 2015
On
24th August, Elizabeth Allen led a workshop on Romantic
Fiction in preparation for the final competition of the year. Having
contrasted the genre to its more elevated cousin, romance, she asked
everyone to note down what they considered the key elements of the
genre to be. We went on to look at two broad categories, contrasting
the generally exotic and glitzy Mills & Boon approach with the
more everyday Women's Weekly style. Although we acknowledged
Mills & Boon novels now range from the traditional heart-warming
weddings of doctors and nurses etc. to more 'hot and spicy'
encounters, one avid romantic fiction reader among us pointed out the
sexual politics haven't moved on that much! We discussed the elements
of the romantic novel: characters, setting, plot and prose style,
with credit being given to Sophie King's How to Write a Romantic
Novel. The group's choices of a suitable location for a novel
ranged from libraries through the Scottish Highlands to the gondolas
of Venice, and characters' names spanned the mundane to the highly
exotic. We wait for the entries to be read out on 21st
September.
Thursday, 13 August 2015
Monologue Results - 10th August, 2015
On 10 August, local writer, director
and script editor, Christine Harmar-Brown came to deliver her verdict
on the 19 entries in our Dramatic Monologue competition. She spoke
about the challenges of writing monologues, such as the setting the
context, including setting and who the person is talking to – and
the role of the audience, establishing a strong character and how to
sustain interest and move the story along with only one actor. In her
feedback on each piece, Christine focused on authenticity of voice,
immediacy, keeping audiences guessing by having twists or something
unexpected and dramatic irony. An important message for all of us was
that a monologue is not a first person narrative because it has to be
rooted in a real person. In first place was Vicky Armstrong with her
19th century diary, 'Six Months in the Life of Miss Hill',
praised for its subtle revelation of character. Second was the
original and thought-provoking 'Grammabot' by Caroline Wardle. Sally-Ann Clark's
authentically voiced 'Getting a Word in Edgeways' came third. Fourth was 'Wife
in the Gulf' by Roz Balp.
Tuesday, 28 July 2015
Manuscript Evening - 27th July, 2015
At our manuscript evening on 27 July, four members read out
their work and received feedback from the group. First, was Elizabeth Allen
with the beginning of the third section of her novel, ‘Laying Ghosts’. She asked
members to focus on the voice of the narrator and protagonist. Members were
impressed by the style and economy of the writing, which cleverly conveyed
setting, period and character and suggested dialogue as a means to make the
central character more vivid and to move the plot forward. Second was new
member, Chris Curran, with the beginning of her psychological suspense novel, ‘The
Stooge’. Everyone found the piece beautifully paced and structured with very
convincing but subtle evocation of a 50s seaside pier theatre show and its
performers. Marcia Woolf was our third reader with a chapter from her darkly
comic novel, ‘Roadkill’. Everyone found the piece entertaining and intriguing
and there was a lively discussion on how to convey character through dialogue,
particularly when contrasting English with American speech. Last was Bill
Petsing with a short story, which focused on romantic and sexual encounters in Second
World War London; people enjoyed the authentic voice and the economy of style
and discussed the need to keep tenses consistent to avoid confusion. It was an enjoyable
evening, and we all benefited from considering the issues raised.
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
Monologue Entries - 13th July, 2015
On 13 July, members read out their
monologues, to be judged by local writer, director and script editor,
Christine Harmar-Brown. There were 19 entries in our fourth
competition of the year, which ranged from the dark and gritty the to
the light and fluffy and which explored a variety of themes,
including domestic abuse, heroin addiction and taxidermy. We heard the voices of
characters as diverse as an ageing dominatrix called Madame Solitaire
and the Madonna. We visited a truck in Calais, the 'Titanic', the
pages of Wikipedia and a diary, a villa in the Gulf and contemplated
a range of activities, such as school cap wearing,
visiting hospital patients, attacks in dark alleys and preparing for
Armageddon. It was a dizzying and diverse display of creativity, and we look forward to the judge's feedback on 10 August.
