For Writers

By Writers

Our writing group has workshops and as with many groups, members are given the opportunity to run them. So if you have any ideas of what you want like to see, this is your chance. We will be pleased to hear from anybody who would like to take on the honour. Until then you'll have to put up with whatever we can dream up.

Ascriber / Writers Eyes Workshop - 1.

Imagine the early evening Summer sun, think of its warmth and the colours it can create. Imagine a lake with bushes and trees lining the shore, perhaps there are hills in the distance. There is a young woman walking a dog, what is she dressed in? A man is walking towards her - is he young? Is he old? How is he dressed? Is he going to meet her? Will they speak? How will the dog react? Are there any other people around? This is for you to decide

Poets, a poem please of no more than 40 lines. (You can use poetic license)

Writers, a short story please of no more than 1000 words

Ascriber / Writers Eyes Workshop - 2.

The Hand

Imagine a hand, is it smooth or rough? Male or female? Are the veins prominent? Has it long fingers or short? Fat or thin? Any scars? What about the finger nails, are they long? Short? Well trimmed? Have they been bitten? Any varnish (what colour)? Are there any natural discolourations?

Now imagine the person the hand belongs to. What sort of work? How old? Has that person recently done anything special with that hand? (for example, committed murder, baked a cake, handled a new baby). How does that person dress? What hobbies, friends etc? Give the person a name.

Story writers, write a story in any genre about that person and mention the hand. We are feeling generous this time and so you can use up to 2000 words

Poets, a poem in any style - about the hand. Line limit 80 lines

Playwrights, a play for radio, TV, stage or screen in any genre, The person that you have imagined must have a key role. Time limit 25 minutes.

Ascriber / Writers Eyes Workshop - 3.

Small is Beautiful

`And now for something completely different.'

We are asking for literally a very short piece of writing from this workshop and as examples we actually had a very quick go ourselves.

Prose writers

We want a mini saga! For the uninitiated, this a complete story with a beginning, a middle and an end written in exactly 50 words, plus no more than 17 words in the title. Our rules are that regular abbreviations, for example; `did not' written as `didn't' count as one word. A half word (as in the first example) also counts as one word. Careful manipulation of the title can be used to tell part of the story for example the setting but don't forget, it is meant to be a title. One little bit of advice do not believe the word count on your word processor, but hand count your words.

Examples from the team:

Suckers of the World Unite

"Free home trial," the man says as he demonstrates the latest in computerised vacuum cleaner technology. "Sit back, watch as it controls itself."

I sit and try it. It gobbles dirt from the carpet, then the man, my dog, and looks at me. I look at it. "Where's the swi..

* * *

Every Witch Way

My old friend Joe Clutterbuck always loved adventure and went to live with the pygmy witch doctors, eventually becoming their spiritual leader. On returning, he hired somebody to write his life story and invited me to meet his ghost writer. It did seem strange shaking hands with a Ouija board!

* * *

Pleasant Feelings Upon Completion of a Mini Saga

"Finished at last, just one more count. One, two, three, looks good, four, five, six, where was I? seven, eight, two more is ten and five is fifteen. Good story, should be, it took long enough. Five is thirty, or is it twenty? three lines of ten, then one. Oops!"

* * *

Friends Beneath The Surface

Young men, energetic, full of fun, their lives just started left home to meet young men, energetic, full of fun, their lives also starting. They met, they fought, they died, they were left behind. The fields are flat but beneath lie young men, energetic, full of fun, their lives departed.

Poets

Have you tried Haiku, the traditional Japanese Poetry - and we mean as written by the 17th century Japanese poet Basho.

It is written (for the uninitiated) in three lines with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and five in the third. Traditionally the poetry also refers to a season of the year but we'll waive that if you wish.

With modern haiku we tend to change the syllable rule to accomodate Western languages but tough, the idea of this workshop is to make you think so we want 5 - 7 - 5.

Examples of Basho's Haiku :

On high narrow road
old traveller clears wide swath
tiny scythe glinting.

Old and quiet sound
suddenly a frog pops in
a deep water sound.

If you happen to be a poet who prefers rhyming poetry then we've got a special challenge for you:

Write a rhyming poem of three lines with three words in each (don't worry how many syllables).

Here's some we prepared earlier:

Black bat flies
through darkened skies
aurally replacing eyes

With fixed scowl
on woodland prowl
silent assassinating owl

We have got a few more but we daren't display them!

So there you are e-mail your submissions to our writing group submissions address and we don't mind if you attempt both prose or poetry.

Limitation:- No more than three mini saga's and no more than five poems.

Please send your completed work to us for display, if you've any hang-ups about your work being displayed for criticism, whilst obviously we need to check your name against our register, we will gladly use a pen name of your choice or simply say anonymous. Should you still wish for your work not to be criticised in public, please tell us and we will feed the comments directly to you.

Writing Group Members may submit work from any of our workshops. Any work submitted will be displayed within the workshop pages

All work should be sent as a Microsoft Word 6 file or pasted in the body of an e-mail on the link below

Ascriber / Writers Eyes Workshop - 4.

The Alien

This workshop is short but the potential is large in that it is to help you explore the English language for alternative words and set your imagination free.

You are an alien and you have just arrived on planet Earth. You see seas, rivers, land masses, cars, buses, people, trees, buildings and anything else that you can think of, but you can't call them that, you must describe in a few words of each and everything you see.

Story writers - write a story of no more than 2000 words about an alien or group of aliens landing on earth.

Play writers - write a 10 minute play about two or three aliens landing on earth.

Article writers - either write a report sent back to home base from an alien of what he/she/it has seen or write a newspaper article on the return from earth of a team of alien astronauts who have visited Earth. The article or report should be in the order of 1500 words.

Poets - Describe our planet, or the nature of our planet - no more than 50 lines please.