
DATES FOR THE YEAR

WRITE BY THE SEA IN FOLKESTONE
To provide a safe, inclusive and constructive environment for local writers to share and discuss their work.
Stories and poems for the anthology.
A journey that includes or involves Folkestone set in any period of time and written in any genre. Stories or poems, with a word count of up to 3,000 words. Any photos to be in black and white and jpeg format, please note that they will be reduced in size for the book. Closing date 31st August 2022 All submissions are to be sent to Debby at gorddinan@live.com.
To provide a safe, inclusive and constructive environment for local writers to share and discuss their work.
We meet twice a month on a Thursday evening at 6.00 pm, our venue for the group meetings is The Hideaway which opens just for us so as a thank you, we purchase drinks and food if required from the bar to consume during the evening. Our events are held in The Grand at 7pm.
Our group meeting includes a catch-up of all bookish news, competitions, events, submissions and writing-related opportunities. A group exercise is given by one of our members, which is normally a fun way to get your brain thinking about words, sentences and writing. A sharing of work for general discussion and constructive feedback for the writer. Planning for future events. There will also be a book swap at The Hideaway.
We then have an event given by an author, illustrator, journalist, critic, poet, writer, publisher or anyone that is local to Folkestone and Kent in the book industry of some description. The talk is about an hour then we have a Q&A session for everyone to participate in. We have a day each week to meet and write, anyone can pop along to these, bring your notebook or laptop to get some words down.
There is no charge for our events, everyone is welcome plus we are very friendly. Our members have produced two anthologies, which are available on Amazon.
Our dream would be to build a community of ‘bookish’ people and offer Writing Retreats in Folkestone.
LOVE
Some people would say that February is the month of love as Valentine’s day is celebrated all over the world, by some!
What does LOVE mean?
You have 100 words to write about LOVE, see you at The Hideaway at 6pm on the 10th of February.
At our first meeting on the 13th of January at 6pm, we will be catching up on any news and finalising the details of our next anthology.
We will also share our stories about the photo we picked from the assortment below.
See you on the 13th
I know sometimes the holidays can get a bit boring if you are on your own or not seeing many visitors or even just missing doing what you love…….writing!
I have an exercise for the ones that would like to do something creative, this is, as always, a choice so stay calm and just write. Even if you don’t have time to edit, that’s ok as you are writing and that’s what you love to do.
These three photos are the prompts so pick one of them and write something, this can be a story, poem or prose but no more than roughly 2,000 words. If you are a planner of any sort could we see your planning when you read the story to us, this is optional but might give someone a helping hand or ideas of how they could plan a story. Or do you want to try planning? This is a good place to have a go, as I am sure we will have a good Q&A when we read the stories, which will be on the 13th January 2022.
For the illustrator’s, would you combine these photos for a book cover or just use one? Describe how you would go about doing a front cover using these pictures, you will have to make up the genre or title so we know how the cover goes with the story.
Have fun, we look forward to reading some in the new year.
On the 9th December from 6pm, we will be having our end-of-year celebration with a Christmas buffet. Everybody is welcome including partners and if you are thinking about joining the group then pop along and meet us all during a relaxed and friendly evening. There will be a nominal charge per person which Matt is working out from The Hideaway.
The members will each be writing a verse for a Christmas card which we will share during the evening.
Our two anthologies will be for sale, Ghosts By The Sea and Doorways To The Sea also if any members would like to bring a couple of their own books so others can see what they have done and buy them or get the link from yourselves then that would be great.
This will be a good time to get to know others from the group and maybe discuss any ideas for next year.
Karen
Our next group meeting is on the 4th November starting at 6pm for people to get a drink, network and eat, then we start the meeting about 6.45
Our topic for the evening is emotions, the task set by Andy will be to write about 100 words transferring from one emotion to another. If you use any books like the one above please bring them along to share with your work.
See you on the 4th.
NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH (NANOWRIMO)
For those of you that don’t know, NaNoWriMo is a month-long writing challenge that takes place every year in November. The challenge is to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, which works out to about 1,666 words a day.
