Our first 2020 Creative Writing class welcomed some new members, and it was good to hear from all the class around their interest in writing.

It was pleasing that most people accepted the challenge for the first class, even the new members were able to contribute.   The challenge was to write a story meeting the criteria for the Australian Writers Centre Furious Fiction competition.  The criteria were:

• Your story must include a character who’s a GUARD.
• Your story must include the words NARROW, GOLDEN, LEATHERY and GLOSSY.
• Your story’s first and last sentences must each contain just TWO WORDS

The items ranged from a guard on a train, a prison guard, the guard at the “Pearly Gate” – not St Peter – and even a mother “guarding” her teenage daughter.  It just shows how a single word can mean so many different things.  Although it was not part of the assignment, many decided to submit their story.  It will be interesting to see if any of them make the long list/short list/wins! 
Even for those who did not submit their piece, it seems that it was an enjoyable exercise.

The topics to select from for our 9 March class are:

• The incessant wind kept blowing all night.  It got quite violent at times, as we could hear branches being torn from trees and tin banging on the old shed
• They had been best friends for ever.
• The rail line stretched into the distance until meeting in a point at the horizon

​Joy Shirley

"I have not used any of these, just products I have seen are available:"  Joy
​
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​Welcome to a new year of creative writing.  It is great to see new members join us this year.  It will be interesting to have some new ideas and see some different approaches to our writing.  
 
A couple of administrative issues first.  My main method of contact will be group email.  It is not practical to keep in contact with each person individually.  But I am always happy to hear from you if you want to give me a call, or send me an email.  I am hoping that I have entered your email addresses accurately.  It may take a day or two to make sure all is correct – I am tempted to say to let me know if you do not receive this email!  More seriously, for this first email I will be setting the delivery and read receipt options so I can see who has not seen the email so I can follow up.
 
Now for the most important thing.  Creative Writing is a 'guided self-help' creative writing session.  Each month we provide a prompt for a subject to write about.  This can be a starting sentence, a topic/s, or perhaps a challenge.  At the session we then share our writing and seek helpful feedback.  So remember, I will not be teaching you around creative writing, but jointly we will come up with a topic or topics to write about for the month.  The idea is to develop our imagination and writing experience in producing a piece of writing.  The style that you choose could be anything that you are comfortable with.  This is not memoir writing, but all our experiences will impact on what and how we write, so an element of life is likely to find its way in at times; sometimes it will be fiction. 
 
When we meet, we will share our efforts, and then invite comments.  I could provide some specific questions, but there are a range of feedback options, and you may have specific issues you want help with:

• general comments as to the reactions from the group
• ideas as to how to start the piece of writing to grab the reader’s interest
• ideas as to how to round off the writing
• solutions to a block as to how proceed
• anything else that is bothering you
• And if no-one has a specific question to ask the group, I will have some questions – either for the group or the writer!

 
At the last Creative Writing session in 2019, we came up with some ideas for our February session:

1. The first was to bring along some possible prompts for our 2020 classes.  This contribution will make it possible for me to vary the topics more widely, rather than the ones that I find.

 

1. The second task was to write a piece from the Australian Writers Centre Furious Fiction competition for February.  As part of this, you should also subscribe to the Australian Writers Centre weekly newsletter – an informative read, even if it does include marketing for their many courses.  The links are:

https://www.writerscentre.com.au/  and  https://www.writerscentre.com.au/furious-fiction/.  It will just be interesting if we can all write something for February to show how different the entries can be.  Of course it is not compulsory to submit your writing to the competition, but there is nothing stopping you from doing so either.  And have a look at the previous winning and short listed entries – the December entry was interesting.
 
I don’t want to scare off our new members asking for you to bring something along.  It might be a bit difficult at the beginning of your writing experience if you have not written much in the past.  It was to give us some ideas to discuss in our first session, as well as some encouragement to keep writing over the Christmas break. 
 
There are a number of sources of information on the web.  I have attached a document providing details of just a small selection.  Looking at these might give you some hints for writing, as well as details of courses that are available. 
 
