The last Club Night of the session was as stimulating and productive as usual although it seemed members were a little reluctant to share their work on this occasion for some mysterious reason.
The session was split into two parts.
Firstly Linda introduced two writing prizes, the first being The Alpine Fellowship’s Writing Competition with prizes as follows, 1st £3000, 2nd £1000 and 3rd £1000. The theme was ‘Fear’.
We formed groups of 4 and brainstormed our perceptions of what ‘fear’ meant
Phobias, monsters, death, fire, disasters, letting go, being found out, being left alone, flying, illness, bogeymen, drowning and dementia were some of those identified. Individuals then worked on pieces about a particular fear. Feedback about fear of flying with different attempts at overcoming ended with a wee twist and a story of a scary robot machine at a funfair gave food for thought.
Second competition was the Eyelands International Short Story Competition with a prize of 500eu and shortlisted entries being published in an anthology. The theme was ‘2025’.
In the same groups we discussed variations of the theme. Some responses included the anniversary of the end of WW2, the year the World Ended, and a prophecy manifesting, 20.25 might be a time or a code.
We wrote again and the feedback included, the world ending because of its population’s selfishness and Belon Busk, unsure of space travel himself, sending his friend Ronald Rump into space instead.
Advice for competitions….ALWAYS READ THE SMALL PRINT, especially re copyright and ownership.
After the break couples selected, from magazine faces spread out, a protagonist and antagonist for their writing task. Firstly, the protagonist should be passive with an active aggressive antagonist, then the roles were reversed in the same scenario.
Scenarios given were:
A chance meeting at a bus stop of two old friends who realise they have feelings for the same person.
A waiter and customer have a misunderstanding about a meal order.
A fan meets a celebrity in a café.
A taxi driver and customer break down in a creepy location.
Feedback saw Prue Leith and a customer/waitress having interesting exchanges and a raunchy exchange between Jilly Cooper and a fan.
It was agreed that it was easier and more dramatic to write the protagonist as active/aggressive.
Another fun night at Ayr Writers’ Club!
Greta York