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Journalism Results - 29th June, 2015
We were extremely lucky to
have the experienced journalist and author, Kathryn Flett, as the
judge for our third competition of the year. She gave insightful and
useful feedback to everyone, which included such points as:
structure, research, opening sentences, writing style and tone, pace,
clarity of purpose and target audience, working to tight word counts
and deadlines, In addition, she generously gave an honest and
revealing account of both her own career and the world of journalism
in general. Kathryn then announced the winners: first was Elizabeth
Allen's 'A Whole Planet of Possibilities', which was both current and
thought-provoking, closely followed by John Taylor's warm-hearted
piece with its excellent opening line, 'Claim to Fame'. Third was
the well-researched and informative 'On the Trail of Grey Owl' by
Diana Lock. Rachel Marsh was fourth with the fresh and
well-structured 'Turning a Blind Eye'. In response to questions from
the floor, Kathryn gave two invaluable pieces of advice on how to
improve as a writer: to be edited by someone who knows what they're
doing and to keep exercising your 'writing muscle'. Her new novel,
'Outstanding', published by Quercus, is out this Autumn.
Tuesday, 16 June 2015
Quiz Night - 15th June, 2015
At our Quiz Night on 15th
June, four teams spent a sunny summer's evening pitting their wits
against fiendish questions set by Dr Eizabeth Allen and Not-Dr Roz
Balp. The nine devilishly difficult rounds included Classic and
Contemporary Literature and Crime Writing as well as the cryptically
titled 'Rainbow Round, 'Plant Life' and 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'
After a bitter battle, Team Writers' Block triumphed, so
congratulations to Vicky Armstrong, Sam Davey, Kate Giles and Anne
Spiring, who showed themselves to be the best-read members in the
group. No prizes were necessary as the glory was more than enough.
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
Journalism Entries - 1st June, 2015
On 1st June
members met to read out their entries for our third competition of
the year: journalistic writing. Seventeen aspiring reporters had
risen to the challenge of writing
an article or opinion piece, including current affairs or topics
of ongoing interest, as well
as items that might appear in the middle of a newspaper. Everyone
marvelled at the astonishing range of styles and subject matter. We
found out about youth schemes, the transgender issue and how to
prepare a teenager for A levels. We heard heartfelt rants about
parking, racism and inequality for the poor and disabled. We
travelled along Grey Owl's trail, explored the secret prehistory of
the Bexhill bypass and rattled around in an ossuary. We listened to reviews
of a festival, a book and a restaurant and found out about people's
claims to fame. All in all, it was a fascinating and informative
evening, and we look forward to our judge, Kathryn Flett's, feedback.
Friday, 15 May 2015
Manuscript Evening - 11th May, 2015
At our second Manuscript
Evening of the year, four brave souls brought their work for other
members to critique. First up was Jill Fricker with a piece about a
poor family struggling to survive in 1830s London. She wanted to know
if she'd captured the historical context, if the characters were
believable and if the dialogue was authentic. This led to a lively
discussion – with much disagreement – before everyone finally
concluded that historical fiction needs a good deal of research and hard
work. Second was Lucas Howard's start of his 65,000-word novel, a dark
comedy called 'The Zed List'. He asked for feedback about voice, tone
and flow, and everyone had much to say about the alien world he'd
created for the target market of the young gaming community. Musetta
Ripamonte was third with a dark, fantasy, written for children, which
she'd illustrated herself. Members puzzled over the conundrum of
people going into a magical world and then back to the real world and
the need to pinpoint an age group for such a genre. Finally was Vicky
Armstrong with the beginning of her first novel, the story of a young
woman travelling to West Africa after to the war to meet her new
husband. Her question was, 'Should I continue?' and the answer was a
resounding 'yes' from all of us: everyone was impressed by the
writing, which was well-paced and convincing and the subtle build-up
of intrigue.
Saturday, 2 May 2015
Poetry Results - 27th April, 2015
On 27th April,
Antony Mair, poet and leader of the local Stanza group, came to
deliver his verdict on our second competition of the year. He spoke
eloquently and informatively about poetry: rhyme, rhythm, shape,
length of line and intensity of emotion. He said that two
disadvantages of starting from a form are that it is difficult to
maintain energy if the form becomes a straitjacket and the writer is
always in the shadow of the greats. Instead, he recommended starting
with a thought and letting the words come naturally before
'versifying' them. He also stressed the need to check every line by
asking 'Is it accurate?' 'Is the syntax right?' and 'Does it work?'
