Writers Abroad

Well spring sprung here in Yokohama over the weekend and we had glorious warm, tee-shirt weather. Unfortunately this morning it was blowing a gale and back to jacket and gloves. I found the thought of spring and warmer weather very cheering though, for as long as it lasted. 

This week on Writers Abroad we've been busy lot:

Anthology 2013 - Crilly has put out a sign up sheet for volunteers for this year's anthology. Please sign up to something if you haven't already done so. Also a vote is taking place on a title and theme for this year.

Monday Muse - Vesna has added this week's Monday muse with some sayings, a sensory exercise and picture prompts to start you off. Paola is already ahead of the game and has posted a poem. It was good to see poems posted last week for the muse, too, since this is a form of writing some of us (me) often overlook.

Blog - Mary has provided this week's blog on neurological linguistic programming with the premise that if you concentrate on someone successful you will be successful too. Obviously I've been concentrating on the wrong people all my life ...

Bragging Stool - the bragging stool is hot this week, with Jill and Paola shortlisted in the Hidden Gems competition and hopefully fighting it out for a kindle or a camera. Nicola had an excellent review for her book in the Bittersweet Blood series. Jill has had a double page spread (!) in MMM with one of her photos - I may have mis-worded that. Apologies, Jill. Well done! Laura one a short short story competition of only one hundred words with a funny piece and finally I had a story accepted by People's Friend. 

Writing Challenges - The March challenge is still open with several suggestions such as Words with Jam First Page Competition and Southport International Poetry competition, but as ever if you would prefer some other piece of work critiqued post it up.

Members- nice to see Jayme posting work and joining in and Rilla will be starting her month's trial soon so please say 'hi' to her on the site. 

Meeting - our next formal meeting will be Sunday 24th March with Chris N in the chair. More details to follow.

Finally a quote taken from this month's Writers News from Hollywood agent H N Swansen (1899-1991). He represented F Scott Fitzgerald, that made me laugh. He said, "when I am asked what kind of writing is the most lucrative, I have to say ransom notes."

Happy writing everybody. 

Targeting

I have a short story that I’m saving.

For a reason.

For July.

For a competition that closes at the end of that month. The reason I’m saving it is I’ve read the previous winning entries in this competition and I’m targeting the 2013 competition with my story. I feel it is a ‘good fit’. Not the same as last year’s winner. It doesn’t have the same theme or characters, but I feel it has the same level of gravity and is a similar type of story.

I know I am often guilty of seeing a short story competition and either writing something to fit or (worse perhaps) sending something I’ve already written. A few minutes research on the internet might show me my story was totally unsuitable for this competition – reading the previous year’s winning entries is a great way to see what sort of material they consider to be a winner.

I wouldn’t send off a non-fiction piece without doing my research, or even a womag story, but for some reason with competition entries I’m not so conscientious.

Many organizations, like writing festivals, that hold an annual story competition, post the winning entries on line.  I notice that Frome Festival have now got a selection of their winning stories from last year on their website. http://www.fromefestival.co.uk/short-story-competition/   It was by reading their winning entries from the past that I sent them my story last year, that came third. A successful bit of targeting.

Websites such as Spinetinglers publish their winning stories monthly, as do magazines like Writing Magazine and Writer’s News. With these regular competitions it is easier to track trends – we all know that Writer’s News often chooses a character-driven story as a winner.

Of course, judges change, and what goes one year might not go the next, but I think there is still a similarity in style. Some competitions are more ‘literary’ than others. Some like stories with emotion, or an edge to them. Others won’t touch vampires or other worldly things.

So a few minutes trawling the Internet and reading results can pay dividends and help with ‘targeting’ short story competitions in just the same way as any other market should be targeted.

Happy writing.

Last weekend I went to a Pecha Kucha evening at school. I love Pecha Kucha. It takes its name from the Japanese word for the sound of chitchat. The format of the evening is a presentation by one person of 20 images in 20 seconds, which keeps the talks short and sharp. We have three or four presentations and then a break to top up the wine glasses and tuck in some hors d’oeuvres. Then another round of presentations.  At our school the theme is open but when Pecha Kucha started, it was a way for young designers to meet and show their work.

I find listening to people speaking about things they are passionate about and committed to very inspiring and I come away buzzing (and its not just the wine). Last weekend we had, amongst others, a talk about superheroes from a Batman clad member of staff, another on snippets of conversation from an artist who illustrated each slide with her own drawings, a talk about making poetry books with children in school, one on the zombie apocalypse and how to survive it, and an improv speech about ballet, a subject suggested by the audience with slides not prepared by the speaker but pulled from the internet.

This latter was presented by the keynote speaker from the previous day’s workshop. He, Wade Jackson, is an improv (improvisational theatre) artist and speaker in the development of human potential and improving performance. He was able to speak on a series of slides he had never seen before and join these loosely connected images into a sort of running story. The results were hilarious and he (and all the other speakers) has my huge admiration.

Pecha Kucha’s are now held in hundreds of cities around the world. They are an entertaining evening and offer a brief snapshot into somebody else’s world especially when they are talking about their passions. As yet I haven’t been brave enough to stand up there and talk about my writing but I’m working up to it. Maybe one day …

Meanwhile if you have a chance to attend a Pecha Kucha, please go, enjoy and be inspired.    http://pecha-kucha.org/