New Norwich Writers Circle Website

Following the imminent closure of norwichwriters.org.uk, Norwich Writers' Circle latest website launched today.

Our new online home includes all the latest NWC news and information, along side details on our forthcoming programme. You are also able to view videos from our popular YouTube channel and Twitter feed.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this Blog.

Please visit norwichwriters.wordpress.com for more.

General Notice

Summer meetings have been arranged at

“The Green House” in Bethal Street, for members to meet on the first and third Saturdays of each month during the Summer beginning on 21st July at 2.00pm.

Annual General Meeting 3rd July 2012

NORWICH WRITERS’ CIRCLE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

3rd July 2012 at The Assembly House

with 22 members present.

The Chairman, Adrian Dearnly, felt that it had been a successful year with well attended meetings and social events and excellent speakers including Louis de Bernieres. The Open Poetry Competition was very well supported, culminating in an enjoyable Awards Evening. Despite unfilled committee positions and difficulties with the website. the committee and other members worked hard behind the scenes to maintain all services including updating the Blog. He thanked everyone and added that work is now underway to improve our web presence for the coming year.

The Treasurer Alan Rosser was pleased to report that we had maintained a good bank balance with the OPC generating over£700.

Doreen Rosser Membership Sec said that although numbers were down to 43 members it was to be expected given the difficulty with the website and the shutting of the Learning Shop which supported our leaflets.

Maureen Nesbit, retiring OPC Sec, was pleased that with a variety of helpers the Open Poetry Competition generated over 600 entries and turned in a profit.

Elizabeth Taylor retiring In-house Competition Sec remarked that although the competitions generated less entry numbers this year some of the competition genres were not general interest, however many members rose to the challenges.

Programme Secretary Phyllida Scrivens said that this year’s success had been a mainly due to Marilyn Fountains programme, She told the members that because of the questionnaire earlier in the year, this programme would be somewhat experimental although there would still be four competitions she had tried to fulfill the request for more workshops.

There was a lively discussion on ideas for the manuscript evening, - general subjects versus work in progress, versus failed competition entries versus feed back for visitors. Adrian decided that we should remain flexible and decide later what would be appropriate on the night.

 The Publicity Report: Victoria Bartlett thought the general overall publicity had worked well with several new members. However in the light of previous remarks it seems urgent to work on different aspects of the Circle including our social status, friendly atmosphere, reasonable rates and diverse events.

It was reassuring to have 22 staunch members present with enthusiastic volunteers taking up committee positions.

Election of Officers:

Chairman: Adrian Dearnley           Vice-Chairman: Sean Hindle

Hon. Treasurer: Alan Rosser           Publicity: Victoria Bartlett

Programme Secretary: Phyllida Scrivens      

Webmaster/Blog: James Dimelow

Competition Secretary: Anastasia Pope       

Minutes Secretary: Val Fullerton

Membership Secretary: Doreen Rosser and      

 Assistant: Jaani Seaman

Committee: Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Taylor      

OPC Secretary: Vacant

OPC 2013 and Circle Anniversary publication

There was a spirited debate when Adrian asked members if we should continue to have the OPC or celebrate our 70th year with an anthology of members work, or do something else (short story comp) or drop everything as open competitions took a lot of labour.

Diane Wilson suggested keeping the NWC celebration to 75 years as this seemed a more usual one.

Neil Walker asked if any members entered the OPC.

Put to the vote the majority voted to keep the OPC and left the committee to organize and decide how this was to be achieved.

Minor issues of venues for socials and other details of newsletter were then discussed before Vice President Elizabeth Bencze presented prizes.

THE WINNERS OF THE AWARDS

 

The Cooper Prize for Dickens’s style writing

went to Doreen Rosser,

The Sutton Cup for Humour

remained with Sally Newton,

There was a tie for first place in the

Competition Cups

between Victoria Bartlett and Sally Newton

with Doreen Rosser finishing third.

Summer Social 23rd June 2012

The Social was so enjoyable that I completely forgot to take photos! My apologies for that. We were sorry that a few of our regulars were prevented from attending due to various reason but the heart of the writing Circle membership came with some family members and had great fun taking part in a hilarious word quiz supplied by Anne and Barre Funnell. The buffet was about right this time with varied contributions added to the basic salad, bread dips etc. provided by the Circle and the raffle generated £31 for our Circle funds. Adrian thanked everyone for making it an entertaining and happy event.

