Sweet Spring!

We have been very busy at the BWC.

First, It's important to mention that we're still welcoming new members and are lucky to have a few join us at every meeting!  It’s amazing to have such a large amount of talent concentrated in one group, new and established writers learning from one another is an awesome thing.

The BWC members continue to bring in short works to share, some writings are from the writing prompts and some from a larger manuscript that they are working on.  It’s impressive to see someone share for the first time and this month we were very lucky to have new members, Lee A, Jill J, Amy C, and Craig M share their writing.  In addition to our new members, we also had a few of the veterans like Paul H, Andrea H, Dennis L and Vic H share pages, too.  I have not added anything to the creative writing submissions page in a while and I’ll work on getting some of these “shorts” posted soon! Feel free to email me your pages and I’ll post them ASAP.

We continue to advance our grammar skills by discussing various topics at each meeting.  We’ve covered using quotation marks along with how to write dialog this month which has led us to a new, fun segment called Reading like a Writer, Show and Tell (borrowed from Francine Prose’s book title).  Dennis led the charge with bringing in three separate books, with three different styles of writing dialog.  It was the most interesting grammar lesson to date.  I have to say that show and tell really works!

There has been a lot of buzz about our book project, currently titled, Swan of the Seas.  We’re now on chapter four and it’s getting very exciting!   We keep brainstorming ideas together, sharing current character bios with one another, critiquing the most recent chapter at the meetings and yet, when the next installment is written, it’s an incredible surprise!  There is still a lot to do, even if you cannot take on the task of writing a chapter at the moment.  Simply coming to the meeting is helpful as we brainstorm and sometimes debate the plot lines.  We’re moving pretty quickly and it’s captivating the group.  Members are emailing to ask for the latest chapters or discussing plot details on the Meet Up website and even via personal email.  Ooh it’s a lot of fun!!! 

Clearly, we’ve been hard at work this first quarter of the year.  How's your writing going?  Need some inspiration?  Come Meet-Up with us at the Bayou Writer’s Club and talk about your writing interests.

In the meantime, here are a few writing prompts for you to try! As usual, 1,000 word limit but other than that… No Rules!


Why You Were Late for the Meeting
By Brian A. Klems

You’re at lunch when your smartphone buzzes with an e-mail from your boss: “Don’t forget, we have a meeting in 10 minutes.” Of course you did forget, so you rush out of the restaurant and attempt to make it before it starts. But a crazy chain of events stops you from getting back in time for the meeting.

“I Know I’m Supposed to Keep This a Secret, But …”

By Brian A. Klems

The plane lifted off the runway and into the air. The person next to you turns and quietly whispers in your ear, “I know I’m supposed to keep this a secret, but I absolutely must tell someone.”

Running For Class President (& a Bombshell Announcement Made by Your Opponent)
By Brian A. Klems

You decide to run for president of your high school class only to find that your opponent is running a smear campaign about you. Worse yet, your opponent has been telling everyone that he/she will drop a bombshell announcement in front of the entire school during your first debate. The debate is here. Write the scene where the bombshell is announced and describe how you react to it—remember the entire school is watching.

Happy Writing!

L

BWC Book Project, Meeting Agenda, & Writing Prompts OH MY!

The BWC meetings in January were simply Coffee and Conversation themed.  We continued to welcome new members and discussed current writing projects as well as encouraged one another to get focused on success in 2014.
 
We seem to have found a home (for now) at La Madeleine's on the north shore as well as south shore because they are able to accommodate our interactive and growing group.  Truthfully they also hit all of our hot buttons like easy access, good food, and operating hours.  
 
You may have seen on the Meet Up website that we've been planning a writing project together and I'm happy to announce that we've ironed out the basics.  The story will be a BWC collaboration and together we'll brainstorm, write, edit, and publish the work together.  Our first meeting in February was our first brainstorming event!  Here are the deets (details): 

• Fiction
• Written one chapter at a time by a member unless we get to a point where we can do more.
•  Loose plot:  A couple takes a cruise and endure relationship issues enfolding other vacationers into their situation.
• Each meeting members will draw numbers to see who writes the next chapter. 
• Once a member has written a chapter, they no longer can draw a number.
• Chapters should be about 3,000 words. 
• Members will only pull a number if they can commit to complete the assignment during that particular time period.  We will work on this for several months which should accommodate most of our personal schedules. 
• The member chosen will have approximately a week and a half to iron out their chapter and send to the others for review.
• Each meeting we will discuss the edited chapter, work on our outline, set deadlines, and basically chart progress.   