With such an intense daily word count, the idea is that you are solely focusing on getting that crappy first draft down on paper. No rewriting. No editing. Those are things that come later. For now, you just write the story. And, if you’re writing 50,000 words in a month, a lot of those words are going to be crappy. And that is okay. It’s good, even.
Where will you write? How will you write?
Decide this now, before November gets into full swing, and you’ll be setting yourself up for success.
In the interest of speed, most NaNoers choose to type their manuscripts—there are a few brave souls who write longhand, but not many, the choice is yours and what you feel comfortable doing.
Set up your computer so that you have good ergonomics and aren’t risking carpal tunnel syndrome or other issues from typing so much in a harmful way. Review these great stretches for writers and take the time to use them every hour or so, or when you start and finish a writing session.
Try to find a calm, quiet place to do your writing. If possible, set up a dedicated writing nook so that you can psychologically get into the mindset to focus on your writing whenever you go there. It’ll help you get more done!
Prepping to do NaNo the right way isn’t just a matter of getting your space set up—you’ll also need to prepare the people in your life for the challenge you’re about to undertake.
Have a frank discussion with your family, close friends, and maybe even your boss or co-workers about what you’re planning.
Let them know that you may not be available as much as usual, and that you’ll need more advance warning of events and activities that they want you to participate in.
At work, try to plan ahead so that you have extra lead time for crucial projects and don’t drop the ball because you’re busy thinking about and writing your novel. Let your co-workers know that you won’t be joining them for lunch most days, but make plans to stay engaged.
Let your family know they’ll have to take on more for themselves this month—you might not be packing all the lunches, walking the dog, and vacuuming everything every day.
Some NaNoers have found that November is a great time to teach their families to contribute more around the house; by being clear about the need to write and treating NaNo like a job or other key responsibility, they’re able to get other members of the household to contribute more. After November, you can keep up that momentum and use the newfound time to edit your book or write another one! Never feel guilty about writing, use your passion to push ahead and do what you would like to do during November.
The timer for NaNoWriMo starts at midnight on November 1—but that doesn’t mean that you can’t prep for it in advance.
A lot of the work of writing a novel actually happens before you write the first word of prose.
That’s not breaking the rules—you’re not cheating by outlining and creating character maps, inspiration boards, etc. before November 1. You just can’t start writing the actual narrative until then.
What kinds of things can you prepare in advance?
You can also work on determining your ideal reader and how you’re going to meet reader expectations during this pre-writing phase, which will help when you’re editing, publishing, and marketing the book later.
Expand characters and explore their goals
Describing your characters might be the most important part of preparing for your month-long writing adventure. As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “Character is plot, plot is character.” Consider:
What do your characters look like?
What are they curious about?
What do they love? What breaks their heart?
What do they want? Why?
What is her core belief about herself?
What is his core belief about others?
What is her key fault?
What or who gets in the way of her getting what she wants?
Here are 5 tips to plan and link individual scenes to create structured story arcs:
The average scene should be between 1,000 to 2,000 words.
Your Protagonist
Physical Antagonist
Complete this section if you have a physical antagonist.
More than anything in the world, my antagonist wants (this can be as simple as humiliating the protagonist or something a little more ambitious like world domination):
Abstract Antagonist
Complete this section if you have an abstract antagonist.
Are you a pantser or a plotter or combo platter? If you’re a pantser, you might think plots are the work of the devil, sent to make stories feel wooden and contrived. If you’re a plotter, you may wonder how anyone finishes a book without a detailed TripTik. For those of you doing NaNoWriMo, think about creating a loose outline: what strange and mysterious things will happen as your character seeks his fortune or the secrets of her past? As Ray Bradbury wrote, “Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.”
As you head towards your NaNo goals, you may find yourself slowing down at points, stuck on what comes next or just plain unmotivated to keep writing at such a crazy pace.
How do you get over the hump?
Set challenges and rewards!
Humans are naturally motivated by competition, so make meeting your word count a game.
Try doing a Word Sprint, either on your own or with a friend who’s also doing NaNoWriMo; you can even find sprint partners in the NaNo forums.
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Above all enjoy the month, have fun, meet fellow writers, join Facebook or Twitter groups, pop along to our weekly get-togethers, chill out when not writing, please do not get stressed about your number count as just writing is enough.