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MONTHLY NEWS
I hope you all have put in a story or poem into the Tropical Writers'
‘Anthology' this year. However, if you haven’t, I’ve just been advised that
the entry date has been extended until June 30th, so you have four
weeks.
I have been hoping we would have a good representation this year as
we did in 2010.
Remember the big change is that, an independent panel will
choose the stories and poems.
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Don’t forget Hazel’s classes start at the end of the month —
well worth attending.
Seascape Learning Curve Sessions 2011
The first Mentoring sessions will be held at Unit 3
21-31 Poinciana St, Holloways Beach as follows:
1. Poetry: (writing and study) - Tuesday June
28 11a.m. to 2p.m.
2. Fiction-Non-fiction and Historical Narrative -
Thursday June 30 11a.m. to 2p.m.
Each session will be limited to six writers- Session
2 will be divided if numbers increase in any genre.
Fee: $15 per session.
Sessions will continue on the last Tues and Thurs of each month.
If you have already made contact, please advise
that this timetable suits your availability and also arrange
a personal meeting to discuss how best these sessions
can assist you in your current writing programme.
More details? hzlmango@bigpond.com
See you at the next meeting
Paul
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DATES FOR THE DIARY
Meeting Dates 2011
Always a Thursday
6:30pm-8:30pm
16 th Jun
21 st Jul
18 th Aug
15 th Sep
20 th Oct
17 th Nov
15 th Dec
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WORD OF THE MONTH: WONKY
Pronunciation: WAWNG-kee
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: (British Slang) 1. Shaky, wobbly, unstable, as a wonky chair
with a loose leg. 2. Weak, unreliable, untenable, as wonky argument or
worker.
Notes: Today's Good Word is one of those words lurking in the shadows
of the fringes of our vocabulary. It is still in the spotlight outside the US,
but here in the US we have come up with 'wonk', another word for 'nerd',
making 'wonky' a synonym for 'nerdy'. However you use today's word, feel
free to use the comparative forms 'wonkier' and '(the) wonkiest', as well as
the noun 'wonkiness'.
In Play: The basic sense of today's word is "unstable, wobbly": "Coming
home from the office party in the wee hours, Harvey Wall banger was a
bit wonky on his legs." We may, however, extend this meaning figuratively
to other forms of instability: "I don't think I'd depend on anyone as wonky
as Lucinda Head for advice; Lucy's a brick or two shy of a full load."
Word History: If we pronounce the A in the word 'wanky' [ah], as it was
originally pronounced, it sounds very much like modern day 'wonky'. 'Wanky' is a dialectal variant of 'wankle', from Old English wancol "unsteady". We find relatives of this word in other Germanic languages like German wanken "shake, stagger" and Swedish vackla "wobble, stagger". Now since the sounds of G and K are identical except for the vibration of the vocal chords in pronouncing G, we could respectably speculate that today's word might be related to words like it ending on G. 'Wag' immediately presents itself. We have precedent for this relationship in the words 'swagger' and 'swank', where we also see the comings and goings of the N. In fact, these two words are probably related to 'wanky' and hence to our word 'wonky'.
THIS MONTH'S ASSISTANCE SECTION
When writing we often want to put in flashbacks, here are some helpful notes with thanks from Write Great Fiction: Description & Setting by Ron Rozelle.
A flashback is a sudden, brief relocation to a previous time and then, just as suddenly, a return to the present story. Flashbacks can hint at backstories, but they aren't backstories themselves. A backstory is a longer trip (in fact, sometimes backstories make up most of a story or even a novel).
In a flashback, a character is usually reminded of something or someone from his past. The smell of cabbage cooking might cause him to see a kitchen that he hasn't actually seen in years and years. Or you might have a character who looks over at his wife of 50 years and, in just the right light of a nice afternoon, sees her as the teenager he married.
Flashbacks come in handy when you need to infuse a clue or two into a mystery or when some character trait needs to be enhanced or explained. Let's say you have a fellow in your story who doesn't like dogs. Your reader wants to know why, so you lead her along for a while and then give her a nice little flashback, in which the man recalls being bitten by a dog as a child.
Flashbacks are quick. Backstories, because they drag in the baggage of a character or a situation, are longer. Backstory, when layered effectively, can be a good way to establish setting and provide description. Diverting your readers' attention away from the here and now allows you to focus on times and places that give deeper insight into a character or a situation.
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Writers on Writing
Not
Having an
Inciting
Incident
Why this is a mistake: The inciting incident is the event that upsets
the protagonist’s everyday world. The resulting story, then, is an
attempt to restore the natural order. At the end of the book, the old
order will be brought back, or a new order will be established.
Novice writers often fail to create an inciting incident to get their
story moving. Too often, their characters just wake up one day and
decide to change their lives or do things differently on a whim. This will
strike astute readers as false and unrealistic. Why?
Because human beings rarely seek out change for the sake of change,
and readers know this. Readers want to know the why behind the change.
The solution: Readers need to clearly see the event that starts the action
of the story. However, this pivotal event does not necessarily need to be
the first event of the book. Keep in mind that it’s even possible for inciting
events to occur long before the start of the book. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord
of the Rings trilogy, for instance, the Ring was around for a very long time
— well before Frodo Baggins was even born. In fact, the inciting incident
for the trilogy actually occurs when Bilbo finds the ring in The Hobbit.
The thing is, though, you have to have a clear handle on what this event is
before you start writing. If you don’t really know what event kicks off your
story and causes your protagonist’s life to turn upside down, then how are
readers supposed to figure it out?
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A NEW COMPETITION
To test your imagination, You can be funny poignant, witty, etc.
Write the opening paragraph to a story based on the photo: Maximum 100 words.
(SORRY READERS - I NEED TO GET THIS PHOTO UPLOADED.....fiona)
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This month’s meeting is on Thursday 16th June. We would like all to bring
something to read for a critique session. See you all there.
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The '250 worder' this month is just a little different.
Begin your story using the following line of dialogue: "You won’t believe what came in the mail today."
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