CLECKHEATON WRITERS GROUP
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 14 October 2019 at Cleckheaton
Library commencing 5.30 pm
Present
Pauline
(Minute Taker), New Member – Barbara, Gemma, Mark,
Martijn,
Sam, Karen and Kathy
Apologies:
Alice, Mandy and Sarah
Welcome
/ Attendance
Using the Agenda items in order, Pauline started the
meeting advising members that Karen had sent her apologies as she would be late
due to a personal matter taking longer than anticipated. She then welcomed new
member, Barbara and asked each of the attendees to introduce themselves to
Barbara giving a brief résumé of their name, writing background and genres. Barbara informed the group that she had not written anything since she
was a youngster at college and now retired. She wanted to get into something
that will help her move from the ‘caring to invisible persona’ and felt that
writing short stories would be that ‘something.’
Minutes
of Last meeting
Taken as read.
WIP
/ Updates
Mark
– Has not been doing any writing due to starting his studies and work.
Gemma
– Has not been doing any writing but has been continuing with editing her novel
in relation to the feedback she received which she mentioned at the last
meeting. There was a lot she had to do, but was persevering. Keep going, Gemma,
we are all here for you if you need any help.
Pauline
–
Has not done any writing on her novels as she was using her time to work on a
personal project for her family. She also felt that the adage ‘if it isn’t
moving past certain chapters, then it’s probably not the novel to be written
yet.” and is considering writing something different. She did mention that she
attended the Ghost Story Writing Workshop in Halifax set up by Adam Z. Robinson
on the 5th October 2019, details of which Karen, who also attended,
had emailed to everyone). Pauline felt the workshop was excellent and has
inspired her to do further writing on this topic. She handed a copy of Adams
latest book entitled The Book of Darkness & Light for members to look at,
and suggested that if members got the chance to attend a workshop or one of his
stage productions in which he acts, – the next one is his take on “A Christmas
Carol” in Halifax in December, they should do so. This book of three short
stories was good. She then gave a brief outline on workshop where those
attending were to give only their name and favourite ghost story (other than A
Christmas Carol). Adam then began the exercises by stating “It is impossible to
be wrong. Write what you want. Don’t judge yourself as you write and allow
yourself the freedom to write badly.” The 4 exercises were, 1. The Arrival, using a picture of an
old house as a springboard, we were asked to make a list of words that came
into our mind whilst looking at this picture. Adam then asked 6 people to list
one word from our list and we were all to write something containing those 6
words (and no, he did not mean all six words in one sentence!) 2. The Encounter, who is speaking, where
are we, who is there and what has drawn us there. Could be a meeting of a
ghost, could be something subtle. We were then to pick one of the openings
shown on the board and then write about it. 3.
The Backstory, the reason why the ghost exists and its purpose – i.e. in a
Christmas Carol, Marley is the backstory and his purpose is to warn Scrooge. We
were each given an envelope containing a picture of an object. We had to list
what was in the picture and how it made us feel, and then write something using
the following as a guideline - To whom did it belong? Where did it come from?
Why is the ghost so attached? Do they want it back? What is the object made of?
After writing on this, Adam then asked us to look at the picture again for
something we had not seen the first time we looked. Weird. Finally exercise 4. Story Skeleton. We were each given
three strips of card, the first coloured lilac, the second coloured pink and
the third coloured blue (in that order). There was not enough time to do any
writing on this one, though Adam said if we wished, we had the option of
sending our pieces to him on his blog. We were asked to turn over the strips
and each read out what was written on them in the order we had been given them.
Pauline was thanked for her review on the workshop.
Sam –
Has completed half of Chapter 4 of his novel which he’d like to read out in the
feedback session.
Martijn –
Has been through a rough patch this year but he was toying with the layout of a
story including graphical items. In addition to the poems he had written and
entered in the Manchester Metropolitan competition, two of which he read out at
the last meeting, he had brought along another two poems which he would like to
read out at the feedback session.
Karen –
As Karen arrived after the introductions to Barbara, she gave details of her
writing background and the genres she writes i.e. crime, middle-grade, young adult,
adult suspense, poetry, and short stories. She gave an update on her crime
novel The Pallbearer. She had received feedback on her romantic suspense novel
and needed to do a little bit of editing and then it would be ready to submit. She
had also sent 5,000 words of her novel Half Lands with her application to
attend the Golden Egg course (the same one Alice is currently on) and is
pleased to advise that she has been accepted. She just has to find the course
money as it is expensive, but worth it as she will be working on her book with
professionals and there is the possibility of the novel being published (they
give Chicken House first refusal once a writer has completed the full 3 years
of the course) and will earn a certificate and possible production of her novel. Congratulations,
Karen.