In first place was Elizbeth
Allen's 'The New Wife', praised for its quiet power and ability to
convey so much in a short space. Second was Sally-Ann Clark's
intriguing 'Cairn'; third was Liz Caluori's humorous 'A Little Less
Conversatio, and in fourth place was John Taylor's atmospheric
'Dungeness'.
We are very grateful to Antony for the
depth and detail of both his individual and group feedback,
which we all found extremely helpful.
Tuesday, 14 April 2015
An Evening With Our Patron - 14th April,2015
On Monday 14th
April, the group's patron, best-selling author, Tamara McKinley gave
generously of her time, advice and experience in a talk entitled
'From Idea to Novel in 4 Months'. With wit, warmth and honesty she
talked of the writing process in general with realistic reference to
the world of publishing in particular. She showed us the cover of her
own recently completed novel, 'Echoes From Afar', to inspire us. She
then led us through her own process, starting with the fleshing out
of characters, how to research setting and time, emphasising the need
for real passion about the story to be told. She talked about her own
joy in playing the 'What If' game, i.e. putting her characters in
certain situations and seeing how they act, which for her is
all-consuming. She then focused on structure, saying that every
conversation and scene has to move the plot forward, with the
conflict being established in the first line and hooks being
distributed throughout to keep the reader engrossed. Tamara then
suggested how to organise both the novel's chapters and our writing
time and how to produce both a short and long synopsis. Finally, she
gave us practical tips on editing and on how to present our work to
publishers and agents. However, it has to be remembered that Tamara
is herself 'a lot to live up to' as she is extremely prolific and
also writes under the name of Ellie Dean and sometimes has more than
one book and one writing persona on the go at the same time! We were
all extremely grateful to her for taking time out of her incredibly
busy writing schedule to come and spur us on.
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Poetry Entries - 30th March, 2015
Our poetry evening started with Jill Fricker reading her poem, 'The Cordwainer's Son', which came second in the 2015 Four Counties Poetry Competition. Members then read out their own entries for our second HWG competition of the year - as well as
those submitted by members who were not able to attend. There were nineteen
poems in all, their subject matter ranging from family
relationships - passionate, tender or angry - through landscape and
seascape to the secret life of an X-ray particle. Some were light and
witty, some tender, some following tight structures, others more
loosely organised. In the second half, Eileen set us a writing exercise: we were
encouraged to use a verse form, but she kindly allowed those of us
who found this rather too challenging to relapse into prose. So,
required to imagine ourselves in Sainsbury’s, having just suffered or
welcomed some life-changing event, we broke down, shop-lifted and
wreaked havoc - sometimes in rhyming couplets.
Saturday, 21 March 2015
Flash Fiction Results - 16th March, 2015
On
16th March, our judge, Alexandra Benedict, who writes under
the name of A K Benedict, gave her feedback and verdict on our Flash
Fiction entries. A possible record of 24 entries of exactly 250 words
had been submitted, and Alexandra commented on the quality and
interesting range of approaches taken: the humorous, the scary, the
touching and the lyrical. Her one piece of advice was that in every
story, she felt at least one sentence digressed and distracted the
reader from the main thrust of the narrative, and that we should
trust our instincts to go with the flow of the story. In first place
was Sally-Ann Clark's 'In Perspective', which was praised for its
structure and lyricism. Diana Locke came second with 'Missing
Baggage', Marcia Woolf third with 'Devotion' and Roz Balp fourth with
'The Green Door'.
In
the question and answer session which followed, Alexandra
talked of the value of what she had learned from the creative writing
courses she had attended at the University of Sussex, of finding an
agent and the auction for her first novel. She told us an intriguing
tale of the inspiration for this novel, The Beauty of Murder, with
its time-travelling serial murderer, in a strange experience while an
undergraduate at Cambridge.
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
Journalism Workshop - 2nd March, 2015
A
lively and informative workshop, led by experienced journalist Emma
Boyde, offered a strong foundation for entries for our journalism
competition.
She
explained the different structures required by a both news story and of a feature. A news
story is often drawn as an inverted pyramid, which has the meat (who,
what, when) in the opening paragraph with following paragraphs having
progressively less crucial information, so that sub-editors under
pressure can cut from the bottom without loss of meaning. In a
feature, the introduction often takes an individual instance, then
moves onto the core arguments, ending either with reference to
‘expert opinion’ on the subject or a return to the individual.
