Purple Book Tour Workshop - 20 June, 2016

On 20^th June, Leslie Tate and Sue Hampton visited to give an interactive presentation on the modern novel as part of their popular Purple Book Tour. They covered such topics as voice and stylistic differences, point of view and current writing styles, with reference to their own work. It was a stimulating evening with an often original and contentious slant and gave us all food for thought.

Humour Entries - 6th June, 2016

On 6^th June, members met to read out their entries for our third competition of the year: humour. We all know that comedy is really, really hard to write and we all agreed that it was verging on impossible to be funny to order. Despite that, there was the usual impressive variety of work, ranging from the dark, through the satirical to the gentler and just plain silly. At any rate, we had a bit of a giggle, and we look forward to our judge, Sally Holloway's feedback.

Fun Workshop - 23rd May 2016

At our Story Scavenger evening on 23 May, our Vice-Chair, best-selling author, Kate O'Hearn, led a fun workshop, which challenged both our brains and our writing skills. She gave a very clear scenario: a complete short story featuring at least four characters taking part in a couples' weekend at “The Royal Muskoka Hotel” on a Northern Scottish island in late October with the opening line: “The weather turned as the small ferry arrived at the island dock.” We also had to incorporate a list of objects into the action: a long, leather whip, a green goblet, a plastic pumpkin lantern, a pink Hawaiian baseball cap, two feathers, a toy monkey, a 2009 calendar, a drill, a skipping rope and a mobile phone (though phones weren't allowed on the weekend). In the last 30 minutes, some brave members read out their attempts, often to hoots of laughter, particularly at the use of the objects, which was at times ingenious and at others verging on surreal.

Drama Results - 9th April 2016

On 9 May, over half the members attended to hear the results of our second competition of the year: a dramatic piece of ten to twenty minutes in length, suitable for performance at the Hastings Festival Fringe. The organiser of the event, actress and director, Heather Alexander, was our judge, and she was extremely encouraging about our work. She gave a clear overview of all fourteen entries, followed by very practical, useful suggestions for how to make each piece work on stage before announcing the winners. First was Amanda Giles' well-controlled and tightly written monologue, 'Miriam Waits', followed by Godfrey Forder's poignant and timeless short play, 'Just War' in second place. The light-hearted 'Lifted', by Roz Balp, was third, and fourth was Vicky Armstrong's uplifting 'Above Rubies'. Heather summarised the judging by saying that although the prize was originally for the winner to have their piece performed, she felt all were worthy of inclusion in the fringe and urged us to have an HWG short play evening at one of the town's venues. Finally, two members performed Jill Fricker's Highly Commended political satire, 'Brexit, Non!' More information about this year's Hastings Festival Fringe can be found here.

Manuscript Evening - 18th April, 2016

At our Manuscript Evening on 18 April, four writers brought sections of their novels-in-progress for feedback from other group members. Godfrey Forder's 'Mr Dickens and Mr Powell', tells the tale of the Victorian criminal underworld, set in an atmosphere of fog and gaslight. 'Watching' by Sandra Daniels opens with creepy cases from the files of a psychologist, but the reader begins to wonder if things are as they appear. Marcia Woolf's sequel to her first novel, 'Road Kill' is called 'The Cat' and explores an undercover investigation. 'Angels' of Islington' by Sam Davey depicts the angelic world investigating a powerful criminal cartel. Discussion followed about story continuity, the structure of the first chapter and the role of a prologues, the uses of long and short sentences, reducing the number of adjectives by boosting verbs and page layout in manuscripts being submitted to agents,

Drama Entries - 4th April, 2016

On 4 April, a valiant band read, acted out or directed their entries for the group's second competition of the year: dramatic writing. This year, the brief was to produce a piece suitable for the Hastings Fringe Festival to he held from 1 to 4 September. The organiser of the event, Heather Alexander, will judge, and the lucky winner will have the opportunity to have their work performed if they wish. As always, there was a dizzying array of material, including monologues: the philosophising of an elderly Rastafarian, a passenger's musings at a train station and a woman's attempt to plumb the secrets of the universe. There were stage plays set in a quiet, suburban living-rooms, a salon, an office and the kitchen sink, exploring themes as diverse as dementia, war, archaeology fundraising and Brexit. We rounded off the evening with a radio play, depicting what could have been the perfect murder.

Poetry Workshop - 15th March, 2016

26 members attended our meeting on 15th March and were delighted to welcome award-winning poet and Creative Writing tutor, John McCullough, who gave a stimulating and inspiring workshop on how to write good modern poetry. First, we looked at how key elements, such as rhythm, sound and repetition are used to imply emotion subtly, rather than state it overtly. Then, in groups, we analysed and discussed two contrasting but excellent modern poems, trying to tease out what made them memorable and fresh. We were given a topic and did some freewriting to 'unleash the strange thoughts at the back of our brains' before trying to expand key lines into short poems. Some of us were brave enough to read out our attempts and all received encouraging constructive feedback from John. Finally, he outlined his own creative process before reading out three of his own best known poems. It was a fascinating and thought-provoking evening, and we all feel more confident about having a go ourselves now.