Author: Admin

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Rainbow pencils, snowflakes and other good intentions

We’re back! It’s seemed an awfully long time since we had our last meeting before Christmas, but last night we returned full of good intentions, and a fresh start was made by all. Welcome to our new members, Lucy, Angela, Nicky and Ros – great to have you with us.

I was pleased to hear (and make a note of) your Writing Resolutions for 2019. These targets should help us focus on our top priorities. Sometimes the range of possibilities is so wide that we end up achieving nothing. Many of us are aiming to get our books finished this year, but others wanted to explore new genres or set themselves weekly word targets.

Chantal’s first resolution made us all smile. She’s going to have a more organised writing area, but NOT go over the top and waste time organising her pencils into rainbow order!

For Nicky, it’s decision time: should she revise and complete her old writing, or move on to something new? Heather plans to develop her writing further by incorporating more personal experiences and improving the way she writes dialogue, while Peter even managed to present his resolutions in a poem – now that’s creative!

I was particularly impressed by Bev’s well-thought-out and achievable list of resolutions: she included some goals for blogging, some for her work writing and some for her creative writing. One we all liked was, “Enjoy the journey of writing, and not just the end results.”

One topic which came up during discussion was the Snowflake Method of plotting a novel. There are two well-known methods of deciding your plot: planning, where you make a list of events and break it into chapters before you write, and pantsing, where you just start writing with a basic idea, fly by the seat of your pants and see how your novel turns out once it’s finished. The Snowflake Method starts with a single-sentence basic idea and expands it gradually, building and spreading until you have developed a coherent outline.

A few dates for your diary:

We’re going Yelfing again on Tuesday 29th Jan – meeting up for a few drinks at 7pm at Yelf’s in Union Street. Jonathan will try to get us the Writers’ Room again.

Yvie’s monthly book club, Words, Wine, Wit and Wisdom is meeting on Wednesday 30th Jan. The book under discussion is The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. If you haven’t read it, you can still come – just sip your wine and look intelligent! Contact Yvie through the Island Writers Facebook page for more info.

And the next Island Writers meeting is Tuesday 5th February, 7pm – 9pm at Ryde Library. Our (optional) assignment for next time is The view from a window.

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Revving up to get writing again

There’s one week to go before our first Island Writers meeting of the New Year. So, how are you feeling?

All revved up and raring to go?

Or more like an old car that’s been stored in the garage too long – it probably still works, but it might need some jump leads and a bit of a push to get started again after all this time?

Here’s a quickie writing exercise to give you that push:

A. Make a list of words and phrases to describe the car in this photo.

B. Write a piece about the car (prose or poetry).

Feel free to post your answers to A or B on the blog or on the Island Writers Facebook page. No answer is ‘wrong’, so give it a try!

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Psychedelic Writing?

Despite the last-minute notice, seven of us turned up to celebrate the New Year with a drink at Yelf’s last night. Good to see Geoff, who’s back from his six weeks of travelling to the Caribbean and the Canaries – he should have lots of new experiences to explore in his writing, although I’m not entirely sure how whizzing down a hillside in a giant basket on skis will help with writing a crime novel set at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway…

We were talking about (among other topics) psychedelia and mind-expanding drugs, and how they changed the type of music and lyrics the Beatles produced, and unfortunately, I jumped into the conversation when they mentioned Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and kind of derailed what Jonathan was saying. The point he was trying to make is that, as writers, if we expand our minds and try new techniques and different genres, we may find we produce more satisfying writing.

As far as actual drugs go, though, I think we’re all with Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory: “There’s only one mind-expanding drug that this man enjoys, and that’s called School.” I could certainly get addicted to education!

We had the chance to get to know Lucy, a bright and bubbly new member who joined our Facebook group a few weeks ago and came to check us out. Now she’s realised we’re all as friendly as she is, we’ll hope to see her at our next meeting. We’ve had more enquiries since the New Year (all those resolutions kicking in?), so a couple of other writers may be joining us then, too.

See you on Tuesday 15th. It’ll be interesting to see who’s found time for writing over Christmas!

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New Year, new writing resolutions?

