Dalston Writing Group Meets Thurs 2 Feb 2023 & Every First Thursday Thereafter

The mighty Dalston Writing Group will be back in action on Thurs 2 Feb 2023 at Dalston CLR James Library, 6.00 to 7.30pm.

For various reasons our meeting dates have been slightly peripatetic of late, so to make life easier, from now on the group will always meet on the first Thursday of each month. 

As promised, our theme for this one will be 'new beginnings.' Interpret that in any way you like. It may just be a new piece of work you've been thinking about. As usual, there will be a selection of mysteriously random carefully-honed prompts so that no one has to stare for too long into the abyss that is an empty page.

In the meantime, here are some opportunities from our friends at Spread The Word.

The Bristol Short Story Prize is currently open until 6 April. The word count is 4,000, which means that as of 27 January, you only need to write 47.619 words every day to hit the target. 

And if you're an author of commercial women's fiction, here's an early heads-up about  an opportunity in July to pitch your novel idea to publishers Simon & Schuster. 

Next Meeting - New Date: Thurs 2 Feb 2023

A bit of a last minute update: our first meeting of 2023 was scheduled to be Thurs 12 Jan. This will now be changed to Thurs 2 Feb, 6.00 to 7.30pm at Dalston CLR James Library.

Our theme will be new beginnings. 

As is traditional, there will be plenty of prompts to get us going. Stay tuned for more details, and the usual monthly email update.

The Secrets of Trees - Short Story Competition

Trees are brilliant story-starters. Think of all those roots, branches, leaves and shadows. Think of the Ents in Lord of The Rings. Think of The Overstory by Richard Powers. More on magnificent tree stories here.

The Urban Tree Festival competition runs from 4 December to 13 March. The theme is Secrets of The Trees. It is open to everyone 16+, and although it has an entry fee, it may be waived for those unable to afford it.

Find out more and enter here.

There is also a free online workshop on creative writing on the 4 December. Details here.

 

Next Meeting: Thurs 8 December 2022

For our final session of the year, we'll be breaking out the mince pies for a Christmas-themed writing session on Thurs 8 December at Dalston CLR James Library, 6.00 to 7.30pm.

The Watson, Little x Indie Novella Prize

Our friends at Indie Novella have launched a brand new writing prize. Check out the details below, visit their website form more courses, advice and of, course, excellent new fiction releases.

 

Read Wes Viola in Bear Street Gazette

We're a bit late with this post, but friend of DWG Wes Viola got in touch to let us know that he's had a brilliant Halloween-themed piece published in the Bear Creek Gazette, which tantalisingly describes itself as 'home to art, creative writing and strangeness.' Read Yuck, Yuck, Yuck by Wes Viola here.

A Slightly Random Selection of Prompts Deployed at our November Meeting

We were delighted to welcome a few new faces to the group at our November meeting. Here, for those who couldn't make it, or for anyone who finds themselves delivered to our humble blog via a Google search involving the terms 'Dalston', 'creative' and 'writing', is what we got up to:

• November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo - https://nanowrimo.org/ ). Write the most attention-grabbing opening paragraph for a novel in the genre of your choice. Don’t worry if you have no idea who the characters are or where the story is going. Just launch on in there, as if you do!

• Kickstart a story with a passage that asks (and possibly answers) these three questions: i) whose house is Ethan leaving? ii) Why was he there? iii) Where is he going now?

• Think of the last piece of fiction you wrote that you were pleased with. Now interview the main character. Write this as either a straight Q&A, or as if it’s an in-depth profile in this weekend’s Sunday Times magazine.

• Write a piece of fiction that hinges on an argument.

• Write a piece that includes any or all of the following: a reunion, guilt, a funeral.

• Write a piece of fiction that includes any or all of the objects below. Feel free to take elements from each.

A) A dog, a bicycle, a briefcase.

B) An older brother, an unfair contest, and the skeleton of a bird.

C) A dress, a hair salon, and an amazing rumour that turns out to be true.

(See more ideas for stories that contain 3 objects here: )

• Award-winning sci-fi writer Damon Knight filled his book Creating Short Fiction with helpful exercises. One of these he designed as a way to create a setting or mood:

“Imagine a character who is sitting or standing, alone, in the room you are now in. See the room through his eyes; write a page or so of pure description of the room, without mentioning the character or referring to him in any way, but bearing in mind as you write that he has just had a phone call notifying him of a promotion and a raise.

Assume that the person lives here, if the room you are in is part of a house or apartment; if it isn’t, assume that the job has something to do with this room.
How does his emotional state colour his perceptions? Remember that you are not allowed to refer to the character, even by using a pronoun (“I looked at the furniture,” for instance). Tell only what he sees.”