You Have Been Watching

The success of NWC's YouTube channel continues.

Since its Summer launch, the channel has now been viewed over 1,000 times.

Amongst the most popular videos included on the site include a trailer for our current Open Poetry Competition and another highlighting our Writing Circle's varied yearly activities.

Check out youtube.com/norwichwriters for more.

The Revolution Is Coming

To join the revolution, and to discover more, just head here.

NWC Christmas Mix

Norwich Writers' Circle's festivities continue, as we now give you the chance to watch all our Christmas videos in one YouTube mix.

Please go here to watch the short films, or alternatively, go to youtube.com/norwichwriters to see our other videos.

Midwinter Murders

Join us next month for our online Midwinter Murders season.

Please return to this Blog during January 2011 for more info.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas

from everyone at Norwich Writers' Circle.

Plesse go here to see our season's greetings video.

On Your Toes!

Congratulations to Norwich Writers' Circle member Anne Sanderson who has completed a 50,000 word within a month.

Anne, who heard about the NaNaWriMo event via this Blog and our Twitter account, completed a book called On Your Toes!, which is best described as a time travelling tale about ballet.

This Writers' Circle member really enjoyed her experience, and at the same time, recommended it to others within our popular writing group to take this opportunity up next year.

Poetry Please

Entries are flooding in for our 2011 Open Poetry Competition, which was launched earlier this year.

This year's competition is being adjudicated by Martin Figura and features top prizes in the Open Category of £300.00, £200.00 and £100.00.

The competition closing date is 15th February 2011.

To downland an Information Pack, simply visit norwichwriters.org.uk/poetry.

Alternatively, to watch the competition trailer, please go here.

Festive Frolics

A video featuring a selection of images from this year's Christmas Celebration is now available to watch online.

Please go here to see the short film.

Box Office Now Open

The box office is now open for recent visiting writer Glenn Chandler's new musical Cleveland Street.

The show which has been described as a wicked and bawdy Victorian tale of sex, lies, hypocrisy and cover-ups that threatened to bring down the Government.

To purchase your tickets for this interesting new show, which runs from 26th April to 29th May 2011 at London's The Above The Stag Theatre, please ring 020 8932 4747.

Check out clevelandstreetthemusical.com for more info.

For Women Who Write

The deadine for the Mslexia's annual Short Story Competition is the 24th January 2011.

The competition, which this year will be judged by Jackie Kay, has a first prize of £2,000.00, plus a day with an editor at Virago, and a week-long writing retreat at Chawton House Library, home to early English women's writing.

Five other winners will share prizes totalling £1,050.00. All six competition winners will then published in the New Writing section of the magazine.

Get writing this festive season!

Celebrating Christmas

Tonight at The Assembly House, Norwich Writers' Circle held its annual Christmas Celebration in The Pierce Room.

The festive flavoured evening proved popular as many members, families and friends, enjoyed a night of food, drink, fun and games.

The night also featured some entertainment, which gave members a chance to listen to the BBC broadcast of our Radio Script Competition winners, which aired last Sunday.

In addition to listening to the recent radio broadcast, we were also lucky enough to see another competition entry performed live, which proved to be immensely popular.

We will you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Views News

Congratulations to Norwich Writers' Circle committee member James Dimelow whose YouTube channel has now been viewed over 1,000 times.

For more, please check out youtube.com/newplaysuk.

Radio Times

The winners of our Radio Script Competition will be broadcast this weekend on the BBC.

The competition winners were announced by adjudicator and famed scriptwriter Glenn Chandler on Tuesday evening, in what turned out to be another packed Norwich Writers' Circle meeting.

Tune into Maggie Secker on BBC Radio Norfolk between 5.00pm and 5.40pm this Sunday - the 12th - to hear the competition winners' entries, and to the authors themselves, who will be discussing their work.

Don't forget our next meeting is on the 14th December. The final NWC meeting of 2010 is our annual Christmas Celebration in The Pierce Room - see you there!

