Cleckheaton Writers Group (CWG) met last night at Cleckheaton Library with Alice, Gemma, Cassie, Janet, Karen, Sam and new member Julia in attendance, Mandy, Sarah, Daniel and Kathy having passed on their apologies.
Welcome/Attendance: We welcomed Julia, each CWG member introducing themselves and the kind of writing they do. Julia has just started creative writing, she is in the second year of the U3A creative writing course and prior to that the writing she did was academic.
Minutes from the last meeting: The minutes from the previous meeting were passed.
WIP updates: Karen has written a new scene for her YA fantasy novel Half-lands (which she is working on as part of The Golden Egg Academy foundations course), a new scene for her Dystopian YA novel Digital Heroin and a new poem.
Sam has written chapter one of his new WIP which he brought along to share for feedback.
Alice has written 4k words of her new 'Hattie' WIP and has been editing her first novel having just received feedback as part of her third year at Golden Egg Academy.
Gemma has set her first MS aside having spoken to Helen Corner-Bryant at Cornerstones and is now working on book two. She has been researching for the new book and has plans to turn the first MS into a psychological thriller at a later date.
Janet had not written anything since the last meeting but brought along the short story she mentioned on the 20th of January to share for feedback.
Cassie has written a dialogue-only piece for her U3A course.
Julia had written a U3A piece and she brought it along to share with CWG.
Feedback sessions: Julia shared the beginning of her story explaining it had started out as a romantic tale and evolved into a serial killer story entitled Hicksville USA. The story was written from two perspectives and Julia explained her plans for it going forward. The members agreed the story had legs and look forward to hearing more.
Alice then shared her first chapter of her MG novel, JC Betts, Police Girl particularly wanting feedback on how the Superintendent character came across. It was well received with just a few suggestions given for improvement. This led to a discussion about whether we thought the Superintendent was a good/bad character and her motivations which were revealed in the piece. Members could tell Alice had worked hard on editing this section, particularly noting the addition of the motiff and its parallels with binary/black and white and look forward to hearing more from this her first novel.
Janet shared her short story that did not name the MC and she was wanting feedback on this aspect. It was an intriguing beginning, as it could have been from the perspective of someone with dementia or grief, and the lack of a name did not hinder the story in any way. Members look forward to hearing more.
Sam finished the meeting by sharing the first chapter of his new WIP Capital Frontier. The piece was well received, comments being made about the animal as members thought the smell description was great but wanted more description of the size. Alice commented that Sam mentioned the speaker spoke bluntly and sarcastically but this was unnecessary as it was obvious from the dialogue. This led to a discussion about the book and Sam mentioned he deliberately hadn't said what gender the character was on purpose, we look forward to Sam sharing more of the novel.
CW comps/workshops/events: The New Writing North Awards deadline is soon, 6th of February, see http://northernwritersawards.com/enter/ for full details of how to enter.
BPA first novel award £20 entry fee, though there are 10 free entries with proof of eligibility. For full details of how to enter: https://bluepencilagency.com/competition-first-novel-award-2019/
Creative Future Writers Award for underepresented writers, £12k in prizes, theme of 'Tomorrow' for poetry up to 42 lines or short fiction up to 2k words. Deadline 11.59pm 31 May, entry details here: https://www.creativefuture.org.uk/
Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for the best unpublished MS, £20 entry, deadline 2 May, enter here: https://www.wilbur-niso-smithfoundation.org/index.php/awards/intro
Frosted Fire Firsts, 2 prizes of publication of a 32-page pamphlet for poets with 50 free copies, marketing support to launch and a headline poet event at Cheltenham Poetry Festival. £12 entry fee and deadline 15 February (shortlist revealed end of March). Full details on the competition here: https://www.nationalpoetrylibrary.org.uk/write-publish/competitions/frosted-fire-firsts-pamphlet-competition
Comedy Women in Print Prize founded by Helen Lederer for published novel, unpublished novel and published humourous graphic novel, deadline 2 March, for full details of how to enter the Prize: https://www.comedywomeninprint.co.uk/how-to-enter
Soundwork Short Story competition, 2,500 word short story sent as an attachment to info@soundwork-uk.co.uk putting your name and email address on first page. No fee and no receipt given. Winner receives a recording by a professional actor and placed on Sound Cloud along with a photo. STORIES CAN HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE Deadline 30 April
Writing challenge/session: For those members that wish to rise to the challenge, the theme for the next CWG meeting is Valentine's/Love. The story does not necessarily have to be a romantic one, you can turn it on its head and write one about a serial killer stalking his victim because to them, it may be a form of love...
The next meeting of the Cleckheaton Writers Group will be on Monday 17 February 5.30-7pm at Cleckheaton Library.
No comments:
Post a Comment