Stories & Tips: August 2021

Writers Sauce - WWC - MWS 09-August-2021

Welcome to Writers Sauce. We have three new topics for you to check out.

See CONTENTS below.

Gerard and Ray are our our newest subscribers. We now have 332 subscribers. You’ve joined a great group of writers :)

If anyone would like to invite friends to join us, just forward this email to anyone anywhere in the world.

Also, we need more members for our writer website! You will have your own author profile page and special promotions once you become a paying member.

https://www.worldwriterscollective.com/wwc

Do you want to add to this email with your own words of wisdom? Well, we want you to as well. Get in touch with anything you think writers would like to know. We can also/otherwise add info to our NEWS section on the WWC website.

It’s all free and it’s off our own backs’. Please get involved if you have the time.

Thank you,

Mat Clarke

www.worldwriterscollective.com/mat-carke

Contents:

(Look for the *NEW* stamp below for content you haven’t read yet)

1. Book Review (more reviews on books wanted)

2. Writing competition *NEW*

3. Promote your blog

4. How to: Write your way to a more miserable life - Part 2 *NEW*

5. How is screenwriting different from other writing?

6. Writer volunteer Jobs *NEW*

7. Melbourne Writers Social Group upcoming events

8. All Write! upcoming events

9. We want to hear from you

10. Join us and we’ll promote you

11. Essential Information for Writers

12. Important links

1. Review a book title - It will be posted on the WWC website

Are you someone who likes to review books (poems, short stories, movie scripts, blogs, non-fiction, etc.) and give honest feedback on content, interest, characters, structure, or if you think it was just really good reading? Submit your review via this email.

For 2021 please review any book or script or poetry you like (yes, you can submit a review done on your story if you like).

Here’s a review by Magz Morgan of Cecile Ravell’s story: https://ravellc.wixsite.com/ravell-the-writer

‘Coming, Frankwen’. The voice of the three-year-old child calling to her brother and hero, opens Child Magical. Cecile Ravell’s story is a memoir of a childhood in transit, from Brooklyn, New York, to Malta then Melbourne, Australia.

In a series of poignant and funny cameos, seen through the eyes of a little girl, Ravell brings to life an intimate immigrant tale. The vignettes follow this feisty little girl from moments of triumph, to moments of indignation, as she becomes aware of her position as an outsider in a society that values fair-haired children, and as a girl who plays second fiddle to a family culture that reveres boys.

Child Magical provides valuable insights into the reality of what it feels and looks like, for a girl, growing up; in particular, an immigrant girl.

Read it slowly, savour it in your favourite armchair, or read it quickly on public transport. Either way, Ravell’s story is a good read, piquant and thought-provoking.’

Magz Morgan, author, ‘Motherlands’.

www.magzmorgan.com

2. Current Writing Competition - managed by Ray Stone

Short story competition - World Writers Collective

The big one - WWC Golden Pen Award - Win $250 First Prize

There are two other prizes. The second prize will be $100 to spend in a Red Bubble store and one-year membership of Creative Writers Collective. The third prize will be a FREE entry to any one of the competitions for a year and one-year membership of Creative Writers Collective.

All three stories will be published in the anthology.

https://www.worldwriterscollective.com

Become a World Writers Collective member, which helps support everyone in the group as indie writers and allows you to collect prizes if you win.

Want to get published or publish your own works and have our members spread the word about your works, book launch, or other? It’s only $20 a year to join which helps pay the few hundred dollars it costs for the domain and host the website each year.

www.worldwriterscollective.com/writing-competitions

If you are one of the top winners of the competition, you will be included in the 2022 anthology. That's just one of the great reasons to get involved with the anthology!

We also want to promote you. All you have to do is say the word.

3. Promote your blog

We want to promote your blog. Email us a link of one of your blogs and an explanation of why WWC people would enjoy reading it.

Here’s one from Mat Clarke:

https://matclarke.blogspot.com/2019/12/roadside-thriller-story.html

It’s an interesting short thriller story written and performed as a podcast by Mat Clarke and directed and produced by Noel Anderson.

4. How to: Write your way to a more miserable life - Part 2

“Writing is a pursuit naturally fraught with difficulty. But don’t worry, you have the power to make it much worse.”

By Laura Gilmartin

Link: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012075519045

In the previous issue of Writers Sauce I wrote about pursuing misery as a strategy for fulfilling our potential as tortured artists and giving us more meaty content to work with. I began with the idea of putting things we value in life on hold until we have finished our project. Not only can this make us, the writer, feel frustrated and resentful, it can do the same for those around us, inviting negative blowback which can be invaluable when researching dysfunctional personal relationships.

In this issue I want to talk about a topic which holds a special place in my heart and what I see as a natural extension of the above - Strategy 2 in writing your way to misery:

Withdraw from social life

The COVID-19 pandemic teaches us that lockdown can be very useful for getting things done, albeit with one large caveat: You must be free of distractions. I implore you to embrace this, not as a means of protecting yourself and others from a killer virus - though this could serve as an effective segue - but as a lifestyle choice.

I’m not talking about balance or ‘self-care’, or even learning to say ‘No’ to people so we can pursue our practice with discipline. I’m talking about the kind of isolation that requires you to fake your own death and adopt a catchy pseudonym.