Glenn Chandler's Crime Time

Following his visit to us earlier in the year, author and screenwriter Glenn Chandler returned to Norwich Writers' Circle this evening to adjudicate our Radio Script Competition.

Glenn, who is best known for creating the long-running ITV1 police drama Taggart, commented to a packed Sexton Room, that he was immensely impressed with all 17 competition entries.

The BAFTA award-winner also noted that he was also impressed with the inventive of our scripts, plus the variety of murder methods featured within them. Glenn also said that due to the quality of our writing, he would feature 3 commended entries, along with a joint 3rd place.

The winning entries were:

1st
Safe Hands
by Mickie Dann

2nd
Switch Over Beethoven
by Phyllida Scrivens

Joint 3rd
A Bit Of A Shock
by Doreen Rosser

Joint 3rd
The Female Searcher
by Diana Wilson

Commended
Brute Force
by Lyn Fountain

Commended
Serial Killer
by Andrew Heron

Commended
Intuition
by Cathy Rushbrook

The top two prize-winning entries will be broadcast as part of Maggie Secker's popular Sunday afternoon BBC Radio Norfolk show. Watch this space for more information.

We next meet on the 14th December, in The Assembly House's Pierce Room, for our annual Christmas Celebration.

We hope to you can celebrate Christmas with us.

Twitter 50

Norwich Writers' Circle now has over 50 followers on Twitter.

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

Guideline Time

Following a recent request, we have been asked to clarify where you can find the Guidelines for Norwich Writers' Circle's In-House Competitions online.

www.norwichwriters.org.uk/competitions/guidelines.htm is the webpage with all the information you need included within it.

Details of what the visiting writers have said to us when setting the competitions can be found on this Blog. The same information can also be easily accessed via our main website's Competition and/or current Programme pages.

Please feel free to contact us for an extra help needed.

Cleveland Street Update

Recent Norwich Writers' Circle visiting writer Glenn Chandler has written a musical, Cleveland Street.

The musical, which features music written by Matt Devereaux, will be premiered at the The Above The Stag Theatre, Victoria, London, in April 2011.

Visit cleveelandstreetthemusical.com to experience some recent website updates, including an opportunity to hear a selection of selection of songs from the show.

Glenn will be returning to NWC on 7th December to adjudicate our Radio Script Competition. We hope you can come along.

Fine City Cinema

Congratulations to NWC member Elspeth Rushbrook, who has had an article published in Fine City Magazine.

Elspeth's article is about the history of Suckling Hall, located in St Andrew's Street, which is better known today as Cinema City.

The magazine feature is also the first in a series looking at other important buildings in our fine city, which have been overlooked by the Norwich 12 tourism initiative.

Issue 6 of Fine City Magazine is widely available throughout Norwich, for no charge. Check it out.

Tales Of The Unexpected

National award-winning storyteller Andrew Brammer will be performing his latest show Stumpy Sanderson's Tales Of The Very Unexpected, in Norwich next Saturday evening.

Andrew, who visited Norwich Writers' Circle in April this year, will be giving a humorous storytelling performance featuring slightly tall tales about growing up in 1970s Dunstable, at The King Of Hearts on Saturday 27th November at 7.30pm.

A fun evening of entertainment is guaranteed for all.

Aloud Allowed

Read Aloud is a reading group which meets on Tuesdays, every 4 weeks, between 11.00am and 12noon in the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library meeting room.

The group gives you chance to hear short stories and poems from fellow writers and to share your thoughts and reactions.

In addition to the above, Norwich Writers' Circle regularly holds its own popular Manuscript Evenings. Please visit norwichwriters.org.uk for more programme information.

Lucy McCarraher Returns

Tonight saw Lucy McCarraher return to Norwich Writers' Circle.

The author and tutor, who first visited NWC in October 2009, returned to give us a workshop on how to structure a novel.

The entertaining workshop, which sparked a variety of interesting exchanges, covered several points, most notable of which were:

• what is the inspiration for our novel?
• what do the characters experience?
• where the story is set? and,
• is there conflict featured in the main plot?

