Felixstowe Scribblers 2021

Thursday, 10 September 2020

Bath Flash Fiction Award

Hello Scribblers

The Bath Flash Fiction Award is currently open for entries. The competition is open three times a year and the current window is open until midnight on October 11th.

There are generous cash prizes to be won, including a top prize of £1,000. The fifty long-listed entrants will be offered publication in the Bath Flash Fiction print and digital anthology. Those published will receive a free copy.

The word limit is 300 words. For further rules and entry requirements follow the link below:

https://bathflashfictionaward.com/rules/

Feel you need a little extra information before submitting? Follow the link below to read an interview with Nod Ghosh- judge for the October 2020 competition.

https://bathflashfictionaward.com/2020/07/interview-

Good luck and Keep Scribbling!

Small Wonder: Short Story Festival

Hello Scribblers

We have had to make some adjustments this year, and have missed out on many different events- like the Felixstowe Book Festival, and Primadonna. Thankfully, their organisers did a wonderful job of presenting the festivals in an online format. The same has been done for Small Wonder.

The Charleston based annual festival, dedicated to short stories and short form writing, has been adapted to be enjoyed digitally. The festival will have author interviews, workshops and discussions, which can be followed live, through YouTube links.

Small Wonder: Short Story Festival will be online from 25th to 27th September, bringing us a weekend of free digital events. The festival would usually be held at Charleston, East Sussex, at a beautiful house and gardens, where art and creativity are celebrated and explored.

Find out more about the Charleston Festival At Home by following the link below:

https://www.charleston.org.uk/small-wonder/

Find out more about Charleston house and gardens, art and archives by following the link below:

https://www.charleston.org.uk/about-charleston/

The following link provides some author interviews from the previous At Home festival in May, where you can listen to titans of literature, such as Salman Rushdie and new talent like Tayari Jones, who won the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction with her novel 'An American Marriage'. Have a browse and a listen, I hope you are inspired to join the festival live during the weekend 25th to 27th September.

https://www.charleston.org.uk/festival/whats-on/

Until we can meet again at such events, it's important to show them our support!

Keep Scribbling!

Tuesday, 8 September 2020

News

I hope you are all keeping well but, please spare a thought for Cathy. Her husband was rushed to hospital and we are currently waiting for an update on his progress. I'm sure you will all join me in sending our best wishes to them both.

As far as Scribblers go, the committee meeting was postponed for the time being. Obviously there are several issues that need addressing, not least when and where our group can meet up again.

Meantime we struggle on with providing prompts for you to write stories for both our WhatsApp group and our Repository. We always look forward to your submissions so please continue sending them in. It is well worth logging in to the Repository as one or two photographs have been added and these, I believe, make quite a difference to the overall presentation of our website.

The current prompts for the Repository is : 'A Sense of Place.' No word limit but your story should reach Liz by Tuesday next, 15 September.

The prompt for WhatsApp is : 'The Big Soup Pot.' Up to 200 words to be posted direct to the WhatsApp by Monday 14 September.

Look forward to reading your interpretations.

Stay safe and Keep Scribbling!!!

Sunday, 30 August 2020

The Ear Demands Variety

Hello Scribblers

Here is something a little different for you.
I'm linking to a Ted Talk by Jonny Geller, chairman of Curtis Brown Creative, about writing, and specifically what makes an interesting, engaging read. I found the part about varying sentence lengths very interesting.
The sound quality of the YouTube clip below isn't the best, though it improves if you are able to listen with headphones. Click below to listen to the Ted Talk:

https://You Tube Jonny Geller

If you want to skip to the bit about sentence structure- follow the link below to the Twitter page where I found the article. Hope you find it interesting!

https://twitter.com/Jonny Geller Five Words

To find out more about Curtis Brown Creative- follow the link below!

https://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/

Keep Varied, Keep Interesting and Keep Scribbling!

Call for Talented Scots

Hello Scribblers

This may be a little more niche than usual, but this post is for the Scottish Talent among us.
New Writing Scotland are looking for works by writers resident in Scotland or Scots by birth, upbringing or inclination. (Maybe not so niche afterall!)
They are looking for prose, poetry, drama, screenplays and graphic artwork, and are accepting submissions until September 30th.
If this applies to you or piques your interest- follow the link below to find out more:
https://nws.submittable.com/submit

Keep Scribbling!

Chunk of Fudge Anyone?

Hello Scribblers

I thought I would share with you some words of wisdom on the wonderful world of Flash Fiction.
It is sometimes hard to define, but a commonly accepted view is that Flash Fiction describes stories of 1,000 words and under.
As these are the usual parameters of the Scribblers' word count, I thought it may be of interest to share some thoughts about these small, but fully formed stories.
This article, from Literary Hub, introduces 13 ways of looking at Flash Fiction, and how these stories should affect and move the reader.
My favourite description in the article is that Flash Fiction stories are like 'dense chunks of fudge'.

If you want to find out more, including what 'Smokelong', 'Drabble' and 'Hint Fiction' are- follow the link below:

https://lithub.com/13-ways-of-looking-at-flash-fiction/

To find out more about Literary Hib- which is an 'organising principle in the service of literary culture, a single, trusted, daily source for all the news, ideas and richness of contemporary literary life', follow the link below and discover a world of resources and information: There are book reviews, craft and advice articles and even LitHub Radio to explore.

https://lithub.com/about-literary-hub/

Keep Scribbling!

Tuesday, 25 August 2020

News

Contact has been made with the library over the use of our usual meeting place but, at present, a reply is awaited. I confess that the possibility of a return in the next few weeks looks a little slim but, lets keep our fingers crossed in hope.

Depending on the weather the committee hopes to meet and discuss a number of things as we plan a way forward. Thanks to Justin for his suggestions...(all good ones I hasten to add!)