Overall, the idea is to have fun together and learn through the process!  As a whole, rules will be kept to a minimum so everyone will have creative license to write.  All members are encouraged (highly encouraged) to participate whenever and wherever they can.  This may be writing a chapter or simply helping brainstorm during the meetings.  I would like to remind everyone that the majority rules over editing.  Therefore, all of our writings are subject to revision.  Sometimes receiving criticism is painful, especially when some of our darlings may be sacrificed for the greater good.  Please keep this in mind as you give or receive feedback.
 
We will continue with our writing/teaching sessions at each meeting and spend about a half hour on sharing work (outside of the group project) which can include this month’s writing prompts (below) or anything else you may be writing.  When possible, please bring a few printed copies of your work as it is easier to follow along but also will allow you some written editing and feedback. 
 
I'm excited to post February writing prompts and hope to hear a lot of them at our next meeting.  As usual, there are three writing prompts to choose from and you have 1000 words or less to do it!
 
Please print at least one copy of your finished story for the meeting and we will exchange them when we get together next Thursday.  This will allow you a quick critique of your work thus some immediate feedback.  We will share as many as time allows. 


Please choose one of the following:
 

Everything You Know is a Lie

 Brian A. Klems

You receive a mysterious email and the subject line reads “Everything you know is a lie.” You open the email and read further: “Act calm as to not alert anyone, but everyone around you is not who they say they are. You need to quietly get out of there and meet me at the spot where you had your first kiss. You know the place. My name is Mark.”

 

I’m Supposed to Be Getting Married Today, But …

 Brian A. Klems

You call an old flame from high school whom you still have feelings for and ask to meet up. The flame says, “Sure, how about noon at the pub by your house.” While waiting at the pub, your flame walks in—wearing a wedding dress (or tuxedo). The flame looks at you and says, “I’m supposed to be getting married today, but …” What happens? Write this scene

 

The Letter in the Alley

Brian A. Klems

Walking to catch the bus, you see a young boy look both ways before entering an alley. When you follow him into the alley, he has disappeared. Instead, there is a neatly folded note lying on the pavement. What does it say and how do you react?

 

Happy Writing!
Lisa

December (Yes, I typed December!)

The following post was inadvertently saved as a draft instead of being posted appropriately in December.  Please accept my apologies as user error is the only explanation.  I would encourage everyone to enjoy the writing prompts below and please bring them to the next meeting to share or email them to me for posting. 


Happy reading and writing! 
L


Dennis passed out some slides at the last meeting at Puccino’s in Metairie summarizing what
he, Dawn, and Allen have learned at the Louisiana Writing Institute class they are taking at Loyola. If you weren’t at the meeting, you can e-mail him at dlavoie@me.com for a pdf copy. 

We had a good critique of Allen’s amazing work and all urged him to get it out as soon as possible (so we can read the rest, if for no other reason!). We tested out a new way of timing the individual critiques so that everyone got a chance to speak, and it seemed to work out to everyone’s satisfaction.

We also discussed making a short, intensive critiquing session a regular or occasional part of the meetings. These would last about 30 minutes and involve a line-by-line examination of either a published work or one of our own short works. Dennis volunteered to have one of his short stories dissected the first time as an experiment. We’re looking at this as an on-going learning tool to sharpen writing skills and a way for our more experienced writers to mentor our newer ones.  

Because writing improves with practice, we are also continuing our writing prompts. These, of course, are completely voluntary, and they are strictly for fun, but we all enjoy writing, right? The last time, we read our pieces aloud, with minimal critiquing, and that seemed  to work out well. Let’s do it some more! If you don’t want to do the prompt, bring in a short piece or fragment of what you’re working on, plot idea, mood piece, poem, whatever moves you! Short is better, given the time constraints of reading each piece at the meeting, but if the muse moves you, go long by all means! And if you can’t keep to the conceptual limits of the prompt, write anyway!

