Stories & Tips: Writers Sauce - WWC

Writers Sauce - WWC - MWS 5-December-2021

Welcome to Writers Sauce. We have one new topic for you to check out and it’s all about writing techniques, winning prize money and being published.

See CONTENTS below.

Alex, Andy and Laura are our our newest subscribers. We now have 336 subscribers. You’ve joined a great group of writers :)

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

Become a paying member and you’ll get your own author profile page on WWC as well as the ability to promote yourself and your books via our main page. It’s only $20 a year to cover the costs of the website. Everyone who works on this website does so for free.

https://www.worldwriterscollective.com/wwc

If you want to add to this email with your own words of wisdom, let us know. 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 done for 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 competitions - BIG CASH PRIZES *NEW*

3. Promote your blog

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

5. The Story Mint

6. Breakout Writers Festival success!

7. Writer volunteer Jobs

8. Melbourne Writers Social Group upcoming events

9. All Write! upcoming events

10. We want to hear from you

11. Join us and we’ll promote you

12. Essential Information for Writers

13. 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 Competitions - managed by Ray Stone

Short story competitions - World Writers Collective

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

Second prize is $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.

B. This is the FIRST TIME we are introducing a non fiction competition. Check out the details via our competitions tab and start writing.

C. What about a design competition? Get interested!

We want you to design our note book cover. Just like other non profit organisations, we don’t have any money, so we give away prizes instead. See the WWC website for more details.

Need help with writing short stories? Go to our competitions tab page 1. Over the next two months we will be adding hints and tips to this page to help you write the best short story ever. There will be guest videos, writing competition winners giving their tips and words from past well known authors. You can also check out our editing tips page while we add to the competitions tab page 1.

https://www.worldwriterscollective.com/editing-tips

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 Aradhana Bakshi:

https://nomadicsuitcase.com/2021/09/a-cloudy-affair-the-melburnian-sky

Aradhana has articulated some thoughts in a short poem regarding the Melburnian sky.

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

“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: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-gilmartin-ab97bb218/

On the topic of humility, Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, ‘A great man is always willing to be little.’ But I say, a great writer is always willing to be miserable. And so for the fourth instalment in our series, I recommend that you:

Take yourself seriously

Plenty of writers feel that, in order to be happy and productive, they must take their writing seriously. They set goals, make a plan for when they will write and when that time comes, they show up and do the work. But this breeds far too much healthy confidence. To be miserable, we want to focus less on cultivating discipline and more on becoming preoccupied with the image of our self as a writer.

We all know writers love exercises, so here are a few we can do to get into the groove:

1. Practice holding yourself as a writer in extremely high regard, with little to no real-world evidence to justify it.

Imagine that ever since you were young, you were told you were a wonderful writer, and you were top of your secondary school English class. What the adults really meant was that you have potential, but unfortunately for you, they didn’t hone in on this. Because you have a knack for poetry or prose, to your mind, you have already earned the title of ‘Great writer,’ even though you only write when the feeling takes you and your last published piece was for the university magazine - in 2012.

2. Adopt an air of superiority.

Imagine the label of ‘Artist’ is a sign you wear on your chest that lets the people around you know you’re better than them (Bonus points for actually wearing a sign that says this).

Imagine you decided long ago that writing would be your backup plan. You’re fed up with your stressful/shallow/mind-numbing career, and finally decide to turn it in, only to realise how much esteem that career actually gave you. Alternatively, imagine that since you were a teenager, you vowed never to be a slave to capitalism and have only ever been an artist, shooting straight for the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Self-actualisation. Either way, the property, status, and all the other stuff in the hierarchy which are supported by a paying profession, have to be replaced with something. Best make your head big enough to fill that gap.

3. Bump up the stakes.

In previous instalments we’ve discussed the merits of putting our lives on hold, socially isolating ourselves, and choosing something long for our first project. All of these things can impact our survivability and put pressure on our writing to be good quickly, destroying a vital chance to be an apprentice to our craft.

