QUOTE OF THE MONTH

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.

Books are well written or badly written.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891,

preface Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900

http://www.freefamousquotes.net/quotes/oscar_wilde_there_is_no_such_thing_as_a_mo.html

     http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Coastal_And_Oceans_g117-Waves_Eater_p21059.html

Next FWG Meeting

Next Meetings:

Exercises Group: 13 November 2010

Novel/Short Stories Group: 27 November 2010

ANTHOLOGY 2010 BOOKSIGNING EVENT

Fairfield Writers Group held a book signing on Sunday 31st of October 2010 at Indooroopilly library.

Members of the anthology read out extracts of their stories and signed several books.

A good day was held by all!

 

 

Writing Exercise for November

FAIRFIELD WRITER GROUP

HOMEWORK EXERCISE FOR EXERCISES GROUP

MEETING 13TH NOVEMBER 2010

‘Show don’t tell’

Write a piece up to 1000 words in length using the principle of ‘show don’t tell’.

(example 1) ‘SHOW DON’T TELL’
In real life you don't walk outside in the morning and say "Cloud cover is thick. Temperature is 32 degrees. Humidity is 42 percent. Traffic is heavy. It's late September. The postman is irritable today."

What you DO do is walk outside and see with your eyes that it's gray and dim and you look up and see thick dark clouds; you feel the temperature, and either feel warm or shiver. If you breathe deeply and the air is thick, you might decide it's humid. You hear the roar of the traffic and think "Hmm. The highway is busy today." You see the postman coming up the drive and if his mouth is turned down and his eyes squint and he glares silently at you, you conclude he must be grumpy.

Good fiction writers create action scenes and experiences to convey information, so that the reader learns through experience rather than through being 'lectured'. Readers want to FEEL the message, rather than simply being told. Readers are smart. They like to draw their own conclusions, so the writer's job is to present evidence that allows them to make their own judgments, rather than to tell them how to think.

Tell:
He was very tall.

Show:
Even though he ducked as he entered the doorway, he still cracked his head on the top.
OR As he walked into the room, suddenly the eight foot ceiling looked like someone had lowered it a foot.

Tell:
It was Jim at the door. His face was twisted with anger. I was concerned and invited him in and the two of us started to talk.

Show:
"Jim... what's wrong? Please come in."

As he lowered himself onto my couch, I noticed his red-rimmed eyes, creased forehead, tight lips, and clenched fists.

"Tell me what's happened."

Tell:
Joe was an impatient, driven man, who constantly whined about being frantically busy.

Show:
Joe walked jerkily into the office. He swooped onto the empty chair, drummed his fingers on the desktop, crossed and uncrossed his legs, glared at Sally, and snapped "I'm here. I don't have all day. Get to the point. I'm a busy man."

Tell:
Sally was so angry that she attacked him.

Show:
Sally began to shake. The words tumbled out of her mouth, the vicious language shocking her. She didn't even recognise her own voice. Her hands formed claws as she struck out at him.

(Example 2)
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/What+Show+Dont+Tell+Really+Means+By+Agent+Mary+Kole.aspx

Newsletter-October 2010

Newsletter – October 2010

Fairfield Writers Group

 http://fairfieldwritersgroup-queensland.blogspot.com/

In this issue:

Minutes of meeting – Exercises Group -
Change of critiquing guidelines
November Exercise
Christmas Party

Minutes of meeting–Novel/Short Stories -
Formation of Youth Group
Works in Progress
Meeting Dates

October 2010
Volume 1, Number 9

Minutes of meeting – Exercises Group

Present: Carol, Lorraine, Helga, Jennifer, Martin, Cecilia, Renae and Anna.

Apologies: Findlay.

Chairing this meeting: Anna

Great turnout! We welcomed the return of Martin and a new member to our group Renae.

Due to the large group we divided into two groups to critique our October exercise.

This proved to be very useful as we acknowledge that it was hard to concentrate when one group was providing feedback and the other group was reading. Also all members didn’t want to miss out reading each other’s work.

Due to this, members voted that feedback only be given by each member if a new point is to be made about the piece of work being critiqued. Many times in previous meetings, feedback was provided by one member and was usually repeated by others.

This month’s exercise was characterisation, which was quite an eye opener and very enjoyable.

Our new member, Renae, read out her poetry, which was quite delightful. We are all looking forward to reading more.

Martin has come back after successfully selling his book. Well Done!

November Exercise: “Show Don’t Tell” to be submitted by Carol.

11th December is the last Fairfield Writers Meeting for 2010. This session will be a writing workshop. We all had lots of fun last time and great ideas came out of it.

Our Christmas party will be at the coffee shop on the 11th December after our writing workshop.

Anna

Minutes of meeting – Novel Group -

Present: Carol, Lorraine, Helga, Martin, Karen and Anna.
Apologies: Findlay
Chairing this meeting: Anna

Martin came up with a brilliant idea of setting up a Youth Group for 18-25 year olds.

Fairfield Library to be approached by Anna to see if they are happy for us to organise the group.

Lorraine to organize flyer and Anna to arrange for the ad to appear in what’s on.

Students and schools to be contacted. Martin and Lorraine to see if there is any interest.

Anna provided her first copy of her new novel.

An outline of Martin’s new novel was read out. It sounds very exciting!

Karen read out her Children’s book. A wonderful adventure story.

The 8th story in Carol’s series of stories about her beloved dogs is a wonderful read.

Helga continues her interesting novel.

Lorraine’s novel is coming along nicely.

Anna

Next meetings:
13 November – Set Exercise
27 November – Novel/Short Stories

Focus Of The Month-NOVELS

This month we continue looking at how to write a novel. It is a  long and sometimes an overwhelming processes so any help is always encouraged. Lorraine has found some information to help you with your novel.

Novel Types

Click on the link below to work out what type of Novel you are writing.

The information was extracted from the software "New Novelist" by Write Brothers.

Novel Types

Guide to Structuring a Novel
Very informative!
The information was extracted from the software "New Novelist" by Write Brothers.
Formula

Assessing whether a piece of writing is effective. 

Here are a few question you might need to ask yourself in order to test every scene in a novel, every short story, poem, etc.

1. The Plot Focus.
The purpose of this scene is to __________________________
eg. reveal the protagonist's childhood absuses in order to show motivation for current behaviour.

2. The Character Focus.
When the reader finishes reading this scene, he should feel ___________________________
eg. sympathy for the protagonist, yet be sceptical of her reliability as a narrator.

3. The Theme Focus.
When the reader finishes this scene, he should think __________________________
eg. that the protagonist has been using these abuses as an excuse for many oter self-destructive actions.

4. The Suspense Focus.
When the reader finishes this scene, he should wonder _______________________
e.g. whether the protagonist will be able to overcome the horror of her childhood in order to reunite with her estranged mother.
"A Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes" by Raymond Obstfeld.