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.