Even oodles of talent is nothing without skill, which only comes from years of development. Why not go all-in? As soon as you realise your work is not remarkable your vulnerability will spike, and an inflated ego provides a stellar place to hide.

4. Refuse to be influenced.

Reading more is often recommended for improving one’s writing. But have you ever noticed how, after reading a story written in a particular style, you immediately begin to emulate it? It’s a real phenomenon, and allows historians to track the evolution of all kinds of creative expression. What we want to do is stand apart, and for this reason, it’s best to avoid reading altogether, lest it muddy our own unique style. Which, as we know from Point 3, can be classified most accurately as, ‘Undeveloped.’

When you’ve mastered these methods, you can start to spread your snobbery around a little. Give your draft to a loved one to read. Stare at them, unblinking, while they read it and get upset when they don’t get surprised, smile or laugh as much as you did when you read it back to yourself.

Tell them you are looking for feedback without specifying what kind you would find useful. Then when they give it to you, justify your creative choice repeatedly and at increasing volume, until they acquiesce. Most importantly, never take notes. Taking note of others’ feedback acknowledges that as the writer, your perspective could be inherently biased or could benefit from others’ insight, which would be devastating for your pride.

In our fifth and final entry in this series, we’ll discuss how we can give up trying to get our work published because the industry is ‘Too politicised,’ and other maladaptive strategies for coping with pain. Now, off to make that sign…

5. The Story Mint

Join Part 2 of our "From STEM to STEAM" series to explore how we can successfully put the Arts into STEM and involve those skills we learn through the Arts (particularly writing!) to achieve great results. webinar: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/create-lesson-plans-with-the-arts-writing-in-mind-tickets-194124861687

Join Our Lockdown Writing Competition for Students!

Why are we doing this?

We know lockdown can get a bit much with the same routine day in, day out, staying indoors, unable to meet with friends. Students are feeling it, parents are feeling it, teachers are feeling it.

We wondered how best to add some fun into the day-to-day reality of lockdown while still keeping everyone safe. So…let’s write!

Video advertising competition: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H_OyYMz-8k

Link to more information: www.worldwriterscollective.com/the-story-mint

How do I enter?

The competition is free to enter for all school (including home-schooled) students Y4-13 in Australia and New Zealand, and gives you full access to the Stylefit software so you get instant visual feedback as you write!

All you need to do is flick an e-mail to anna@stylefit.org saying you’d like to participate. Let us know if you’re a teacher wishing to enter your students or if you’re a student entering individually*. We’ll get your free writing account set up so that you can have direct access to the software and its feedback throughout the whole competition.

What do I write about?

We’ve got a few visual prompts set up in each category (Year 4-6, Year 7-8, Year 9-10 and Year 11-13). You can find these here[link to updates site page]. Inspire your imagination with the image OR pick a topic of your own choosing. As long as you stick to the word count, we’ll eagerly read your work!

What are you waiting for?
Send an e-mail to anna@stylefit.org and get writing! There are prizes to be won!

6. Breakout Writers Festival success!

by Mat Clarke

An amazing Writer Event streamed to you online.

We had contributors from all over the world and different writer groups involved, including World Writers Collective, The Story Mint and Melbourne Writers Social Group.

The great news is you can enjoy the entire event or sections of the event you believe you will find interesting right now. All you have to do is visit our webpage: www.worldwritercollective.com/breakout-writer-conference

More videos will be added as they are edited out of the raw video footage. If a video you want to watch is not there yet, please check back in a few days.

7. 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 - Ray Stone has taken on this role

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.

8. Melbourne Writers Social upcoming events

During the virus outbreak we suspended some of our events, with most returning ~~January~~ ~~2022~~ ~~December~~ ~~2021~~ November 2021. Our main flagship event runs 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.

Things 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-bar, 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

Stories & Tips

Saturday, 4 December 2021

Writers Sauce - WWC - MWS 5-December-2021