8th May 2012

Cenelly Hernandez Castillo, author of “Everybody Treats Me like an Idiot” is hosting fundraising events at her home in Norwich for Amnesty International every Thursday this year from 9.30 – 11.30 am. Everyone is welcome, for more details and directions e-mail her on cenellywillis@yahoo.com  or phone 07875548286.

An Evening with Louis de Bernieres

Best selling author Louis de Bernieres opened his talk by saying he wasn't nice to come and talk to other writers. As writing leads to a solitary life and it was nice for him to get out.

There followed a relaxed and informal evening with a question and answer session; covering inspiration, agents and many writing problems. He said it was essential to visit places you're writing about, to absorb the atmosphere, local environments and historical events. Stressing the need for good reading material he said, "Junk food for the mind is as bad as junk food for the body." He believed that whatever happens to you in life is good research for writing. 

He was thanked for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.  

Summer Reads

Our writing friends at Writers' Centre Norwich have recently launched the Summer Reads scheme.

The scheme starts with 6 great books, which you can read one or all of, whether alone or in a book group. You can get further involved ny reading information on the books online, meeting the authors in special events and much more.

For further information please go here.

Neil Storey's Ghost Stories

Following his visit to us in October last year, Neil Storey returned to Norwich Writers' Circle this evening to adjudicate our Ghost Story Competition.

The popular author and historian commended all 16 entries in the competition, citing that he was impressed with the humanity of the characters featured and some of the descriptive passages featured in the short stories.

The winners were then announced as:

1st
Going Home
by Mickie Dann

2nd
Local Hero
by Paul Taylor

3rd
The Ghostly Badger
by Barré Funnell

We then heard all 3 winning entries, plus a spooky short story selection, featuring some of the runners-up.

At our next meeting we will be welcoming back Jean Fullerton who will be giving us a workshop on Characterisation & Viewpoint. We hope to see you then.

Storey Teller

Tonight, Norwich Writers' Circle welcomed Neil Storey, as our 2010/11 programme continued.

During the meeting, the animated and enthusiastic author and historian informed us how he started his own writing career by first being published locally, and then in magazines. Neil then studied at the UEA, founded the living history movement and continued to write.

Amongst Neil's most popular books is A Grim Almanac Of Norfolk, which has most recently been published as a paperback. This book has proven so popular that it is now been franchised to cover every part of the country.

In an entertaining evening full of great and ghoulish stories, the visiting author launched our In-House Competition Two. This competition, which closes on 7th December, is for a Ghost Story of no more than 1,000 words.

Neil suggested that our competition entries:

• had a good sense of place - somewhere local?
• are made real, using something familar
• are set in the past or present
• feature some (gallows) humour
• are an enjoyable read

The latest NWC visiting writer hoped to inspire us with his suggestions, and told us to bare in mind that Halloween was coming up and the nights were drawing in.

Our next meeting is on 2nd November, which will be one of regular Manuscript Evenings. We hope to see you there.

Glenn Chandler's Crime Scene

Our 2010/2011 programme continued this evening with a visit from author and screenwriter Glenn Chandler.

The evening featured Glenn discussing his varied writing career to date. Along with creating the long-running ITV police series Taggart, the Scottish author has also written for the theatre and cinema, plus several fiction and non-fiction books.

This meeting saw the launch of our In-House Competition One. This competition is the writing of a Murder Mystery Radio Script, which features a maximum of 2 characters and has a length of no longer than 750 words. This competition will be adjudicated by tonight's visiting writer.

In addition to the above, some of the winning entries will be featured on Maggie Secker's Sunday afternoon BBC Radio Norfolk programme. The winnners' scripts will be aired during the popular county-wide radio show on 12th December.

It was recommended to us by Glenn Chandler that our competition entries:

• Grab your attention in the first line.
• Do not cheat the reader.
• Include early clues that benefit the story later.

It was also suggested to us that our scripts are well constructed with a beginning, middle and end. Glenn also said that we must consider subplots and try to take the focus away from the murderer. We must also think of our tale as a journey.

We next meet on the 19th October, where we will be welcoming Neil Storey to NWC. During this meeting, the author and historian with be discussing Writing Ghosts and History.

Hope to see you then.