The November meeting of the Scarborough Writers’ Circle focused on writing craft. Members were invited to bring short pieces to read out and accept feedback on pace, energy, interest and story arcs. The theme for the evening was ‘Fire!’ and what a wonderful assortment of writing we heard. There were stories of dragons eggs, of school pranks, feisty witches and the gunpowder plot. We had poignancy of a mother coping with autism and lots of crackle, woodsmoke and flame. Discussion was lively with lots of helpful feedback given and generously received.
Our next meeting will be at Newby and Scalby Library and Information Centre on 13th December at 7:15. Members are invited to bring a festive 100 word story to share. There will be nibbles!
Attendance is £4.00 for non-members – but membership is open and we very much look forward to welcoming new members and non-members alike. For more information and our year timetable see our website pages (https://scarboroughwriterscircle.com/)
The Award’s second airing was the nucleus of the 11th October meeting. The trophy was introduced into the circle’s program last year to honour the memory of our dear friend and fellow writer Shirley, whose sudden death in November 2018 stunned all who knew her.
Her absence from the writing scene in Scarborough is tangible and she is still missed by many who knew and loved her as their treasured memories live on.
The Award is part of the circle’s contribution to National Poetry Day’s annual celebration of poetry. The remaining part of that celebration is – reading poetry. Namely, poetry written by members for the competition.
This year’s theme was Environment and was judged by guest speaker Jane Sudworth.
Jane is highly regarded for her shrewd judgement of poetry and she has assisted in several poem-sifting processes for local competitions. She is an exceptional poet herself and her work has been featured online as well as published in various anthologies. She is part of a trio of performing poets known as Poetry on Fire and is also a member of the Scarborough Poetry Workshop.
Jane gave a brief commentary on the process of how she approached the competition in order to make her final choice, before reading out a poem by Shirley entitled Pink Frog and announcing the winners as follows:
1st Place to Jill Boyes for Starless.
2nd Place to Lel Meleyal for Zakynthos.
3rd Place to Katie Wilkinson for Wild Orchid.
Jill receives the trophy from Julie Fairweather (last year’s winner)
The reading of all entries and Jane’s feedback comments encouraged lively discussions and the final part of the evening informed what we, as writers, can learn from poetry to enhance our prose.
It was an engaging evening and a fitting tribute to Shirley’s memory.
The next meeting is on Tuesday 8th November, 7.15 p.m. – 9.30 p.m. at Newby and Scalby Library, 450 Scalby Road, Scarborough YO12 6EE. All are welcome to attend (18 years plus). Guests £4, Members Free. The theme is FIRE. See the DIARY page of the website for further details.
At 19:13, on the 13th of September, 13 members of the Scarborough Writers’ Circle met and discussed the importance of opening paragraphs and the power of omens. Members shared the beginning of their own work, along with examples from established writers, to demonstrate the variety of ways in which writers can arouse the interest of today’s readers. The meeting concluded on the hour, but disappointingly, the clocks failed to strike thirteen – perhaps leaving that omen for a night about endings.
The next meeting is on Tuesday, the 11th October 22, at Newby and Scalby Library. The evening will be a read-through of the entries to the Shirley Waite Poetry Competition, in celebration of National Poetry Day, followed by an announcement of the winner. The evening will conclude with an examination of rhythm and what fiction can learn from poetry.
Attendance is £4.00 for non-members, but membership is open so please browse the website for further information at http://www.scarboroughwriterscircle.com/
Report submitted by Stewart Ashton.
A personal reflection of the August session led by Felix Hodcroft entitled ‘Environment’ can be found on Julie’s Personal Website here.
The June meeting of the Scarborough Writers’ Circle celebrated the awarding of the Nikki Barker Prize. The trophy was won by local poet Adrienne Silcock for her evocative short story ‘The Girl in the Lemon Dress’. Adrienne delighted the attendees with a reading of her story. The quality of competition submissions was, as usual, to a high standard and judging was challenging but the well-attended group agreed that Adrienne was a worthy winner. After the reading, the group discussed their current works in progress. The Scarborough Writers’ Circle is a lovely mix of both published and beginner writers and the sharing of story ideas and ‘how to beat procrastination’ proved to be a lively and enjoyable discussion.
Our next meeting will be at Newby and Scalby Library and Information Centre on 12th July at 7:15 where the group will be discussing writing craft, plotting, dialogue and publishing requirements.
£4.00 for non-members – but membership is open and we very much look forward to welcoming new members and non-members alike. For more information and our year timetable see Diary.
Report submitted by Lel Meleyal – Chair SWC
Lel Meleyal awards the Nikki Barker Shield to the winner, Adrienne Silcock
The May meeting of the Scarborough Writers’ Circle were delighted to welcome two new members to our ever-expanding group of wordsmiths. This month’s session was on writing practice and developing our craft. Drawing on found examples of both dull and exciting texts, the group had a useful discussion about words which add energy pace and excitement to written words.
