Group Profile: Fylde Brighter Writers

Steve Brodie from Fylde Brighter Writers talks to the PrestonWN about his group, and their latest competition - open to all writers. Read on for details...

Fylde Brighter writers were formed in 2006 following the closure of a creative night school class we attended the previous year. We still wanted to write and to keep in touch so decided to form our own writing circle. Once we got our own website up and running, other writers contacted us and we have a healthy core of around ten and a number of occasional visitors and affiliates. After a nomadic couple of years wandering from venue to venue, we're now settled in the County Hotel pub in Lytham and meet every Thursday evening.

Three of our members, Jackie Blake, Lauren Huxley-Blythe and Christine Axon are featured in the latest Leaf anthology, 'Ada and more Nano Fiction' and Eleanor Broaders has a poem in 'Openings 26', the 2009 anthology of OU poets. Eleanor also has had poems published in many other anthologies. Karen Pailing has won poetry competitions in Writers News amongst many others. Steve Wilson set up the Lancashire Writers Blog and his 'Caught in the Act' is on the BBC Lancashire web pages. The rest of us gamely plug away.

We've just launched our latest competition, the snappily titled 'Fylde Brighter Writers Short Story and Poetry Competition 2010'. It's open to anyone anywhere apart from our members and our relatives and it also has an Open theme. The top Prizes are £200 for short stories up to 2,500 words and £100 for the poetry prize and there is no length limit to the poetry. No one has entered a saga yet. There are runners up prizes too and small but beautifully crafted trophies for the winners. It cost £5 per short story or £10 for three stories and £3 per poem or £5 for three. We have postal and on-line entry options and the closing date is 27th February 2010.

(if you're interested in entering this competition, there are more details and contact information via the Brighter Writers website, here)

We ran a successful competition in 2008. We judge it ourselves, gradually whittling down the entries to the top ten which we then read out, debate, argue and champion our favourites over a couple of evenings (with wine) until we arrive at our winners. It's a lot of work but we feel it helps create a proper identity for the writing circle, it shows us the standards we need to reach to win other competitions and it can be great fun to do.

Why join a Writing circle? I greatly admire people who can sit down and rattle off fabulous stories in isolation from the rest of the world but I find the support of a Writing Circle invaluable. For natural prevaricators (such as myself) it's a constant dig in the ribs because I need to write something every week to take with me otherwise questions are asked! Constructive critques by the members of work is also useful. We had one member who changed her writing style after being asked to try something different by another member and now writes in a beautiful languid atmospheric way that she didn't before. We all bring hints tips and competition ideas in with us to the meetings and the collective sharing of information is something that you couldn't get on your own.

We've also published a couple of books via Lulu. 'Girl on the Bridge', a story of a, well, a girl on a bridge, seen from the perspective of other people looking at her in a park. We wrote a chapter each in this and found it to be a great collective way to get a story written. We published our anthology 'Coming Around' last year. It contains our competition winners and a couple of pieces - stories or poems - from each of us. It's available, for £3.99, from Lulu.com, via our own website and from Amazon.com in the US. I'm not quite sure how it got there, I think Lulu put it forward!

We will be producing another anthology in 2010 following the competition. Lulu is a great way to get your work quickly and cheaply into print. we find, and we're impressed by the quality. A few of our people have produced their own work for family and friends on Lulu and I'd recommend it anyone.

PrestonWN is always pleased to hear from you about your groups, projects and publications. If you have news about competitions, writing or reading opportunities or you'd like us to promote your group, event, book or workshop, get in touch with us and let us know.

scRibble - first meeting update

A quick word from Catherine Cable - one of the founders of Preston's newest creative writing circle. Their first meeting was held at the New Continental on the 28th September...

I am sure my fellow "founder" Cat, would agree that we heaved a huge sigh of relief as 18 other budding writers arrived to take part (I had been wondering all day if we would be left sitting all alone with only the excellent wine and possibly a portion of bread and butter pudding with which to console ourselves!).