Meantime life goes on for the Scribblers with the WhatsApp Manic Monday prompts for the current week:

"Fair, fare, or fayre…" any spelling, any interpretation, any theme… with the usual word limit of 200. Closing date 31 August 2020.

That reminds me! You have until midnight tonight to submit your entries for the Jack Wilkinson competition. Entries will be on line from tomorrow in the Repository until 30 August to read and submit your votes to Liz. The winner will be announced on 1st September. Full information can be found on the weblog.

We would welcome stories of any description for the Repository once the competition is over, and how nice it would be to see contributions from our Scribbling members who have yet to participate in our quest to maintain the flow of our creative juices. Don't forget our WhatsApp group with its many members yet too few contributions to the weekly prompts.

If you have any suggestions on how to maintain and improve interest then please let one of your committee know.

Until we meet again,

Stay safe,

Start scribbling once again and...

Good luck if you've entered the competition!

REPOSITORY

The Jack Wilkinson Competition for stories about children for an adult reader, is open for entries until 1st June. Stories should be emailed in the usual way to Georgina, making clear that it is a competition entry. Your entries can be in any genre of writing and should be no more than a maximum of 1,500words. Once all entries have been received, they will all be posted on the Repository. Members will have a week to read and choose their favourite three stories. Please do not vote for your own story. Your top three choices should be emailed to Georgina stating 1st, 2nd, 3rd and the corresponding story titles. Please don’t make any comments below the stories until the outcome has been announced. All stories will be published anonymously, with only a story title and a corresponding letter of the alphabet. Once all votes are in (and scores have been double checked) the winning entries will be announced. As we are unable to present the trophy due to the existing situation, an e-certificate will be awarded to the winner. The more entries, the better, so get those scribbling sticks out! Please email all contributions to Georgina Dave

CORONAVIRUS

Due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, Felixstowe Scribblers have sadly cancelled all future meetings until such time as Government advice and restrictions are lifted.

This means a great upheaval to many of our writers, but we will do our best to keep you updated both on this weblog and by email.

We intend to maintain our writing with 500-750 word assignments that may be posted on here for a short period of time whilst our WhatsApp group will have regular 100-200 word exercises to help keep our creative minds working.

Further information will be released as soon as possible.

30 March 2020

Gipping Press

Felixstowe Scribblers chose Gipping Press to publish their 2014, 2017 and 2019 anthologies. Our reasoning was based on their enthusiastic help, great track record and, more than anything else, the quality and high standard of their work. Our anthologies are testament to their expertise.

We anticipate another anthology in 2021 and will be seeking the help once again, of Gipping Press.

We can honestly recommend Gipping Press to anyone seeking advice in publication and for their very competitive prices.

Thank you Gipping Press.

http://www.gippingpress.co.uk/GPselfpublshing.html

Where we meet

Felixstowe Scribblers meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month in The Room at the Top in Felixstowe Library, Crescent Road. Meetings start at 7.30pm and end at 10.00pm.

Details of the library are on their website at https://www.suffolklibraries.co.uk/libraries/felixstowe-library/.

Felixstowe Scribblers are indebted to the Library and its helpful staff for all their valuable assistance.

Due to the current Coronavirus pandemic, our annual membership fees have been reduced from £30 to £15 for the coming year until November 2021.

Meetings, when they are able to be organised again will allow people preferring to pay at each meeting a charge of £5.

Our writing programmes are available via our two avenues, The Repository and our WhatsApp group.

Membership is open to both published and hobby writers and whilst there are no age limits it is wise to be aware that there may be adult content included in some work.

For more information about Felixstowe Scribblers simply email our Secretary catherine.stafford1@ntlworld.com or our Chairman, Dave, at scribblers.1@btinternet.com.

Committee Members:

Hon President: Ruth Dugdall.

Chairman: Dave Feakes.

Secretary: Cathy Stafford.

Treasurer: Beryl Sabel.

Scribblers Repository Editor: Georgina Salmon.

Weblog Co-ordinator: to be arranged.

Anthology sub committee:

Beryl Sabel,

Georgina Salmon,

Dave Feakes.

WhatsApp administrator:

Justin Keogh

In Memory

Martin Enticknap One time member of the Scribblers who stayed in touch from his home on Sanday in the Orklands. 2003.

Nobby Clarke A keen sailor, he relayed many amusing tales from his past life. Died tragically in a road traffic accident in 2004.

Bill Budner A lay preacher who joined the Scribblers and provided so many prolific words in his short stories. 2006.

Jack Wilkinson Our youngest member for four years, he provided so much laughter and talented creativity before losing his life to cancer at the tender age of twelve. 2006.

Allen Williams Our Welsh wizard had a wonderful wit that kept the group in fits of laughter. 2007.

John Crowson At 97, our most senior member. He passed just a week before he was published for the very first time in the 2010 Felixstowe Scribblers Anthology. 2009.

Doreen Rayner Published and very knowledgeable Felixstowe historian and former member of the Scribblers. 2012

Les Smith Such a welcoming and endearing character, his laughter, matched with his personality and his humorous writing leaves the Scribblers much poorer for his loss. 2015

Mairead Reidy Such a warm hearted and generous person who was both extremely talented and knowledgeable. Liked and loved by all. Another very sad loss to our creative group. 2018

Dick Bradshaw A warm and friendly long term member. A wonderful and published writer with a wealth of knowledge and so many humorous tales. A very sad loss of a good friend. 2018

It is fitting that we also remember Liam Fairhurst of Soham who died of cancer in 2009. He raised enormous sums of money for charity all beginning in memory of his friend and ours, Jack Wilkinson.

Maurice James, the creator of the Coast to Coast competitions and a great friend to the Scribblers. 2010