Where should one withdraw to? There is no shortage of options. How about a house in the woods, a la Johnny Depp’s character in Secret Window? His situation is a bit dicey I’ll admit, but more importantly, he finishes his book. You could opt for the traditional ostracism experience, such as in a clock tower, or retreat to a farm, where you can get a true sense of life in the Australian outback (Do I smell a Miles Franklin?)*

The benefits of eschewing social life doesn’t stop at having every minute freed up to focus on your task. It also removes the risk of the dreaded social encounter wherein that nosy wench, Aunty Brenda, inevitably asks, “How’s the writing going?” and you’re obliged to answer honestly that you’re actually struggling a bit and haven’t written anything in a while. If you never have these kinds of encounters, you never learn that, in fact, no one really cares how much you produce, they just care about you and want you to be well. Which is good because being an artist is not about being well, it’s about adopting a rigid sense of identity and clinging to it, no matter the cost.

Choosing to give up everything in life to prove one’s identity as a writer makes the stakes extremely high. So if, over time, you develop a sneaking suspicion that your project might not be as workable as you had hoped, you’re virtually guaranteed to hold out hope for it longer than you should. This is especially so without a friendly face to tell you it’s okay to pivot from your original plan, or another writer to help you rework the material into a different form. If, heaven forbid, you begin to suspect that, while you love writing and would never give it up completely, there are other things in life you would like to pursue, you will likely wrestle with these changing priorities for years longer than necessary.

To be really miserable, it’s best not to develop personally at all. Try to keep your emotions buried and concern yourself only with your subject matter for as long as possible. If you really can’t continue without a companion, inanimate objects are great listeners, never interrupt and have zero emotional needs. Draw a moustache or other facial feature on your chosen item for an aura of absurd desperation.

The greatest benefit of all from total isolation is that when you finally stagger out of your hole, disorientated and weak from lack of Vitamin-D, you will have needed no help to finish your project – it’s all you. If the enterprise required to complete your project doesn’t come naturally from just you, then try to force it. Some people point to growing evidence that the most successful and sustainable creative pursuits come down to collaborative effort and support, but that would dilute the sense of self-importance that doubles as fuel when we’re too deep in our flow state to eat.

Next issue, we’ll explore how we can intimidate the fork out of ourselves by making our very first project a book or complete screenplay. Until then, ~~happy~~ writing!

5. How is screenwriting different from other writing?

by Graeme Farmer

Graeme enjoyed a successful full time professional career as a screenwriter for iconic shows such as Neighbours. At our Tuesday event in the city, we were given the opportunity to see into his world and learn how screenwriting can be a different career choice to novel writing. See below for the main points covered. If you have any questions, we encourage you to attend our Tuesday night events in the city where Graeme is happy to chat to you in detail.

- Length of novel, play, screenplay. Brevity, focus, compression or concision. Leave out most things you put in a novel.

- Reductive rather than proliferative.

- Eye of god - privileged POV. The screen is more democratic than the novel.

- Present tense, not past tense - arrow of time.

- It is a visual medium. You must try to articulate the visual - words creating sight. Visual fluidity so that it mimics our monkey mind.

- It is the most cold-blooded of all writing and yet it stands or falls on inspiration. Your illusion of control erodes your humility. You must renounce yourself in favour of your characters.

- Leave out, don’t put everything in, don’t make sense quickly.

- How powerful the pause, beat, incomplete sense, ellipsis.

- EXCITE EXPOSE EXIT

6. Writer volunteer jobs

We would love you to join our network of writers as a creative leader and help you further everyone's knowledge of writing. No doubt, you'll learn more about yourself and your writing as well. Have a read below and see what fits your personal skills and lifestyle. Commit to what you can and we'll see you in the trenches. Most of all, have fun!

Opportunities:

Manager of writing competitions

Website manager

Information officer

Assistant to managers and officers

Writing Competition Judges

Event host - multiple required (Melbourne only)

Further details: www.worldwriterscollective.com/job-vacancies

These are all volunteer positions.

Your position includes free membership, a discount for any events you attend, free access to catering (if supplied) and an allowance for the manager positions (see position details).

Commit for 12 months or longer.

7. Melbourne Writers Social upcoming events

During the virus outbreak we suspended some of our events, with most returning January 2021. Our main flagship event is running again at the Wharf Hotel on the third Tuesday of the month. Please join us - all are welcome even if you are only thinking of starting out in a creative field.

This may change as the Victorian COVID condition changes. Click here to RSVP, check time and place of events: https://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Writers/

We meet online every Monday from 6.30pm and show each other our work and chat about everything creative.

South Bank Write Now: Second Saturday of the month. The venue is generally quiet, opens early, free wifi, good coffee, food as well as drinks if you need them for later ;) There is music, and it is a cafe, so bear this in mind and wear head phones if you need them while you write.

Melbourne Central: Fourth Sunday of the month. We are nestled in the back corner of the upstairs food court near the windows, past the colourful piano, behind the big clock. We meet to write mostly, but you are free to chat with others who would like to do so.

Eastern suburbs meet. Laura, Stephanie and Mat are exploring a cafe in Croydon to meet at, which will be run on certain Sundays. We will get back to you soon on how it will be run and what the format will be. Likely it will involve the return of our writing games event with prompts to get you writing and enjoy yourself.

Not currently running: Writers of the South, let’s write: This is for southern Melbourne, down as far as the Clayton and Mentone area. Anyone can attend and join in and write your heart out (and have ice cream).

Not currently running: Writers Workshop: If you want to work through a piece, then come along to the Eltham Library and let us help you create your best work.

Not currently running: Treehouse Writing: Join us in Olinda for a sanctuary in the hills where we write and relax.

As with all our events, please get in touch if you would like to help with running events. The best way to do this is to come to one of our events and chat to the current event hosts about what you would like to do. We prefer to have two event hosts at each event, so where there is an opening we are happy for you to get involved.

There are many other Writing groups in Melbourne that you may be interested in as well. Go to them all and see what you like . . . but then come back to MWS and bring more great people with you. Haha ;)

https://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Writers

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