At the end of our last meeting, instead of setting a writing assignment, I asked you to come up with your writing resolutions for 2019.

Maybe there’s one thing you’d like to accomplish next year, or perhaps you have a list of ten targets you’ll set yourself – that’s up to you. In case you haven’t got round to thinking about it yet, here are some examples:

Achievement targets:

  • I will write (or finish) my novel and self-publish it by the end of 2019.
  • I will try NaNoWriMo this year.
  • I will self-publish a book of my best poems.
  • I will send my book to ten agents and try to get it published.
  • I will write a poem every week.
  • I will start writing that idea I’ve been thinking about for ages.

New habits:

  • I will write 100 words every day (or 1000 words every week, or whatever.)
  • I will plan my structure before I start writing.
  • I won’t let myself edit my book any more until I finish the first draft.
  • I will set aside a regular time for writing and stick to it.

Improved skills:

  • I will develop my characters better so they don’t all sound like the same person.
  • I will try out some new styles or genres.
  • I will improve my opening paragraphs.
  • I will read four books on writing and try to incorporate what I learn in my writing.

Whatever you choose for your resolutions, it’s important to decide on changes which are achievable for you in your current situation.

Happy New Year!

See you all at the next Island Writers meeting on Tuesday 15th January 2019, 7pm-9pm at Ryde Library.

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New Year’s Day drinkies (better late than never!)

At the last meeting, we discussed the idea of going out on New Year’s Day for a drink. Sorry to leave it so late, but I’ve been ill for a few days and haven’t organised it…

Anyway, if you’re still up for a drink and a laugh I will meet you at Yelf’s in Union Street, Ryde on Tuesday 1st January at 7pm onwards.

If you have all made other plans by now, I will sit sadly alone in the bar, nursing my drink and looking like a complete Milly-No-Mates.

So, no pressure.

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Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good… write!

A very Happy Christmas to you all from Island Writers!

Here are some sprinkles of Christmassy writing inspiration to keep you all going over the break – because you won’t have anything else to do, right?

These are of course totally optional, but I’m sure some of you would enjoy a few writing prompts to work on. Anything to get out of the washing-up!

  • Make a list of words and phrases including ‘Christmas’.
  • You or your characters are snowed-in unexpectedly on the day before Christmas Eve without some important things – gifts? food? booze? decorations? electricity? your guests? – How does Christmas turn out?
  • A present wrapped in gold.
  • A family has been invited to spend Christmas in Australia. Will they go?
  • Find something on the doorstep on Christmas morning.
  • What’s the significance/history of the items on your Christmas tree?
  • The worst gift turns out to be the best gift. Why?

Have an enjoyable Christmas and we’ll meet up in the New Year.

There’s no meeting on New Year’s Day, so the next Island Writers meeting is on Tuesday 15 Jan 2019, at Ryde Library, 7pm-9pm.

Let’s make 2019 our best writing year ever!

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Dreaming of a Write Christmas

We’ve had our last meeting before Christmas, and it was a great laugh! Good to see so many of you turned up at this busy time of year, even though some of our members are away.

We started by pulling crackers and writing a piece about one of the items we found inside. Then I asked you to write about a childhood Christmas – not necessarily your own childhood. That produced an interesting variety of poetry and prose, although a lot of you chose some rather gloomy stuff. I began to feel quite guilty that my worst Christmas problem is that advent calendars aren’t as exciting as the good old days! 

Let’s be honest, none of us experience the Hollywood idealised Christmas of rosy-cheeked carol-singers tramping through the snow, or happy children sitting beside log fires, opening beribboned parcels containing wooden toys. I doubt if anyone ever did!

The fact is, as Erica pointed out, writing about the ordinary doesn’t grab most readers’ attention. Adding conflict to the mix can create a stronger piece of writing. 

And every Christmas there are many people who don’t get the modern ‘TV advert’ equivalent either. We’ve all seen it, of course, as Mum brings in a platter of gleaming golden turkey to an appreciative gathering of family and friends. Bev’s story of homeless children in a hostel, with ham sandwiches for their Christmas dinner, showed the other side of the coin: many people are dispossessed, sad and alone.