Here are three prompts for our next meeting (February 6th):

1) Three one-pagers (300-400 words each)

a) Middle aged woman views a cabin where her son died. Describe what she sees and how she feels without mentioning the death directly (i.e., don’t write “Johnny blew himself up in an unfortunate chemistry kit experiment in the basement.”).

b) A 20-something man describes a cabin where he played as a child. Describe what he sees and how he feels without mentioning the fact that he played there directly.

c) Writer’s choice.

The exercise here is to paint a scene using 'important detail' instead of relying on lists of descriptors. An 'important detail' is one the observer registers, not merely sees (we all see tons of things when we look at a scene, but we only pick out details that are relevant to us). In a story, an important detail is a detail that advances the story in some way (plot, action, suspense, color, mood, emotion). E.g., you could say "He had a typical alcoholic's face." or "His bulbous nose had so many broken capillaries it rivaled that of Rudolf the famous reindeer." Note that the three scenes do not have to be linked (though they may be if you want) and they do not have to constitute a complete story (though they may if you want).

~Dennis

Whoa October!

Where did the time go?

October was a busy month for our writers but many managed to make THREE meetings!  Our meet-ups were busy with critiques, writing prompts, lessons and lots of discussion.  Thank goodness we have such a versatile group and were able to fit it all in nicely.     

Things started off with Paul’s first novel submission and critique.  As this was only our second novel to review, it was quite brave of Paul to put his up for scrutiny.  He definitely set the bar high for the rest of us as he handled the critique session, which ran too long (completely my fault) with utter patience and gratitude.  Congratulations to him for taking another step forward in the writing process and working on his rewrite.  We are all learning a great deal from this process!

Another interesting topic was our character analysis discussion.  Character development is crucial in novel writing but also difficult to do sometimes.  We filled out character profiles and wrote stories from the character writing prompt list which we shared during a meeting.  We have some really creative writers and not only were entertained but also given some good advice from our more experienced authors.  Please take a look at a few of these stories under our creative writing submissions tab.

October brought the beginning of a recurring lesson on how to analyze your writing.  This has been led by Dennis who has put in some extra time for our Bayou Writers and given us some great information along with handouts!  In our first lesson we discussed the three elements of a story; Plot, Characters and Drama.  We broke down the differences between a novel and a short story.  Then last but not least, we discussed the rules of Narrative (show don’t tell) and Dialog (be specific and precise) which is still a discussion in progress.  We will try to get the handouts posted on the blog bulletin board soon.

Another treat for October was our first glimpse at Allen’s manuscript.  He brought in his first two chapters (or first two days of Hurricane Katrina) for us to critique.  We have implemented a few rules such as timing each person’s response so we don’t run too long.  We are not allowed to repeat comments that have already been made about the manuscript.  Once everyone has had a turn to speak then we open up for a fifteen minute discussion where even the author can participate.  Allen’s short piece worked perfectly for this format.  It was honest, useful and positive for all. He did an amazing job.  Congratulations to Allen on his work so far!

Needless to say it was a busy month for us and things don't seem to be slowing down as we approach the holiday season!  We continue to welcome new members and look forward to them joining our humble meetings.   You don’t want to miss out because we have some new and exciting things coming soon for the BWC!

As always, it is incredibly inspiring to spend a couple of hours with new friends and discuss writerly things.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone Thursday!

Until then... Happy Writing,

L

Creative Writing Meeting and New Challenge

Thanks to everyone that participated in our last writing prompt challenge.  We had some great work submitted which contributed to a fun and amusing meeting last Thursday.

Several of the submissions have been posted under the Creative Writing Submission link (above) for you to enjoy and make comments.  There are several others that will be added later in the week, so keep an eye out for those awesome stories.

If you could not attend but would like to submit your own writing for posting, please email it directly to me!