Our first session is on Monday 10 February at 2:00pm in the U3A meeting room.  I am looking forward to seeing you, meeting our new members, and starting to share our writing endeavours.
 
Joy Shirley
0417 065 351

For our December class on 9 December, we agreed to either add an ending to an existing piece of writing or perhaps edit the end of an earlier piece to add a new ending or make it more relevant to the story.  It was interesting to see how our writing had developed over the year and the ending that each came up with.  These ranged from what happened to a lost love, to putting a lost soul to rest.

We followed this with discussion around the class for 2020.  It was decided that we will continue to start each class with a writing challenge, with less emphasis on word challenges.  Feedback is an important part of developing our writing skills and we are looking at providing more emphasis on this in 2020.
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Joy Shirley

We had a couple of word challenges at the start of our November class.  You could try one of them! 
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What is the following 10-letter mystery word?
Containing just two Os and an A for vowels was so courageous.
The way the first two letters matched the last two letters was truly inspirational.
Like a snapshot or a moment frozen in time.
Always taken, often framed.
They were the OG – or at least their middle two letters were…

Again we shared some interesting stories, not all fiction, but showing creativity in our writing.

We have started showing some “poetic licence” with the prompts while staying true (I hope) to the intent of the prompt.  For example, changing the length of time in the prompt “Two years ago, I swore I’d never come back here again” to thirty years.  This I feel is part of developing creativity in our writing.  As in the past two of the writing pieces were part of developing stories, with other new pieces.

For our December class on 9 December, we have agreed to either add an ending to an existing piece of writing or perhaps edit the end of an earlier piece to add a new ending or make it more relevant to the story.

We will be starting our December class early.  This will be at 1:30 in the U3A room for sharing our work, and then heading off to a local café to end up the U3A year.

And the answer to the word challenge – it was an easy one this month – is photograph.
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Joy Shirley

This month we started with a word challenge, looking at words that began with “DW” and PY”.  The dictionary has very few words that begin with DW or their derivatives.  For example, Dwell and Dwelling.  With PY, there are words like Pyramids and Pyrotechnics.

It is interesting how often there are coincidences in our writing.  This month two of our group shared a story that included mentioning ghosts and spirits that could not rest.  Our creative writing is developing, with one story ending with the thought that it was up to the reader to decide how the story ended – how the spirits were put to rest.  We also had one about a sad old lady who wanted the world to stay unchanged, back in the horse and carriage days, but did want the pain she was experiencing to stop – so one sort of change was acceptable.  And one story included all three of the prompts provided.

Our topics for 11 November are a choice between:

• Helena reined her horse back to a walk. She needed time to think.
• Two years ago, I swore I’d never come back here again.
• I refused to let them see me cry.

And remember, we are now starting our session at 2:30 pm.

Joy Shirley

This month the challenge was set ahead of time.  The challenge was to find a word that is not in common use, and then write a sentence that shows the meaning of the word.  A few of the words used were invigilator (an exam supervisor), panjandrum (a person who has or claims to have a lot of authority or influence), heliotropism (the directional growth of a plant in response to sunlight) and hypnagogic (relating to the state immediately before falling asleep). 

We were also treated to a couple of sentences using the Doric dialect from the north east of Scotland.  Fortunately we were also read the English translation.  We followed this with a discussion around learning and understanding a second language, and the differences in dialects and terminology between different countries – for example understanding Australian terminology by people coming from other English-speaking countries.  It is not only learning a new language that can be confusing, with some examples shared by the class members who moved to Australia.

One of the contributions was around climbing fences – not a specific occasion but touching on the different types of fences we can climb.  We concluded that as this gave a range of descriptions, it was definitely creative writing.  Further discussion also around how our writing will always be influenced by our life experiences, things we have seen and books that we have read or films we have watched. 

Our topics for 14 October are a choice between:
The bar was deserted when he entered – just the bar tender cleaning the bar
Jack was large, nearly 200 centimetres tall, a solid man, but far from overweight
Who were these people who seemed to know where they were going but had never been seen in the small town?

