We had a nearly full class in May.  It was great to welcome some who have missed earlier classes.

The May writing topics were:

• Everything he did was a waste of time and energy
• But they had the benefit of a nearly full moon
• Everybody should have at least two.......

 
Our challenge at the start of the class this month was around one of the five senses – touch.  Each member of the class selected from a range of items, and then wrote 2-3 sentences about the feel of the item.  This is towards enriching our writing with descriptions of events and scenes in our stories.

We had some general discussion around the editing of our stories which brought up a couple of points.  One was around writing our stories in time to be able to leave them for a few days before editing prior to sharing with the class.  Another thing that could help is reading the piece aloud to check that the story flows.

Our writing styles are developing and I introduced a web site that gives an idea about the style of an individual’s writing.  The site is at I Write Like (iwl.me).  I often get a result of Agatha Christie – remembering this is style NOT genre.  I enjoy reading mysteries, but it is not the genre that I write.

Some of our stories this month were based on real experiences, but with a creative approach to the writing.  This included one which humanised objects around the garden.  It provided a description of the clothesline as guarding the back yard.  Others sounded as if they were based on true events, but in fact were fiction with only a small amount of background experience – reading and discarding advertising material delivered to the letter box; needing a second television set.

Our next class is on 14 June, the Queen’s Birthday public holiday.  The topics for the class are:

• In the distance I could hear the roar of the jeep
• He parked the car where he had a clear view of the house
• "wickedness and sin" said (name) theatrically  

We will be sharing the stories via email ahead of the class, allowing time to read and prepare feedback for discussion when we meet.

Joy Shirley

We have been able to continue meeting in the U3A room to share our thoughts on the stories written during the month.

The April writing topics were:

• “I wonder if I can do it ....”
• He/she/name was back, everything would be alright
• He/she/they wrinkled his/her/their nose in distaste when the smell first hit them.

It is always a treat when the stories start coming in towards the end of the “writing” month.  Stories varied, with some sad and others happy.  But all included some great descriptions of either place or characters.  All the topics were used by at least one class member this month.  One of the favourites was “He/she/they wrinkled his/her/their nose in distaste when the smell first hit them.”  The smells that included were a rotting corpse (it had a satisfying ending) and the acrid fumes resulting from reduction of balsamic vinegar.  One of the stories was set in the jungle with a group of animals named after the letters of the alphabet – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omega. 

We also had some discussion around some web sites that can help with our writing and grammar – soon to be shared with the rest of the class by those who mentioned them.

The topics for our May class are:

• Everything he did was a waste of time and energy
• But they had the benefit of a nearly full moon
• Everybody should have at least two.......

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For our 10 May class, we will again share the stories via email ahead of the class, allowing time to read and prepare feedback for discussion when we meet.

Joy Shirley