Minutes of the Meeting 2 May 2019
Venue: Neo’s Sports Club, Peyia
Present:
John Goodwin Jennie Rook Bob Barker Liz Coyne Helen Ratcliffe Mary Duffy
Maurice Holloway June Megennis Paul Trebiss Michael White Louise (John’s visitor)
Greetings Scribes,
A lively meeting with a good turnout of members and plenty of readings. John introduced Louise to the group, who is visiting Paphos and has attended our PWG meetings previously. She is a member of the Whitby writers group.
John G gave an update on the new times and venue of Andrea Busfield’s Creative writing and Journalism courses. If anyone is interested contact Andrea through Facebook page: “Write Cyprus” or call her on 99 914351, for more details.
Readings based on last week’s homework theme:
Maurice A chapter from his new book in which he’s part way through the 1st edit:
‘Didn’t mean to make you cry’ - good feedback was offered.
Mike ‘Holiday-makers’ - a funny story about tourists
Louise ‘Punctuality’ a pet hate – a non-fiction piece about being on-time.
This led to a discussion on animals as Louise had some unusual interactions with animals at her workplace.
John ‘Tribalism’ – a non-fiction piece that led to a discussion on modern day tribalism
This led to Mike remembering Ben Elton’s dystopian fiction book ‘Stark’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark_(novel, the theme being colonising the moon. This led to a discussion on climate change.
Mary a fiction based on the prompt of a handshake.me.
There followed a discussion on how to write foreign languages in novels and whether to show translations, footnotes or use a glossary of terms.
Coffee break: 11:00 – 11:30
Readings:
Bob A continuation of his crime thriller stories, introducing a character. Good feedback was given.
This led to a discussion on how we can best describe a character to your readers, by showing not telling.
June An extract entitled ‘My Farewell to COE’, from her autobiography about her career with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and others.
Homework: We’re looking for romance this spring. Write a short story of about 600 words including:
A spilled drink
A case of mistaken identity
Your story can be any genre, so long as it contains a strong romantic element. Any sexual content should avoid explicit or graphic detail and be relevant to the story.
Tips from highly successful novelist, Kurt Vonnegut: Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
Next meeting: Thursday 9th May at Neo’s Sports Club.
Thanks to all who attended and happy writing.