And remember, we are now starting our session at 2:30pm.
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Joy Shirley

This month our starting challenge was again to fill in the blanks in the outline of a story.  This time we all found it more challenging, with some interesting takes on the sense of hiding – whether it was hiding ourselves, our face or an object.

As usual we had a choice of three prompts.  Some months, many have focussed on the same topic, but this month each of the topics was used by at least one member of the class.  There was a scam phone call, valuable jewels, missing friends or family.

After sharing our writing, we discussed how language has changed, and what this means for some of classics.  These are becoming harder to read, particularly for a younger generation where some words have moved out of use, and many others have developed in meaning.  For example, how would many younger people react to the use of the word “gay” used in a book from the late 19th century where it would mean more like joyful and bright.

Our topics for 9 September are a choice between:

• Yellow leaves crackled underfoot.
• My mother always said that it was better to ask for forgiveness than for permission
• Fences are for climbing.

We are now starting our session at 2:30pm.
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Joy Shirley

Our starting challenge this month was different to previous classes.  We each talked about a book we had read recently, told a true fact about ourselves, and a false fact about ourselves.  The class was then asked to guess which fact was true and which was false.  The challenge was to use our imagination particularly to find a false fact, but also to find facts that the rest of class would not find easy to guess.

Most of the class wrote about the “The Man’s face glared down from the picture frame on the wall” with many varied stories developing.  These ranged from a picture falling off a wall when there was no-one near, and showing no sign of damage to the hook or the string, to a painting of an estranged father.

One member of the class wrote on the topic “We smelled the smoke before we saw the flames”.  This was an excellent effort, with some great pictures created of being caught in a bushfire and the steps taken to survive.

Our topics for 14 July are a choice between:

• The voice on the phone was warm and convincing.

• “When was the last time you saw him?”
• The jewels sparkled in the sunlight.

We are now starting our session at 2:30pm.
​
Joy Shirley

Our starting challenge this month was to provide a prefix for sets of three words.  For example, what prefix can match with the words locate, appear and band.  The answer was DIS to give DISlocate, DISappear and DISband.  Some of the sets were difficult to complete with no-one in the group able to solve all ten sets.  Try finding a single prefix for bus, potent and impose!
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We had a choice from four topics for our writing, but most people chose the same topic – “The train stopped and everyone….”.  Even with the same topic there was a range of stories.  These ranged from a model train that constantly fell off the track, to a train ride in Northern Queensland, where the tea break meant getting off the train for billy tea with homemade biscuits, slices and scones.

Our topics for 10 July are a choice between:

• The man’s face glared down from the picture frame on the wall.
• We smelled the smoke before we saw the flames.
• Going on this vacation had been a mistake.

We are now starting our session at 2:30pm.  This will reduce the amount of time that we need to talk above the sound from the Line Dancing Class.
​
Joy Shirley

​Our starting challenge this month was an idea from one of the class members.  He provided a couple of paragraphs with gaps for us to complete to make a story.  The group came up with many and varied ideas as to what could be opened – envelopes, boxes, doors and even coffins – and periods of time – days, weeks, months, years.  An interesting exercise to get us thinking!

Our theme was to write a description of a person or place.  Some took the opportunity to write about someone they had met or some place they had visited.  Others wrote about a place or person that fitted a piece of fiction writing they were working on.  It was particularly interesting to hear the descriptions of real people, some of whom were not very pleasant characters.  Some even wove in descriptions of multiple people and place in one piece.

Our topics for 10 June are a choice between:

• A one-page effort - Your own written funeral statement to be read at your funeral
• Please tell us a little about yourself.
• It will be here any minute.
• The train stopped and everyone...

The first option was contributed by a class member and he provided his contribution as a sample of what could be done when writing about oneself.  Others may decide to write a piece of fiction for any (or all) of the options.

For June, we have decided to start our session at 2:30.  This will reduce the amount of time that we need to talk above the sound from the Line Dancing Class.

