April 23rd 2018

Written by Sally

In class exercise

As the first in a series of sessions on writing narratives, Tom began by handing out the list poem Gaelic Stories by Iain Crichton Smith. These are a series of twelve poems of three lines, each telling a separate story with Scotland as its setting. After a brief discussion of the poems, we were asked to tell a story verbally about one or more of the verses, taking turns around the group. Most of us chose one or two as our basis, though Wally used the first six (and probably would have gone on to include all twelve if allowed!).

Homework for 30th April 2018

Our homework for next week is to write a series of poems of three lines, in the style of Gaelic Stories.

Business

• The display of work in the library – Wally has met with the library staff. We will be setting up the display on Sunday 20th May. So far he has received details of pieces from 4 members.


• Performance of work evening on Wednesday 4th July 7.30 – 9.30 in the library. The library will be selling the tickets and all monies made will go to support the library. There will be two slots of 45 minutes with a break in between. So far he has had pieces submitted by 4 members. These include flash fiction, short story, novel extract, short play, poetry. If you would like to read a piece on the night, please send it to Wally asap so that he can work out a programme (It will be advertised with the display of work, hence the reason for needing it well before the performance evening). Wally’s email is silverscouse@hotmail.co.uk.


• Tom has booked The Cut theatre for Monday 12th November for performances of pieces of work related to the First World War. He would welcome music, plays, poetry, short fiction and anecdotes related to the theme and would particularly like pieces on the role of women during the war (either those left behind or the roles they played during the war).


• Sally updated on the Slough Writers poetry competition we are judging. The group chose the theme of ‘plastic’ from the two subjects given, which can be interpreted in any way. As soon as Sally has the submissions, she will email them to everyone and a session will be given over to giving feedback on each of the poems and judging them to find a top three.

Readings

Homework set last week was read out. The task was to write 100 words on the subject of The Perfect Match.

• Ollie read two poem


• Wally read the first draft of his poem


• Nikki read her 100 word piece and the 200 word original piece


• Cally read her poem about how Earth could be perfect


• Sally gave a brief outline of the play she has written on the theme


• Meridel read her homework from a previous week based on a brass inkpot

Discussion

We ended the session with a discussion about how we get ideas for our narrative works. Do we start with character or plot?

• Settings and characters are important when writing historical fiction, as well as lengthy research.


• Some of us need incentives such as competitions and homework that set themes; contributing to magazines, blogs etc.


• Prompts for writing include photographs, titles, mannerisms, emotions, dreams, day dreams, things seen or overheard, things viewed from different angles.


• When ideas come into our heads we should write them down – even the most powerful idea can vanish!