It only remains for me to remind you all that the AGM is on Tuesday 3rd July 2012 when we hope a good turnout will ensure the future of the Circle with as many members as possible coming forward to help on the committee. We have found in the past that many hands do indeed make light work and even the smallest involvement helps.

23rd June 2012 Summer Social

This year's Summer Social will be held at;

St. Anne’s Church, 115 Coleman Road, Norwich NR4 7HF

4.00-8.00pm

Remember to bring one plateful of a food contribution, and a raffle prize.

Family or friends welcome.

19th June 2012 Competition Five

Adjudication of Competition Five
A Charles Dickens Story. by Peter Mieville

Our literary skills were put to the test with a story based on Dickens style and social conscience. We were given many options: the start or portion of a novel, a short story, modern time or period issues, the guidelines asked for anything that might be inspired by Dickens writing.

Peter Mieville (an expert on Dickens) assessed each entry giving a comprehensive critique on the strengths and weaknesses of each piece with both helpful suggestions and praise where due. He said that all the entries were worthy of a place but he had to choose the winners using a basic criteria as all entries deserved commendation.

1st "Heaven’s Gateway" by Doreen Rosser.

Catholic convent schooling after the war.

2nd "A Tale of Two Faiths" by Victoria Bartlett

Dilemma of a Nazi war criminal who had tried to save some Jews

3rd "Abby Kendle" by Sally Newton

The honesty of a modern day young, homeless individual

Highly commended

"At Rest at the Swan Anchor" by James Beresford

"The Death Hunter" by Andrew Heron

A vote of thanks was given by John Halligan.

Peter writes under the name of 'Dominic Mieville'

Some of his titles include;

1. The Mysterious Burnchester Hall

2. The Burnchester Dome and the Sacred Cell

3. Tyro’s Journey

These are the first three titles in a quintet. You can find these if you google ‘Dominic Mieville’ and you can look for his books on amazon. There are more non-fiction titles under the name 'Peter Vaux'.



29th May 2012 Manuscript Evening

Because of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations and last minute change to our programme there were fewer readers at the Manuscript Evening. We therefore returned to our previous style and read aloud to everyone. Eight members read varied pieces from poems, short stories and an article to the beginning of a novel, altogether an entertaining evening with helpful suggestions and praise given in equal measure.

Manuscript Evening 29th May 2012

Due to Jubilee celebrations our manuscript evening was brought forward to the 29th May. Nine people read their work, a variety of short stories and poems which were discussed and enjoyed by the other members.

NOTICES

•  Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 19th June, the adjudication (by Peter Mieville) of competition 5 Charles Dickens story.  

• The Summer Social will be held on Saturday 23rd June from 4 till 8 at

St. Annes Church

115 Coleman Road

Norwich

NR4 7HF

• Tuesday 3rd July at 7:30 Annual General Meeting at The Assembly House.

Please join us to ensure fresh ideas for celebrating the coming 70th year of the Norwich Writer's Circle.

Books by some of our speakers

Speaker: Anne Potter

Judge of our Competition 4

New book

“And the Knight gets the King” by Anne deNize

Brann is a novice healer-priest who can’t heal anything. Try as he might, he cannot make the necessary connection with the god. With an ex-thief and an opinionated donkey he goes on the king’s quest – a decision which hrusts him into adventures to change his life forever.

available on line £1.99 from www.smashwords.com

and

Joseph Freeman

(Judge of Competition 1)

author of

“Those Left Behind”

(A Horror story)

As he fled he caught glimpses from the corner of his eye, and his only reaction was to run faster, so fast that his straining heart was at bursting point. Glimpses of something starved beyond the point of living, as white as bone running along beside him on all fours like an animal, yet more twisted and unnatural than he had ever seen before.

Available www.josephfreeman.co.uk

1 May 2012 How to Cheat at Novel Writing

Or 'How to Construct Aid Memoirs for Writing a Novel'

Anne Funnell gave a comprehensive talk on how to organise and keep track of essential information when writing long fiction. She stressed the importance of keeping characters, places, times and other data, in order and easily accessible, to avoid mistakes.
Paul Taylor gave a vote of thanks for the helpful demonstrations commenting that they will be invaluable to anyone embarking on creating a complicated piece of work.

