Tuesday 12 March 2024

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Erskine Writers Meeting 12th March 2024

The meeting was attended by six members from the group. There were readings from Donnie, an update on his wonderful 'Falkirk Story'. We all agreed that this should be transferred to the small screen as it would be a great watch. Jennie read another compelling chapter from her novel,  and John presented three more Wordle/Quordle Flash Fiction pieces.

Next week is the deadline for The Young Adult Short Story.

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Erskine e Writers Meeting 5th March 2024

We opened the meeting with birthday wishes for Rob celebrating his 21st birthday or maybe just slightly older than that. Box of Maltesers kept the energy levels up during the afternoon session this was on open manuscripts.

Sandra gave us a flavour of book 22 of the Lorimer series, reading the first chapter. Rob provided us with two  short pieces that he is writing for his granddaughters in Canada. The first entitled ' Lightening Strikes Out' based on the Komodo Dragon 'Calat' who sadly passed away this year at the age of thirty. 


The second was entitled 'Fried and Prejudice' this was informing us of Rob's love for a good breakfast which he has a top ten. This story was the breakfast he discovered at St Lawrence Market in Yianni's Kitchen a Greek Restaurant his piece left the group salivating but we had to make do with the Maltesers!




John provided a short flash fiction (100 words) based on the nine words extracted from Tuesday's Wordle and Quordle.

Jeannie read a nw chapter from the book she is currently writing. The chapter was entitled 'The Hawk' which centred on the first night of the Clydebank bombings. A very powerful piece of prose.

Jackie read her Woman's Short Story entitled "Nobody's Trophy, very well received by all the group.

The meeting closed with Lorna providing feedback from the event she attended in Musselburgh which was informing the audience on Kindle Direct Publishing. The group appreciated the information and handout from Lorna.

Wednesday 28 February 2024

Erskine Writers Meeting 27th February 2024

Our meeting today was attended by ten members of the group with eight apologies. There was clarification on dates and subject matter for competition entries and John will send an email out to all the group to update them on this. John will also update syllabus to reflect this.

The group selected two photos/pictures from the hat and tasked to write either short story or the opening of a story from what they had selected. We were given 20 minutes for the task and then read out our writings to the group. 

Once again we saw how much imagination and diversity we have within the group with all the members achieving excellent pieces within the time given. The one that had brought us to tears with laughter was Mandy's piece, based on the photograph below. Interpreting this as a lads day out to Millport.


 


Friday 23 February 2024

Erskine Writers Meeting 20th February 2024

 Minute of Meeting Erskine Writers 20 February 2024


14 Attended, 3 apologies.


Members advised of recent successes.  John Spence had been invited to write and direct a short film for an amateur dramatic group.  The 10 minute film would be shown at 2 film festivals.  Members would have the opportunity to see it in due course.

Jeannie advised she had given up sending her young adult novel to publishers and decided to self publish.  She felt this route gave her greater control and allowed her to choose front cover.

Sandra handed formal invitations to the launch of her latest crime novel Out of Darkness.  Waterstones, Sauchiehall Street on 28 March.  She has lots of gigs in March, one in Bella Prison in Dundee. Also attending the launch of Marie Cassidy's first crime novel.


The main part of meeting involved a workshop by Sandra on 'How to Start a Crime Novel'.  She started by demonstrating openings from a variety of well known crime authors.  She highlighted:

1. No right or wrong way but must hook the reader

2. Don't use a cliche as a first line.

3. Editors and agents are likely to only read first 3 chapters and synopsis if lucky.

4. Editors receive piles of possible manuscripts and they know what is a goer immediately

Therefor vital you get the beginning right.


First paragraph must avoid minutiae and take reader straight to main thrust of the story and in doing so provide the hook that will make the reader want to know more.  Writer could use dialogue, description of setting, a blunt first person account of the main facts of the story, or a mention of murder.  They could use a short, sharp shock by beginning with the voice of a victim.

After discussion members given 15 minutes to write an effective opening paragraph.  Everyone read their opening to the group and Sandra provided constructive feedback.


Finally we were given 2 silhouette pictures and tasked to write 1500 words as a short story for woman's magazine by 16th April. To be Adjudicated by Sandra's daughter.