Emma
then provided us with examples of a range of journalistic models: a
piece of news analysis, a theatre review, a blog which went viral –
and a piece by our judge for this competition, Kathryn Flett. She
encouraged us to examine these in terms of structure and the use, or
otherwise, of the first person. Feedback from this exercise involved
some lively discussion of the merits and demerits of journalism and
its function in the age of social media. Emma suggested that there
remains a vital role for traditional journalism which uses proper
fact checking as against the unknown reliability of social media. She
talked about so-called ‘balance’ in a story as a misguided ideal because
bias is inevitable, and a ‘balanced’ story would be, at best,
80:20. Our practical exercise was then to interview a partner, to write up the
interview, incorporating a quotation, and for the interviewee to
assess accuracy.
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Manuscript Evening - 16th February, 2015
Elizabeth Allen offered a brief introduction to the challenges and value of effective critique. She gave general guidelines, such as being specific, addressing the text, rather than the writer, and establishing trust by pointing out positives. She also emphasised the value of the writer deciding on the focus of the discussion and what type of comments would be most helpful.
Four members then presented their work in progress, all of which offered a great variety of approach and provoked a lively discussion on topics and technique. Bill's first short story as a member of HWG was inspired by our first writing exercise of the year in which Eileen gave us a prompt for a story opening, featuring a clock, a hat and a body in a church porch. The story drew on his wartime experiences, and people commented positively on its lucid, pared-back style. Marcus gave us the opening of a charming novella in an undefined past, featuring a boy who appears seeking sanctuary in a remote, 'ill-fated village'. Members remarked that the opening had the feel of a fairy tale and was far removed from Marcus's usual violent robots! Glyn's chapter was not the opening of his novel but chosen because he was keen for feedback on whether he had been heavy-handed with the symbolism used to construct his creepy, controlling male character: an advocate of Nietzsche, an owner of Doberman Pinschers and a man who keeps finches in cages. The story was set in the 1970s, and there ensued an interesting general discussion on the difficulties of using time-appropriate terms and convincing your readers that these were indeed used in the given period. Members remarked on quality of the writing, and we now have the added intrigue that Glyn's chosen writer's name is a woman's... Our fnal manuscript was from Kate O'Hearn; like her published work to date, it was aimed at a Young Adult readership but went down well with our rather older group of adults. Her concern was with voice: she is not a lover of first person, but, knowing that all the super-successful YA fiction uses that technique, she had reluctantly adopted it for this novel. We all agreed that it was handled very effectively, and we are now much more informed on the nature of incubi and succubi.
Four members then presented their work in progress, all of which offered a great variety of approach and provoked a lively discussion on topics and technique. Bill's first short story as a member of HWG was inspired by our first writing exercise of the year in which Eileen gave us a prompt for a story opening, featuring a clock, a hat and a body in a church porch. The story drew on his wartime experiences, and people commented positively on its lucid, pared-back style. Marcus gave us the opening of a charming novella in an undefined past, featuring a boy who appears seeking sanctuary in a remote, 'ill-fated village'. Members remarked that the opening had the feel of a fairy tale and was far removed from Marcus's usual violent robots! Glyn's chapter was not the opening of his novel but chosen because he was keen for feedback on whether he had been heavy-handed with the symbolism used to construct his creepy, controlling male character: an advocate of Nietzsche, an owner of Doberman Pinschers and a man who keeps finches in cages. The story was set in the 1970s, and there ensued an interesting general discussion on the difficulties of using time-appropriate terms and convincing your readers that these were indeed used in the given period. Members remarked on quality of the writing, and we now have the added intrigue that Glyn's chosen writer's name is a woman's... Our fnal manuscript was from Kate O'Hearn; like her published work to date, it was aimed at a Young Adult readership but went down well with our rather older group of adults. Her concern was with voice: she is not a lover of first person, but, knowing that all the super-successful YA fiction uses that technique, she had reluctantly adopted it for this novel. We all agreed that it was handled very effectively, and we are now much more informed on the nature of incubi and succubi.