Kathy –
Having also arrived after the introductions, Kathy told Barbara that she writes
short stories, weird ghost stories and comedy. She loves writing dialogue and
she has entered competitions. She hasn’t done much writing lately as she has
had members of her family over from Ireland and had the rest of the group in
stiches with her stories of how this visit was going. There’s plenty of material
for your next comedy novel here, Kath. Many thanks.
Feedback
Martijn started
the feedback session by reading out two poems. The first entitled ‘Parenting’
was his take-on parenting skills, his own, his parents (particularly his mother
who nagged him to get a decent job etc.) Everyone liked the poem very much and
commented that words and rhythm of the poem ‘sounded’ like nagging. It was one
of the poems entered in the Manchester Metro Competition. Fingers crossed. The
second poem was a poem he had written for his 5-year old niece entitled ‘Tiger
in my House.’ Martijn said his brother wants this one. Again everyone liked
this one. More from you Martijn please.
Sam
– For
the benefit of new member Barbara, and to members in attendance who hadn’t
heard the previous chapters, Sam gave a brief update of his novel, A Challengers Voyage and then went on to
read out Chapter 4. Once again, everyone loved the continuing adventures (and
mishaps) of the Hubble, Edmund and Sir Cecil, and other characters, the trader
and the puppet master, his word-play on expressions e.g. “the bowels of the ship”, making the story very, very funny. He was
asked how many chapters will his novel have and he said about 20, though he’d
only done 4 chapters so far, the latest chapter he’d written that morning! Wow, for a first
draft this was excellent. Can’t wait to hear the next instalment, Sam.
Pauline read
out the 3 pieces she had produced at Adam Robinson’s Ghost Writing Workshop,
she mentioned earlier. For 1. The Arrival
– she used the following final 6 words i.e. Woods,
Skeleton, Graveyard, Trapped, Fear and Shadow. 2. The Encounter – she had
chosen from the board, the following opening for her second piece - “It
couldn’t be. I knew we had buried her two weeks ago.” For
her third piece 3. The Backstory – the picture in her envelope was that of a single
deep-crimson rose. 4. The Skeleton - the words on her strips of card were – Lilac –
the hooded figure of a wicked priest
haunts… Pink – a science lab.
Blue – seeking revenge for the death of
their best friend. Pauline received great feedback from the members, they
all liked her pieces – her good use of the words and good characters, the
pieces were scary. She was asked if she would be expanding on them. Pauline
said that she was thinking about using those three pieces in a new ghost story.
She thanked everyone for their kind words.
Competitions
/ Festivals /Other
Other than the Adam Z. Robinson Ghost Story Stage
production, ‘A Christmas Carol’ mentioned by Pauline earlier, the Brighouse
Music Festival was mentioned, and Karen said there is a Stephen May Workshop on
Friday at 2pm if anyone can get there. She also reminded all that there is a
writing group session at the Ribbon Tree Café in Cleckheaton on Thursday.
Writing
Challenge/Session
Whilst there was only a short time left of the
meeting, Karen suggested that we do a writing challenge based similar to the
Workshop of Adam Z Robinson. Pauline suggested that for the next five minutes
we each write a list of words we’d associate with a ghost story. At the end of
the five minutes, she asked each member to call out 2 words from their list
which Pauline wrote down. These words are: Void,
Paranoid, Asphyxiate, Corpse, Scream, Chimera, Creep, Frozen, Forgotten, Gone,
Darkness, Tombstone, Deserted, Vile, Putrefy and Twilight. (16 words).
Pauline then asked each member to chose 8 of the 16 words listed and write a
ghost story which could be any length (NOT one sentence using all 8 words,
please) as long as the story contained all 8 of their chosen words.
Members
will be able read out their stories at the next meeting on Monday 28th October, if they so wish.
Pauline then closed the meeting, thanking all for
their attendance, hoped Barbara had enjoyed the meeting, and we hope to see her
again.
The meeting closed at 7pm.
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