Our next meeting will be at Newby and Scalby Library and Information Centre on 14th June at 7:15 where the winner of the 2022 Nikki Barker writing competition will be announced and the trophy awarded. Story entries to the competition will be read by their authors, which is always a joy.
£4.00 for non-members – but membership is open and we very much look forward to welcoming new members and non-members alike. For more information and our year timetable see our Diary section.
A lively April meeting when we talked about elements of writing: different ways of writing short stories, point of view, show don’t tell and genre. Members had researched in advance and shared what they had found out. One member had exciting news-more about this soon, if everything works out. Lel Meleyal sent details of the second members’ short story competition of the year.
Our next meeting will be on 10th May 2022 when we will be bringing a short piece of writing to share: something dull made to sound exciting or something exciting made dull! And our usual writing chat.
Hope to see you there.
We meet at Newby Library, Scalby Road, Scarborough at 7pm for a 7.15pm start. We’d love local writers to join us. Come and spend an evening with us. Sessions for non-members to attend are £4 plus £1 for refreshments (optional) or if you want to become a member the cost is £36 per year (pro-rata). Over 18s only.
For further information please browse our website.
The March meeting of the Scarborough Writers’ Circle saw a bumper turnout to hear the submissions to the annual Arthur Hastings trophy short story competition. The theme of the competition was ‘A Silent House’ which generated an interesting mix of stories ranging from the atmospherically spooky, to the influence of wise angels, to how hearts can be healed. The competition winner was Julie Fairweather and judge Dorinda Cass handed over a trophy saying the story ‘A Light In the Darkness’ was moving and thought provoking. Julie delighted her audience with a reading of her evocative tale.
Our next meeting will be at Newby and Scalby Library and Information Centre on 12 April at 7:15 where we will be discussing writing craft considering story structure, character development and creating atmosphere. £4.00 for non-members – but membership is open and we very much look forward to welcoming new members and non-members alike. For more information and our year timetable see our diary page.
The February meeting got off to a cracking start with three new members joining us to discuss Valentines related themes. Some writers read their original poetry and prose covering the whole range of love including devotion to biscuits! Others shared beautiful classics from the likes of Elizabeth Barratt Browning or more modern words from the pen of, for example, Carol Ann Duffy. The group considered the relevance of quotes to inspire our own writing. It was a lively and inspiring meeting. News was shared of the group’s application for membership of the National Association of Writers Groups.
Our next meeting will be at Newby and Scalby Library and Information Centre on 8th March at 7:15 where we will be reading through newly created writing based on the theme ‘A silent house by the sea’. £4.00 for non-members – but membership is open and we very much look forward to welcoming new members and non-members alike.
For more information and our year timetable see our Diary
For the first meeting of 2022 Scarborough Writers Circle was delighted to host its second visit from writer Glenda Young.
Glenda is an award-winning author, a member of both the Crime Writers’ and Romantic Novelist’s Associations, runs two Coronation Street blogs and is the creator and writer of the first ever weekly soap opera Riverside to appear in the People’s Friend – the longest running women’s magazine in the world. Glenda writes saga novels set in the North East which feature strong female characters and more recently has been thrilling readers with her cosy crime novel Murder at the Seaview Hotel which is set in a B & B in Scarborough and features 12 Elvis impersonators!
Glenda, in Scarborough for a combination of holiday rest and writers retreat as she writes her next novel in the Helen Dexter cosy crime series, told Circle members and guests about her personal pathway to becoming a professional writer, starting with a decision to take a journalism course. The course – and her writing talent – led to a range of exciting writing opportunities but it was also clear that her drive and enthusiasm for the written word is central to her success. Her experience of ‘stories coming to her’ or snippets of heard dialogue or unusual objects which piqued writer curiosity or prompted ideas was familiar to many of her audience but Glenda gave valuable advice about how to shape writing into forms suitable for publication. Her enthusiasm for writing for women’s magazines, in particular, was keen and encouraging. She shared tips both about the structuring of stories for publication but also how to promote and protect one’s writing, which was helpful and inspiring.
However, Glenda also encouraged the group to consider the market for novel length works. She advised that reader interest in both historical saga and cosy crime fiction genres remains strong and her encouragement certainly prompted some of the group to reconsider if the genres had a fit with their own writing.
Scarborough Writers’ Circle is grateful to Glenda for giving some of her precious writing time to come and talk with us. We look forward to welcoming her again in the future.
Glenda’s book Murder at the Seaview Hotel (Headline Publishing. 2021) is available to buy now.
Her new novel in the cosy crime series Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel will be available to buy later this year and is pre-orderable at bookshops and on-line outlets.
