Flash Fiction Entries - 2nd February, 2015

2^nd 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.

Flash Fiction Workshop - 19th January, 2015

On Monday 19^th 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.

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!

Presentation Evening, 2014

At our annual Presentation Evening on 5^th December, the new Chair, Eileen Masters, greeted everyone and briefly summarised the group's activities over the year, highlighting the award-winning anthology, 'Animal Writes', and encouraging people buy it to help raise money for the two charities it supports.

Our first guest speaker of the evening was Catherine Smith, who had judged the annual Catherine Cookson Cup competition. She told us what she looked for in a short story, likening the genre to a fish tank, which provided a glimpse into a different world without distractions from the wider sea. She warned of the dangers of trying to 'cram a quart into a pint pot' and said some entrants had tried to write a novel in 3000 words and encouraged them to go on and write that novel. She said she wanted to be enchanted and intrigued and added that when she had finished the stories placed first and second, she had been so convinced that she imagined the main characters would actually walk into the room. The 2014 cup winner was new group member, Elizabeth Allen, with 'Growing Pains'; Catherine said the story was a polished gem with a distinctive style which drew her in. Sam Davey was second, Roz Balp third and Diana Lock fourth.

After the break, our patron, Tamara McKinley, spoke about the hard work and passion that has to go into professional writing and gave fascinating and inspiring examples from her own long and successful career as a best-selling novelist, which illustrated the dedication and self-sacrifice necessary to garner any rewards, particularly in the current world of publishing. She then handed out certificates to all members who had been placed in the group's five internal writing competitions before announcing the winner of the Writer of the Year Award given to the member who amasses most points across all competitions. This year, after a neck-and-neck battle, the shield was shared between Jill Fricker and Roz Balp.

The evening was rounded off with a raffle for Christmas hampers, and a group photograph was taken by the HWG''s very own world famous photographer, John Coles.

Catherine Cookson Entries – 24 November, 2014

At the end of the year, our focus was on beginnings, and in our meeting on 24 November, we read the first 1000 words of our Catherine Cookson Cup entries – the group's annual 3000-word short story competition. As always, there was a variety of genres, including adventure, mystery, humour, crime and ghost stories. Settings spanned a hospital, a Marrakesh hotel and a cottage plagued by dark demons. These were populated by a diverse cast of characters, such as a foreign prince, a London bag lady and a destructive dog. As we listened, we pondered how other members had tackled the thorny issue of hooking the reader into their stories, and in the final 15 minutes, we all worked in pairs to put our ponderings into practice by extrapolating an opening paragraph from a sentence suggested by our Chair.

Radio Play Results - 10th November, 2014

On Monday 10 November, the award-winning playwright, Shaun McKenna visited to give his feedback on our 10-minute radio play competition and to announce the winners.

As previously, Shaun gave very constructive, supportive comments. He also played extracts from his own recent radio drama, 'Home Front', to illustrate his points on how to delineate character, create setting and move the plot forward in natural ways, appropriate for radio.

Marcia Woolf was fourth with 'Crossed Lines'; then there was barely a whisker between third and second place, with Shaun basing his eventual decision on personal preference, so 'Strangeness on a Train' by Vicky Armstrong was in third place with second going to Roz Balp's 'Lost and Found'. However, the clear winner was 'All Those Heavenly Fowls' by Jill Fricker, which Shaun said was ready for immediate broadcast!

Hidden Gems and other things - October 2014

October has been a busy month for the group.
     On 13 October we met to hear the results of our 'Hidden Gems' Competition, for new writers who have not otherwise been placed in our internal competitions.  Our judge was one of our favourites, the extremely knowledgeable Dr Elizabeth Allen. In fact, she has enjoyed her work with the group so much, she has now joined as a member.  As the entry to the competition was relatively small, we decided to award only first and second places. In second place was John Taylor with 'Loved Ones', and the winner was new member Vicky Armstrong with 'Mr Hat'.

     27 October saw our annual AGM and Programme Planning Session. The big news this year was that Jill Fricker, our popular Chair, was standing down to concentrate on her developing creative writing work, and there are other changes in the Committee. Stephanie Gaunt is standing down, as is Marcia Woolf who has been an interim member of the committee for the last few months.  We actually had a contested election for the Chair, the first in the group's history, and Eileen Masters was chosen to succceed Jill. The rest of the Committee members are Kate O'Hearn, new Treasurer Samantha Davey, Janet Kates, Elizabeth Allen and Roz Balp, who is returning to the committee after a few years' break.

     In her final Chair's report, Jill said that 2014 had been another successful year for the group. Our new website had brought in numbers of new members and raised our profile. Our membership was consistently at its upper limit with a waiting list, and the healthy state of our finances meant that we are able to invest still more in professional judges and tutors for our writers.

     The final part of the evening was given over to planning our programme for next year. Members were given a list of options to choose from, based on their responses to a questionnaire sent out earlier in this year. Thanks to Marcia Woolf for undertaking this task.

     Members were also able to see our award for 'Animal Writes', which recently won the National Association of Writers' Groups Anthology prize, and also to purchase copies of our new anthology 'Strandline 14' which showcases members' work.