The evening got off to a good start with introductions from all the members (and hopefully I didn't witter on too much). Who would have thought that one creative writing group could boast not one, but two stars of Eastern European Television?

The short writing exercise based on "A new take on a traditional tale" produced some fine examples of creativity; from Rumplestiltskin in the guise of Sam Spade to a moving account of the re-homing of a young miner in a specially converted cottage with 6 others of similar small stature via a chilling account of a blood thirsty wolf. Pleasingly Jeremy Kyle also made an appearance featuring in an interview with Cinderella and her sisters "init".

If this is what we can produce during our first meeting, I can't wait to see what else these talented folk can come up with. I am looking forward to learning from the more experienced and sharing my angst with other beginners.

The "Challenge" for our October meeting is to produce a piece of writing starting with one of the following lines:

1 - Shadows quivered on the wall as the candle flickered, then fizzled to nothing.

2 - The dream last night had seemed so real, but it was just a dream, right?

3 - The storm whipped the trees outside and she huddled into her quilt.

4 - The prickles on his neck told him he was being watched.

Here's looking forward to sharing some chilling (or otherwise) tales for our late October meet.

The next meeting of scRibble will be at 7.30pm on Monday 26 October in the snug at the Conti. All welcome.

sCribble: New Creative Writing Group

News from the organisers of sCribble - Catherine Cable and Cat Dunlop. Those of you who've been attending Word Soup from the begining might remember Cath and Cat who took our very first open mike slots performing pieces they wrote and worked on during our eight-week creative writing course last winter.

Now they've set up a creative writing circle, and have dropped by to answer a few questions.

PrestonWN: What is scRibble?

Catherine: scRibble is a new creative writing group who will be meeting on a monthly basis in the New Continental, South Meadow Lane, Preston. We are a group of like minded writers who feel that a chance to get together, share ideas, give and receive feedback on our work and take part in writing exercises would help to motivate us to produce more writing.

PrestonWN: Why the name?

Catherine: The name was chosen because as writers we spend a lot of time scribbling words onto a page in the hope that some of them may make sense. Our home is to be the New Continental which is situated by the river Ribble (with wonderful views of the river from the beer garden!). It seemed like a suitable name to encompass both what we do and where we do it.

PrestonWN: Who is welcome?

Catherine: Anyone and everyone who wants to write. From experienced writers to the first timer. We intend the group to be organic and dynamic and to shape itself to the needs and wants of its members. Whilst there is a small annual subscription fee, members who join throughout the year can pay a proportion of this fee, so we are open to new members throughout.

PrestonWN: When's your first meeting?

Catherine: Our first meeting will take place on Monday 28th September from 7.30 to 9.30. We will then meet on the last Monday of each month - same time, same venue.

PrestonWN: How did you come up with the idea of starting a creative writing group?

Catherine: Cat Dunlop and I are graduates of the first Creative Writing course run by Jenn Ashworth. We took the course as a much more enjoyable activity that going to the gym and whilst we learned that we could occasionally come up with a good story or poem, it also allowed us to legitimately drink wine on a Monday night!

Following this course, we both found that in order to motivate us to actually put pen to paper, it helped enormously to have the support and feedback from the other students on the course.

PrestonWN: What is the benefit for new writers of joining a creative writing group?

Catherine: For new writers, such as myself, I found the confidence being part of a group gave me was invaluable in motivating me to write more. Being a member of a group allows a new writer to feel they are not alone in, what can be a lonely pastime.

It also allows them to pick the brains of more experienced writers, learn tips and techniques, have access to information about performing their work and entering competitions.

Being part of a group for both new and experienced writers helps to motivate and receiving feedback from other members of the group in a relaxed safe environment helps us to hone our craft. Oh and there is the added bonus of the drinking wine legitimately on a Monday night!

To be added to our mailing list to receive information about further meetings or just for a chat about what to expect, please contact Catherine.cable@talktalk.net.

So there you have it. sCribble - Preston's newest creative writing group. Open to all, with their first meeting at The New Continental, South Meadow Lane, Preston on the 28th September from 7.30pm. Off you go, and tell them we sent you!