​Joy Shirley

The contributions at our April class were as usual varied and interesting.  Some who could not attend sent in their contribution for sharing and feedback.

We started with a quick challenge to write a sentence (or two) using one of the many different meanings of the court (or was that caught?).  Many different sentences resulted.

Only two of the topics available were chosen – “the lights of a dozen ships twinkled on the horizon” and “the old man leaned forward over the table”.  Some of these are intended to form part of a larger piece of writing in the future.  It is interesting to see how our different topics can integrate with other work.  And it is pleasing to see how writing fiction is extending people who have previously only written formal reports or memoirs.  We can also see how previous experiences and research of historical events are contributing to the writing – for example one of the pieces this month was based on the sinking of the Titanic, the opening of the Empire State Building in New York and the view from the 86th floor observatory.

Our topics for May are a choice between:

• Write a description about a person you know or a fictitious character.  As well as describing their physical appearance write about their traits as well.
• Write a description about a house, a room or a place you have visited or again it could be a place you create from your own imagination.

Joy Shirley

Thank you for those who were able to attend our class on Monday.  It was a public holiday and not formally scheduled, so it was great to see so many.  The contributions were as usual varied and interesting.

The topics that were covered were “Monday was supposed to be the worst day of the week. Today had it beat by a mile” and “Rain turned the narrow path into a stream of mud and dead leaves”.  The third topic available was not selected by anyone at the class – maybe we could use this one at another time.

The contributions ranged from science fiction to a tragic car accident as a result of drink driving to the impacts of drought.
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A few of the stories had quite sad or tragic endings, but a couple were certainly sitting with an option for “to be continued”.  One of these was based on a previous piece of writing.  Another contribution was also based on previous writing, but the member plans to turn the original piece into a full book, with each topic forming a part of a chapter – a challenge as to how to weave a possibly unrelated topic into something that fits the story.
 
Our topics for April are:

• The day our great Uncle Tobias came to visit was like no other.
• The lights of a dozen ships twinkled on the horizon
• The old man leaned forward over the table.

Joy Shirley

Eight people met at the North Eastern for our last session for 2018.  The prompt for our writing was around the words present/presence, using variations of the words.  As in previous sessions, there was a great variety of stories.  Many stories told about presents, Christmas, birthdays, or general.  There was the present of a car, a scholarship, a special meal, a birthday gift to oneself, the first word spoken by a brain injured daughter after several years of silence.  We also had one about the presence of the ghost of a young mother, followed by a poem about the background on how she had died (murder or suicide?).

Some of the stories left open the possibility for extension, and this was a task that each could follow up over the Christmas break.
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For our first session in 2019, there are two assignments.  Firstly, to write a paragraph to share on any topic.  The writer will then take the paragraph away and refine/extend it during the first semester.  At the end of the semester we will compare the original with the revised version.  Each member has also been asked to come along with some possible prompts to use during the year.  These will be put in a “hat” and 2-3 will be selected each month for the following month’s writing.

Joy Shirley

We were pleased to welcome two newcomers to our Creative Writing session this month.  We had four topics relating to rain/weather to inspire us.  Each of the topics was used by at least one member of the group.  We were treated to three stories that had an element of humour – a blind date, camping when the tent was flooded because of a tap not turned off and a Halloween trick gone wrong.   There were also some more serious pieces with the loss of a husband and a victim of domestic violence.

Our December topic is presents/presence…or any variation of these words

Anyone who might be interested in joining the Creative Writing group next year is welcome to join us at our final session and Christmas break up at ‘The Northo’ on 10 December to get a taste of how we are encouraging one another to write a piece of fiction.

Joy Shirley

​Everyone enjoyed the challenge of writing at least once a week.  The contributions were shared, with some of them providing good pictures of events or scenes.  Then there was an April Fool’s joke paragraph and a poem.
 
For next month the challenge is to find a headline form a news story, not read the story, but write a paragraph fitting to the headline.  This could be a fantasy, a mystery, or any thought that comes.
 
Joy Shirley