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Flash Fiction Entries - 2nd February, 2015
2nd February was
the deadline for our first competition of the year: Flash Fiction in
exactly 250 words. The tight word count didn't inhibit the variety of
approach, and there was a startling range of genres: comedy, drama,
tragedy, love, murder, genocide with a variety of protagonists,
including Nigerian warlords, holocaust survivors and a coin of the
realm. In all, there were 27 entries with 23 being read out on the night.
In the second half, members were given a scenario: 'A group of writers are in a hotel room reading their work when suddenly the lights go out and they are plunged into darkness. What happens next?' We worked alone or in small groups, and the results revealed some members had been murdered while others had encountered a range of ingeniously construed situations. Most – but not all – had happy endings.
In the second half, members were given a scenario: 'A group of writers are in a hotel room reading their work when suddenly the lights go out and they are plunged into darkness. What happens next?' We worked alone or in small groups, and the results revealed some members had been murdered while others had encountered a range of ingeniously construed situations. Most – but not all – had happy endings.
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Flash Fiction Workshop - 19th January, 2015
On Monday 19th
January, Dr Elizabeth Allen, our resident English Literature
lecturer, led a workshop on Flash Fiction. First, we discussed four
very short stories of different lengths and genres, saying what we
thought was successful and what wasn't. The key questions explored
were: whether to have a resolved ending or not, the optimum number of
characters and how to make such a short piece resonate
In the second half, Roz Balp shared a practical editing exercise from the OU free online Creative Writing course. The main focus was on what should be slashed and what needs to be kept. We decided this depended on what the author wanted to place in the foreground and which words or phrases couldn't be sacrificed for the sake of atmosphere.
There was a buzz of friendly disagreement throughout the evening with a wide range of opinions and ideas being expressed.
In the second half, Roz Balp shared a practical editing exercise from the OU free online Creative Writing course. The main focus was on what should be slashed and what needs to be kept. We decided this depended on what the author wanted to place in the foreground and which words or phrases couldn't be sacrificed for the sake of atmosphere.
There was a buzz of friendly disagreement throughout the evening with a wide range of opinions and ideas being expressed.
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
First Meeting of 2015 on 5th January
The first part of the meeting was devoted to discussing and resolving various group business issues:
1. The accounts for the period ended 31st December 2014 (14 months due to a change in the date of the end of the financial year) were presented by the Treasurer and approved by members
2. The budget estimate for the year 2015 was presented by the Treasurer and approved by members.
The meeting thanked Samantha Davey for her work as Treasurer
3. Resolved: to move the AGM to January each year in line with both the subscription and financial years now ending on 31st December.
4. Resolved: to create a committee post of Fundraising Secretary to initiate and organise fundraising activities. Some members are experienced in fundraising and are willing to assist the Fundraising Secretary as needed. If you would like to volunteer for this role, please contact eileen@eileenmasters.net . If there is more than one volunteer, the membership will vote. All are welcome to put themselves forward and we particularly encourage new members to volunteer.
5.Resolved: Amanda Giles will take the lead in organising HWG’s judging of the anthologies entered for the National Association of Writers’ Groups competition. HWG has been given this responsibility because we won last year’s Volunteers to participate in judging please contact Amanda on aloeamanda@sky.com. All are welcome to assist and we particularly encourage new members to participate.
6. At present, members have to be up to date with their subscriptions in order to continue their membership. It was suggested that there should also be a minimum requirement for attendance. It was agreed, without a vote, that more information is needed and the matter was adjourned to a later meeting. Meanwhile, the committee will decide on a sympathetic case by case basis.
7. Resolved: Former members who wish to return will not automatically be put on the waiting list. Instead, the committee will decide, on a case by case basis, taking into account the contribution that former members made to the group and their particular circumstances.
Then Elizabeth Allen read her winning Catherine Cookson Cup story. The judge, Catherine Smith, had this to say about it: 'Nothing is wasted. Every paragraph, sentence, comma and word is deftly deployed in the service of the story.'
Finally, we tried to get the creative juices flowing by exploring genre in an exercise given to us by our Chair, Eileen Masters. We worked in groups to discuss, categorise and extrapolate a story from a given paragraph. Most of us found this pretty challenging; hopefully, we'll improve along with the weather!
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