Showing a contrast between the expected joyful feelings of the season and the negative emotions and memories it can evoke in reality works well, but can be a bit of a downer!

Fortunately for those of a more cheerful disposition, there are other ways to add contrasts to a piece of Christmas writing. Comparing the present with the past or one type of celebration with another can have just as powerful effect.

Anyway, we soon perked up again with lots of yummy Christmas food and a couple of glasses of wine!

If you have some spare time for writing over the break, I’ve scheduled some festive writing prompts to appear on this blog on 22nd December. Have a very happy Christmas, and I hope all your conflicts over the festive season are purely fictional!

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Robins and other signs of merry festive jollity

Our last meeting had a theme of Birds, and I swooped on you as soon as you arrived and challenged you to create an alphabetical list of birds. Well done Peter for getting all of them except the X – although there is one, actually: the xenops, a rainforest bird.

Next, I asked you to choose a particular bird, and we spent a few minutes focusing on how our birds moved, sounded etc. and writing useful vocabulary words and phrases which could migrate into our pieces of writing. Then I egged you on to write about a person who reminded you of that bird.

And there was I, wondering if it would be too difficult! I must have been raven mad. You didn’t get into a flap, but all flew into action and hatched some interesting descriptive writing.

Well, Christmas is fast approaching and we are feeling festive! So after our meetup for friendly drinks at Yelfs (Tue 11th December, 7pm), our next Island Writers group session (on 18th December) will have a Christmas theme, with some yummy Christmas nibbles and Christmassy writing activities – feel free to turn up in an ugly Christmas sweater, silly tinsel earrings and elf hat if you get the urge!

Our assignment for next time is to create a piece of writing which includes a robin.

It can be poetry or prose, any length, or can be included in a longer project such as a novel or blog. Lucy’s already done hers – take a look!

As always, it’s optional, but if you haven’t completed your assignment yet, you might find this list of facts about robins useful.

See you on Tuesday 18th December at Ryde Library, 7pm-9pm.

PLEASE NOTE:

After Christmas, our next meeting will be on Tue 15 January 2019 – there will be NO MEETING ON NEW YEAR’S DAY.

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Christmas Drinks at Yelf’s

A Christmas message from Heather:

 

To all Island Writers!

You are invited to Christmas drinks on Tuesday 11th December 2018.

Let’s meet at 7pm at Yelfs Hotel, Union Street, Ryde.

There’s plenty of space inside and it’s quiet enough to hear each other speak!
We are such a warm friendly group so let’s get to know each other a little better and find out about the person behind the writing!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Warm festive wishes, Heather x

PS.  I know not everyone can do this date, I was going to offer an alternative but given that lots of us aren’t on the Facebook page, it would be difficult to communicate effectively between all of us.

I have decided to stick to the Tuesday which is the night that we usually meet and the majority of people are free. To anyone who can’t come, there’s nothing to stop us going out again!

If I don’t see you on the 11th have a magical and joy filled Christmas all of you and I’ll see you in the new year 🙂 peace and love

You can find Heather’s phone number on the Facebook page, or send a message via the Contact form.

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A tide in the affairs of… writers

pixabay-wave-1517436_1920Not much longer to wait – the next meeting of Island Writers is on Tuesday, 4th December.

So if you haven’t had a chance to think about your assignment yet…

The assignment prompt from last session is: “Swept by the tide.”

Perhaps it’s a person, a treasured possession, something evil or dangerous, a special place or even a whole way of life which has been swept away.

Or maybe the ‘tide’ isn’t made of water, but something else?

There’s no limitation on writing style or genre –  choose prose, play script, poetry in any style or genre – whatever suits your subject and your preferred writing style.

Still struggling? Try completing this limerick:

There was a young lady from Ryde
Who was swept away by the tide…

Don’t feel ‘tide’ (sorry!) to this subject – simply choose a different topic, or get on with writing another chapter of your novel instead of ‘editing it’ for the 27th time.

Just try to get some new writing done. On any subject.

See you on December 4th at 7pm, Ryde Library.