Tonight's meeting was also the launch of our Competition Three - to write an outline of a novel in no more than 1,000 words. Lucy will be returning to NWC once more, this time to adjudicate the competition, which closes on the 14th December.

We next on 7th December, when Taggart creator Glenn Chandler will be adjudicating our short Radio Script competition.

We hope to see you next time.

Remember

Following the Remembrance Sunday service this morning, and the completion of the Memorial Gardens Restoration Project, Bethel Street is now open as usual.

NWC members and visitors parking their cars at The Forum, can now do so via St Giles Street and Bethel Street.

For other parking options, please visit norwichwriters.org.uk.

Lost In Austen

Congratulations to new NWC member Elspeth Rushbrook who has had a guest essay published in Jane Austen's Regency World.

The guest essay features in the magazine's November/December 2010 issue, which will available to buy later on in the year.

To purchase your copy of the magazine, which is published by The Jane Austen Centre in Bath, please go here.

Debut Dagger

The Crime Writers Association has launched its Debut Dagger competition, which closes on 5th February 2011.

To enter this competition, which is open to unpublished authors, you need to write the first 3,000 words of a crime novel, along with a 500 to 1,000 synopsis.

For more, please go here.

NWC OPC Mix

Visitors to our popular YouTube channel can now a watch video compliation celebrating NWC's annual Open Poetry Competition.

This year's competition is being adjudicated by Martin Figura and features top prizes in the Open Category of £300.00, £200.00 and £100.00.

The competition closing date is 15th February 2011.

To downland an Information Pack, simply visit norwichwriters.org.uk/poetry.

To watch the video playlist, please click here.

Inspirational Art

Norwich Writers' Circle member Tricia Frances is holding a solo art exhibition at our regular meeting venue.

The exhibition, entitled Inspirations, runs from the 1st to 28th November at The Assembly House's Noverre Gallery.

Between 5.00pm and 8.00pm, on Monday 8th November, there is a chance to meet the artist in a free gallery event.

For more information, please visit triciafrances.co.uk.

November Manuscript Evening

Norwich Writers' Circle's 2010/11 programme continued tonight with one of our regular Manuscript Evenings.

As ever, this evening proved popular, as it gave the opportunity for both Circle members and visitors read their work aloud in front of our welcoming group. Amongst the read aloud, and commented on, were some poetry and short stories, plus a selection from a science fiction novel and the beginnings of a biography about Joe Orton, written by his sister Leonie.

We next meet on 16th November, when Lucy McCarraher will be returning to NWC to hold a workshop on structuring the novel.

Hope to see you next time.

NorwichCity.net

Many thanks to our online friends at NorwichCity.net, who gave a special mention to Norwich Writers' Circle earlier in the week.

For more information, please go here here.

Don't forget that our next meeting is this Tuesday - the 2nd.

Tuesday's meeting will be one of our regular Manuscript Evenings. Feel free to come along, either to read your work aloud, or alternatively, to listen and provide valuable input.

We hope to see you there.

Forum Free Fun

This Saturday – the 30th – a variety of free writing workshops will be taking place at The Norfolk & Norwich Millennium Library’s 2nd Floor Training Room between 10.00am and 3.00pm.

In addition to Saturday, between 6.00pm and 7.30pm, every Monday in November, NaNoWriMo will also be running a drop-in centre for writers in the Library's Ground Floor Express section.

Please feel free to drop into these beneficial events – have fun!

Script Smart

Following the recent visit to Norwich Writers' Circle by Glenn Chandler, who launched our Radio Script competition, for a drama that features of no more than 2 characters and 750 words, there has been some confusion.

To clarify any confusion regarding the layoutof the drama, please follow visit the Script Smart section of the BBC Writersroom website by going here. This excellent site also features writing opportunities and tips, and is well worth the visit.

If you have any further queries regarding the competition, please feel free to contact us.

French Passion

New NWC member Phyllida Scrivens has successful pitched an article to Practical Motorhome magazine.

