Ashby Writers

Subtitle


Next Event:

24 March 2020

Competition

500 words, start of novel

set locally, Leics, Derbys, Staffs


Look out for

26 May 2020

Release of Kate Malinder's new book: Asking for a Friend

to be held in Birmingham, for details see


https://www.waterstones.com/events/book-launch-asking-for-a-friend-by-kate-mallinder/birmingham


(This replaces the originally scheduled session of Members' Own Work)


Look out for David Bell's new book:

Reds, Rebels and Radicals


Our Thanks to our last speaker:

Shreya Sen Handley


Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing

  1. Never open a book with weather. If it's only to create atmosphere, and not create a character's reaction to the weather, you don't want to go on too long.

  2. Avoid prologues.

  3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

  4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said" ... he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin.

  5. Keep your exclamation marks under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

  6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."

  7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

  8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants, what do the "American and the girl with him" look like? "She had taken off her hat and put it on the table." That's the only reference to a physical description in the story, and yet we see the couple and know them by their tones of voice, with not one adverb in sight.

  9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.

  10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.


Elmore Leonard had an additional rule that he regarded as the most important, because it encapsulates all of the other rules:


If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.


This is the website for Ashby Writers' Club in which Writers from the area of Ashby de la Zouch discuss their writing, hold writing competitions and entertain guest speakers.


Ashby Writers’ Committee


Chair: Sue Shaw

Vice-chair: Mike Arblaster

Secretary: Diane Buxton

Treasurer: Samantha Ridgway

Programme secretary: David Bell



Programme 2020


14th Jan manuscript meeting – members’ own work


28th Jan two favourite pieces: Please bring two pieces of writing (poem or

prose, no more than two pages - 500 words) to share with the members.

(ie: not your own work – something you have enjoyed reading).


11th Feb manuscript meeting – members’ own work


25th Feb Annual General Meeting. Review of last year’s activities, Election of officers.


10th Mar manuscript meeting – members’ own work


24th Mar comp: opening 500 words of a novel set locally (Leics/Derbys/Staffs).


14th Apr speaker: Rod Duncan: Rod grew up in Aberystwyth,and was identified as dyslexic at the

age of eight. He made his way through the education system by avoiding writing as far as

possible. Duncan studied Mining Geology in the University of Leicester. He moved to Taiwan in 1989, but returned to Leics in 1993. He is a lecturer at De Montfort University, and

the author of nine novels, many of them in the alternate history/steampunk genre.


28th Apr manuscript meeting – members’ own work


12th May comp: poem/verse on “What a Character!” No more than 30 lines.


26th May Kate Malinder's book launch at Waterstones in Birmingham


9th June speaker: Stephen Booth: Stephen is the author of the 18 books in the Ben Cooper/Diane

Fry crime series set in the Peak District, as well as several stand-alone novels. His latest book

“Drowned Lives” features Chris Buckley and is set around the canals of the Lichfield area.


23rd June manuscript meeting – members’ own work


14th July manuscript meeting – members’ own work


28th July speaker: Darren Simpson. His YA debut novel - Scavengers - was a Guardian Best Book

of 2019. He also provided the story for the multi-media novel The Dust on the Moth.


11th Aug manuscript meeting


25th Aug comp: prose: tba


8th Sept speaker: Sophie Draper: Sophie has 2 books published recently, Cuckoo and Magpie,

both psychological thrillers set in Derbyshire. She also works as a traditional oral storyteller

22nd Sept manuscript meeting – members’ own work


13th Oct speaker: Kate Mallinder: Author of YA novels, Summer of No Regrets and Asking for a

Friend. A Look at Young Adult fiction.


**********


Meetings second and fourth Tuesday of each month, unless otherwise specified 7.30pm-9.30pm at Congregational Church, Kilwardby St, Ashby LE65 2FQ.

See 'Location'  tab in menu for how to find us.


Membership £10 per annum

Visitors are welcome at a nominal fee of £4 per speaker meeting, £3 per comp/manuscript meeting (includes coffee or tea)