Wednesday 14 February 2024

Erskine Writers Meeting 13th February 2024

Today's meeting had 13 members attend and the group brought their readings based on events where they could say 'I was there' we had readings from Elizabeth where she met Princess Ann when she visited Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock,  Rob recalled his visit to Meadowbank Stadium where he witnessed Lachie Stewart win gold in the 10,000 metres. Sandra provided her first gig in Glasgow when she saw The Beatles but never heard any of the singing due to the screaming from the crowd. Jeannie recalled her first and last rugby match as a 14 year old spectator. Joyce had a piece being on the last tram in Glasgow. Brian relived the champions league final in 1999 when Manchester UTD dramatically beat Bayern Munich. Jackie gave her encounters meeting three of the Royal family including The Queen. Irene read a very emotional piece on the time she was selected to attend the memorial crevice following The Piper Alpha disaster in 1988. Hilary had a twist on her submission where she placed herself at the Battle of Bannockburn. Donnie recalled the London Olympics when he was sat amongst the Jamaican spectators and watched the athletes including Usain Bolt win gold in all the track events. John recalled the time his house blew up in 1973 and the miraculous escape for his mum. Joan provided her short story writing to her 16 year self. Rob read a piece regarding a competition set in Canada to rename the town in Ontario which was by Frank Holroyd with his suggestion of Ajax. The final reading was from Jeannie with the next chapter from her novel entitled 'The Tweed Coat'

We have received details from Greenock Writers Group regarding adjudicating their writing competition. Brian, Joyce, Rob and Jeannie agreed to form a small panel to carry out the adjudication. We will send submissions to GWG for them to reciprocate does to be finalised.

Jeannie asked the group to send any submissions for internal competitions and critiques under PDF format which will make it simpler to for all the group to open the documents under this format.

Thursday 8 February 2024

Erskine Writers Meeting 6th February 2024

 

  1. Apologies received from Sandra and Donnie, John H, Joan, Jackie, Elizabeth, Sandra R and Irene.
  2. Jeannie has sent flowers, chocolates and good wishes to Donnie from the club.
  3. We discussed the submission of work for critique by members. 

It was noted that it does not work if the person who submitted is unable to be present.

We also discussed the fact that members submit in different formats eg  pages, pdf, Word 

 which some are unable to open.

We wondered about reducing the frequency of crit days and / or asking people to bring enough printed copies to share one between two on OM days, so that when it is read out we have the printed copy to refer back to.

All of the above will need to be discussed when more are present (there were 7 of us) or at AGM before next year’s programme is put together.

  1. Jeannie read her submitted document, a prologue for a historical novel she is writing. We discussed the sprinkling of Scots and archaic words to indicate an earlier time and agreed that worked well. The discovery of a brooch in the prologue is based on a legend. A brooch   found at Hunterston is believed to be of Viking origin. There was also the influence of a visit to the Boat Museum in Oslo. Nouns or phrases in groups of three worked well. We discussed the absence of dialogue particularly after John S’s helpful workshop on dialogue, but it was noted that the characters in the prologue would not reappear in the novel, so we don’t need to get to know them better. Also dialogue would have meant more Scots, more archaisms which might be difficult to follow. It was suggested that one or two paragraphs could be made into more, shorter paragraphs. There was a comment that reading the prologue made us want to read the book.
  2. Rob read his submission Katie’s Christmas Eve based on a real event which happened on a recent trip to Canada.  We all enjoyed the amusing twist towards the end. It was advised it would be helpful to have more paragraphs. It was also suggested that dialogue could be introduced on the journey home, and that the ending could be made less abrupt. Some suggestions were given about expressions which might be changed eg consigned to bed ---tucked up in bed.

The story is written to be passed on to grandchildren and Lorna suggested that it would be a good idea to do it also as an audio book, so that grandchildren and others would have the story in Rob’s melodious Welsh accent. We discussed various audio and printed formats, My Life a Book, Bonus Print with stories and photos, Lulu (cost £12), feed-A- read, publishing on Amazon, the fact that you can leave royalties to charity, and that once you have published with Amazon if you make changes, you have to pay for this.

  1. Morag read The Follower her entry to the Flash Fiction competition and agreed with Vikki’s suggestion that tension could be ramped up a bit when the two characters meet on a bus before the denouement. 
  2. Joyce read an extract from a murder mystery novel set in the music scene in London which she worked on a number of years ago. It was suggested she might like to write a synopsis and bring this along with a chapter to a future meeting.
  3. Jeannie read a murder story set on the Treshnish Isles and there was discussion about where this might be submitted