Please note that we had to push our next meeting to Thursday October 3^rd, at Nuvolari’s in Mandeville. This time we will be focusing on Character Development.   It seems to be quite a task for everyone and is certainly a skill that is worth practicing.  We will discuss how to create a character that your readers will care about .  Then we will share our next writing challenge which is an exercise in creating such a character.

This writing challenge is a little more in depth because we want to really get to “know” your character.

First you will need to click on the link for Character Profiles below and Fill it Out.  This is very important so please do not skip! 

Next choose from one of the three writing prompts and compose your story!  You have 1000 words or less this time.

Please print your character profile page as well as your short story.   We will pass the stories around first and then pass the character page around in order to discuss whether they match!    

I am quite excited about this exercise and cannot wait to see what you all create!!!

As always…Happy writing!

L

Character Profile Link:
 (dropbox)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yt6umrjt64nqmu8/Questionnaires%20for%20Writing%20Character%20Profiles.docx

Writing Prompts for Character Development

1) Dating Deception

Your character meets someone on an online dating site. Your character writes an e-mail to the person, describing him/herself. Write the e-mail. This e-mail contains two lies. What are they? Why did the character tell them? Also: your character has a very mistaken idea of the impression he/she makes on other people. What impression does your character think he/she makes? What impression does he/she really make? Figure all this stuff out. The character arranges an in-person meeting with the person he/she has met online. What happens at the meeting? Write the story.

2) Character Contradictions

Invent a character who has two personality traits that are completely incompatible, that don't fit together at all. For example: this character is incredibly messy and is also a total perfectionist. Or: this character is a pacifist and also has a really explosive temper. Or: this character believes in strict, traditional family values but is promiscuous by nature. You decide. Then think of a situation in which these two sides of your character would be in direct conflict with each other. Write the story.

3) Self-realization

Your character thinks he/she is good at something, but he/she isn't. Something happens that makes your character realize this. What? What does your character do about it? Write the story.

 

 

 

Writing Prompt Challenge

Hey Bayou Writers,

Here is the writing assignment for our next meeting, September 12, 2013.  As we discussed, there are three writing prompts to choose from and you have 500 words or less to do it!

Please print at least one copy of your finished story for the meeting and we will exchange them when we get together Thursday.  Your partner will critique your work and make any suggestions so you can get immediate feedback.  If time allows then we may read a few of these during the meeting.

Please choose one of the following:

Why You Can’t Get a Flu Shot Excuse

 Brian A. Klems
You’re at the doctor’s office for a regular check-up when the doctor suggests you get a flu shot as well. You hate shots, so you come up with the most outlandish excuse as to why you can’t get one. Start your story with “You’re not going to believe this, but … ” and end it with “And that’s why I can’t get a flu shot today.”

Undercover at Bingo

Brian A. Klems
You’re on a top-secret spy mission—for your grandmother. She can’t make it to her Monday Night Bingo (you tell us why), but she’s certain that one of the regulars is cheating, and she sends you to check it out. Conduct a covert operation to catch this cheater in the act.

Follow That Man

Brian A. Klems
You’re a taxi driver in a one-light town. You’ve arrived at the county library to pick up your passenger, a girl no older than thirteen. She says, “You see that Mexican restaurant across the street? In about five minutes, a man is going to come out of that restaurant, and I want you to follow him.”

Happy Writing!

L

Welcome Bayou Writers

Welcome to the Bayou Writer’s Club Blog which serves writers in the New Orleans and greater New Orleans, Louisiana area. 

This blog belongs to the members of the BWC and will help accompany our official home located under the Meet Up website:   http://www.meetup.com/Bayou-Writers-Club/

Please also refer to the Meet Up website if you are interested in joining our group.  Our official calendar and meeting descriptions can be found there.  We meet on Thursday evenings, approximately every two weeks, in Mandeville or Metairie.

 If you are a member and would like to provide a guest post then please contact our co-organizers, Rebecca or Lisa.  Items we are looking for are anything local that can benefit our writers like workshops, seminars, writer’s conferences, and book signings.  We will also consider creative writing techniques, exercises, and processes.