 Taking Notes

Anne Funnell Answering Questions

March 6th 2012: Speaker, Anne Potter on “The Writer’s Web”

Anne Potter started the evening with a brief history of her working life then followed by giving the members the benefit of the many facts that she has gleaned in her two years of research about publishing your own work on the web. Encouraging members to ask questions at the end of each section, she covered selling short stories, articles, novels and online submissions, which were both interesting and informative.

The handouts she brought with printouts of web pages complete with step by step explanations were welcome and helpful, particularly to novices who might be nervous when first trying to navigate the web.

 Anne completed the evening with a brief set of guidelines for

Competition 4 A short science fiction or fantasy story.

It should be some thing readable, could be some scientific invention that you can extrapolate or fantasy: person power, fairies, etc Anne suggested we look at websites for examples of these.

Please look on the guidelines in your programme for format.

21st February 2012 Manuscript Evening

Don’t forget to attend the new style manuscript evening bringing a piece of writing to read. The new table arrangements are an attempt to allow more people to read and therefore get the necessary feedback to help and support their efforts.

New Look NewPlays.org.uk

Norwich Writers' Circle committee member James Dimelow has recently relaunched his website.

Since 2004 NewPlays.org.uk has showcased the best new plays, playwrights, theatre companies and writing festivals.

In addition to the main website gaining a new look, the NewPlays family now includes a Twitter account and YouTube channel, to further enhance your online experience.

For more information, please visit NewPlays.org.uk.

Christmas Party

The Christmas Social held at St. Anne’s Church Hall on Saturday 10th December proved to be a great success. Over twenty members attended and although the catering was over enthusiastic the food was varied and festive. A different slant on our ‘Pictionery’ quiz with Norfolk village names instead of book titles was really popular. There was plenty of opportunities for members, both old and new, to mingle and get to know one another. Certainly the general agreement was that this was something we should repeat and the Summer Social will be an event to look forward to.

Results of Competition One: A Horror Story

Tuesday 6th December 2011

Results of Competition One: A Horror Story

Adjudicator, Joseph Freeman, judging the twelve entries said that the overall quality was very pleasing. He gave a comprehensive critique on each story adding that the authors should not be downhearted by any comments as these were intended to improve the writing.

 General points to remember
1. Presentation is very important. Do not have overly large
    margins. Ensure you do not run out of ink.
2. Clarity of prose; avoid over use of complicated writing
     language. Keep it simple

Results

First

“Horror in the Place de la Concorde” by Sally Newton.

Search for a missing sister with clues read from a diary and subsequent hallucinations after buying an old necklace.

Second

“Santa’s Little Helper” by Neil Walker.

A creepy tale of a child’s search for kindness in Santa’s Grotto with elements of black humour.

Tied at Third

“Talon” by Victoria Bartlett

A pendant helps a bullied child seek revenge.

“Change of Face” by Mickey Dann.

Gift of zoo trip intended to wreck havoc on the life of a plastic surgeon.

Two Special Mentions

“A Christmas Ballad” by Alex Sykes

“For a Friend” by Joanne Watkins

 A spine-chilling evening’s entertainment.



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.  

Louis De Bernieres Room Change

On the 1st November Captain Correlli's Mandolin author Louis De Bernieres will be visiting Norwich Writers' Circle.

We will meeting in The Hobart Room, instead of The Assembly House's Sexton Room.

Be sure to arrive early for what will is bound to be one of our most popular meetings in the current programme.

Reading & Writing

Thanks to everyone who has read and supported this Blog since its inception in 2009.

Keep watching this space, as well as following Norwich Writers' Circle on Twitter and YouTube, to hear all our latest programme details, member news and much more.

Please visit norwichwriters.org.uk for more on our friendly, welcoming and ever-growing writing group.

Complete Works

All the poems featured in our online Poetry Season are now available to listen to one handy playlist.

To listen to all of this year's poems, please go here.

Twitter 350

Norwich Writers' Circle now has over 350 followers on Twitter.

To discover how to join us online, please go here.