It is always a pleasure to be able to meet face to face. We have enjoyed sharing our writing and providing written feedback, but it is even better when we can discuss the writing together. This means we can manage conversations about the feedback, sometimes including “feedback on feedback”.
The November writing topics were:
Our challenge at the start of the class this month was a little different. Horses in the Melbourne Cup the previous week had a range of “interesting” names. Everyone in the class selected two names (lucky dip style) and wrote a sentence or so incorporating the name, not necessarily based on racing. For example:
He said ‘Certainly SIR LUCAN, come this way’ which is much more helpful than when I am just Luke.
Giuseppe loved to paint ceilings, until the chapel flooded and he didn’t notice until his palette floated away, and he became the FLOATING ARTIST.
As usual we enjoyed a varied range of stories and pictures created using words. This month our conversations moved further, often away from writing, but starting from thoughts about the stories we had shared. And once again we had two members writing about a common theme. Both wrote about Italian immigrants to Australia. It is intriguing when this happens without communication between the repective class members. This time it may have been a case of stereotyping – both had a family business in removals which was a common activity for our Italian immigrants
Discussion this month included the need to grab the attention of the reader from the first sentence. Sometimes this means our first paragraph is not needed. It is often in the form of what is called back story which can be better provided later in the story. It is the second paragraph can be more catching. Novel writing courses often suggest dropping the first chapter that is only scene setting (or back story), with the real story starting in the second chapter which is where the reader’s attention can be grabbed and they want to continue reading. A challenge for our writing in the future!
The topics for December writing are:
As this will be the last class for the year, we are hoping to meet at the North Eastern for a final catch up for 2021.
Joy Shirley
The November writing topics were:
- “{name} turned her attention to the room and looked surprised
- Furniture Removalists, no job too big or too small
- My brain sloughs this off as unimportant
Our challenge at the start of the class this month was a little different. Horses in the Melbourne Cup the previous week had a range of “interesting” names. Everyone in the class selected two names (lucky dip style) and wrote a sentence or so incorporating the name, not necessarily based on racing. For example:
He said ‘Certainly SIR LUCAN, come this way’ which is much more helpful than when I am just Luke.
Giuseppe loved to paint ceilings, until the chapel flooded and he didn’t notice until his palette floated away, and he became the FLOATING ARTIST.
As usual we enjoyed a varied range of stories and pictures created using words. This month our conversations moved further, often away from writing, but starting from thoughts about the stories we had shared. And once again we had two members writing about a common theme. Both wrote about Italian immigrants to Australia. It is intriguing when this happens without communication between the repective class members. This time it may have been a case of stereotyping – both had a family business in removals which was a common activity for our Italian immigrants
Discussion this month included the need to grab the attention of the reader from the first sentence. Sometimes this means our first paragraph is not needed. It is often in the form of what is called back story which can be better provided later in the story. It is the second paragraph can be more catching. Novel writing courses often suggest dropping the first chapter that is only scene setting (or back story), with the real story starting in the second chapter which is where the reader’s attention can be grabbed and they want to continue reading. A challenge for our writing in the future!
The topics for December writing are:
- It was really starting to sound out of this world
- {Billy} and {Teddy} would always stay late
- And then, you know, the Sun comes up
- Solitude and sun-dappled air is a kind of magic, like music
As this will be the last class for the year, we are hoping to meet at the North Eastern for a final catch up for 2021.
Joy Shirley
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