The article, which will be published in February 2011 edition of the magazine, is about the France Passion scheme.

Congratulations from everyone at Norwich Writers' Circle.

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.

Visit Cleveland Street

Recent Norwich Writers' Circle visiting writer Glenn Chandler has written a musical, Cleveland Street.

The musical, which features music written by Matt Devereaux, will be premiered at the The Above The Stag Theatre, Victoria, London, in April 2011.

The show tells the story of the scandal that broke in 1889 when Telegraph Messenger boys were discovered selling sexual favours to members of the aristocracy at a house in Cleveland Street, London. One of the clients who regularly visited the male brothel at 19 Cleveland Street was Lord Arthur Somerset, Private Equerry to the then Prince of Wales. Another reputed visitor, it was alledged, was Queen Victoria's grandson, Prince Albert Edward Victor, known more popularly as Prince Eddy. The whiff of Royal connections was enough to set the machinery of the law in motion, and the brothel was shut down, with numerous people escaping across the Channel to France.

At its heart, it is a story of Victorian hypocrisy, and how the establishment always looks after its own. Three people went to prison. One of them was a 19 year old employee of the Post Office, another the editor of a newspaper who dared to print the truth. None of the clients of the brothel were ever charged, despite homosexuality being illegal at the time.

For more information on this interesting and exciting new musical, please visit clevelandstreetthemusical.com.

News updates on the show can also be found via Facebook.

The Mouthy Prince In Jarrolds

Following a recent successful author event, Sally Newton's well-recieved adventure story The Mouthy Prince is now available to buy in Jarrold's book department.

The book tells the tale of Caradoc, a trainee druid and the youngest son of the king, growing up in Celtic Britain. It is also the first part of a proposed trilogy featuring the central character.

For more information on the author and The Mouthy Prince, please visit sallynewtonsworld.com.

In West Somerton Churchyard

Congratulations to NWC Vice President Elizabeth Bencze who has had a poem commended by the Fakenham Poetry Circle, as part of this year’s Open Competition.

Elizabeth’s poem, entitled In West Somerton Churchyard, was adjudicated by Ronald Blythe, who is best known for the book Akenfield: Portrait Of A Village.

The poem will now be included the competition winners' anthology, which is available now for £3.50 from:

The Secretary
31 Hayes Lane
Fakenham
Norfolk NR21 9EP

Our very own Open Poetry Competition is now accepting entries. For more information, please visit norwichwriters.org.uk/poetry.

Join The Revolution

To join the revolution, and to discover more, just head here.

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.

Faith In The Future

Today sees the publication of Faith King's autobiography.

The book, Today Not Tomorrow, written under the name Faith Lawrence, tells the life story of this interesting NWC member.

The new publication features tales of the theatre, alongside recollections of the author's time as an Edwardian beauty, plus her adventures in the Roaring Twenties, and much more.

To purchase the book, please go here.

NWC: In The Mix

Visitors to our popular YouTube channel can now watch a mix of all our uploaded videos to date.

To watch the video playlist, simply click here.

Home From Home

One of Norwich Writers' Circle budding members is currently seeking cheap or free accommodation whilst they work on their latest project.

Jo Amos is looking to move to the Norwich, and would like help in finding a long-term housesitting/property caretaking/work for accommodation opportunity.

Jo is University educated with management experience. During recent years she has gained experience in the above whilst travelling. She is willing to clean and maintain a property, look after pets, and help around the garden in return for free/cheap accommodation.

Finally, Jo works part-time for the Norfolk Library Service and is CRB checked.

If you think you help, please e-mail Jo, or call 07790 193583.

@annesanderson

The online presence of Norwich Writers' Circle's members continues to grow.

One of our long-standing members Anne Sanderson writes a Blog, along with having a Twitter account.

Anne's Blog, entitled Getting Fitter, appears on the EDP's website and explores fitness for the over 50s within East Anglia.

To read the EDP Blog, please go here.

Meanwhile, Anne's tweets can be found by visiting twitter.com/asanderson197.