Today’s writing prompt for Fiction Friday has love with a big twist.
We would love to read your stories that you write based on this prompt. Please do drop us a link, if you write something. Wishing you many happy hours with The Muse.
Jump into your time machine and take a trip with me to three weeks ahead. That’s how many weeks are left in our competition.
In a dramatic break with tradition, I am going to disclose the themes for the next three weeks early. I will still post the theme post, for you to link to. Nevertheless, here is a sneak peek at what those themes will be.
When the themes are all done, we will have a public vote for the best overall post. That will take place at a dedicated Reddit forum which you can find if you look hard enough. (Hint, I’ve linked it in another post).
So, that is what is coming up. Hopefully, this will help you turbo charge you creativity and finish the 12-week competition with a bang.
Andy Weir is the author behind the book behind the film “The Martian”. The film contract was agreed within four days of the print contract. This is how Andy Weir did that.
Continue reading “How a platform got Andy Weir published” at our new site.
If you ask me what my favourite book is I am likely to tell you that it is whatever amazing book I am reading at the moment. That said, I am quite likely to quote you such books as “Purple Cow” by Seth Godin. Our theme this week is favourite books.
This is the theme for this week. Closing date to have posted it online is midnight on Monday the 1st.
My favourite book ever
You can write anything you want that fits that theme. As little or as much as you feel you need to. If you are new to this and joining us late welcome, thank you for joining us, please see week one’s post and the FAQ if you need more information.
There will still be a “best post” and “best comment” but as you might have realised by now, we no longer have a “most comments”. Instead, there will be a “most votes on Reddit” section. This week, and going forward for the last few weeks, the Reddit section will be a special one created for the competition. This is also where the grand, overall, winner will be chosen by you.
Just like last week, to get “best post” you need to have linked to this post (unless you write something which is unequivocally orders of magnitude better than all the rest combined).
I have a confession to make. I am not qualified to write this post. Love, romance, and intimate relationships in serious fiction are something that I struggle to get right.
Not being one to let my weaknesses hold me back, I’ve been looking into the whole topic of writing love and romance.
Being a geek as well as a writer I have been looking at what other people have had to say about writing love and romance. Here is a cross section of the blog posts that I looked at.
There are some great reasons to include love and romance in a story. Here are three good reasons.
I am sure that you can think of more good reasons to include love and romance in your story. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment. However, this list exists to contrast with some very bad reasons to include love and romance.
Oh dear muse, no. Just don’t. Not ever…
This is just about the worst reason to include love and romance. If your female character cannot stand alone without the romance then she is an interloper. There are many good reasons to have strong female characters in a story. You don’t need romance for any of them.
Just, no.
Apart from anything else, this would be as boring to your readers as it is likely to be to you as a writer. Stop worrying about your word count and tell the best story you can.
If you ever – and I do mean that literally – if you ever need romance to give your hero motivation then you have not got a story but a cliche. I mean, honestly, stop that right now.
Come back tot he idea of love and romance in your story after you have sorted out the hero’s motivation.
After all that reading I have come up with three things that will make you or me better at writing love and romance. When you think about it, this is common sense for writers.
Swap out “love and romance” for any other aspect of life you want in your story and the same three rules apply.
What, you wanted some magic formula? Please. This is writing, not magic (the two are very similar sometimes).
Oh, very well then. Here is how to use a magic formula for writing love and romance. This magic formula is derived entirely from writing theory and is based on no direct experience whatsoever.
Let me briefly explain these rules. Love is an emotional topic, therefore you need to be comfortable talking about feelings. Furthermore, you need to be able to show what characters feel not just tell the reader. If you use cliches to do this, you will kill your story.
Do not be in a rush. Anticipation can be a powerful tool. Think about romance stories (I’m talking about the sort of story where all there you have in a romance) we don’t rush to the happy ever after but take our time getting there.
Anticipation can let the reader do some of the work for you. If you can present the reader with the material to start shipping your characters for you, then they will do a lot of the heavy lifting too. A close cousin of the cliche is the pattern. The pattern of love and love stories contain a common language that signals to the reader that a love story is in progress. I’m going to talk about patterns another time. If you know how to use them do, if you are worried about cliches avoid them.
The magic formula is actually the magic for all story telling. The formula is in two parts:
In the scene a character wants something. In this case, maybe to confess her feelings to her love interest. There are obstacles to overcome. Something defining happens. Often this is a disaster to be dealt with but as this is romance this could be a mid-story win for the hero.
A married man, alone at the bar, wants a drink. There are a lot of people at the bar and the barman is busy. Disaster strikes as some (hot) woman starts chatting to him and he misses his opportunity to be served.
A timid girl alone in the castle wants to go horse riding. Guests arrive and she must receive them. Disaster! Prince Charming is walking over to her.
The lovers, separated, long to be reunited. They must overcome the distance between them. Success, they finally find each other.
In the sequel, there are four stages to be covered and they need to happen in strict order.
This is vital to a love and romance moment. The emotional reaction is both the payoff and the motivator so do not skimp here. This is, I think, where I might be going wrong- time will tell on that one.
A married guy approached by a hot lady might feel flattered but shy.
A timid girl, approached by her prince charming, might feel flustered but overjoyed.
The lovers, reunited, are relieved to be back together. This is a big emotional payoff so we dwell on those feelings.
The more pure romance you are going for the smaller this section will be. If the hero is in denial about his feelings this is where he will try to reason them away. He might even think about what the right thing is to do here.
The married man might reason that he needs to end the conversation with the hot lady at the bar. He might conclude that this is the right thing to do.
The timid girl might reason that her prince charming is telling her the truth. She trusts him.
The loves reason that the conflict is over.
This is where the character considers what others might do and say. He anticipates what might come next. This is fairly internal but you need to show it nevertheless.
The married guy might anticipate that he can get away with a night of forbidden passion.
The timid girl might anticipate being hurt as she has before.
The lovers anticipate living their happy every after. They think about how they will spend the rest of their life together.
This is where the character does something following from their anticipation and they set up the next scene where they want something and must overcome obstacles.
Our married guy might decide to cheat (or try to).
Our timid girl may run away from her prince charming. Thus setting up the prince for a chapter of him trying harder to win her heart.
The lovers, meanwhile, are sailing off into the sunset.
Rinse and repeat, as they say.
That’s the structure of a scene, generally, but with the theory applied to love and romance. I’m going to be giving this a try soon.
When it comes to love and romance in fiction, I am just a beginner. This is more theory than any practical experience here. Please use the comments to share your insights into writing love and romance.
I need to discuss, publically, a very difficult topic. This post is not about writing and if you came here for a writing post can I suggest this or this.
Normally when I write for this blog, I do so as Matt – a guy who loves writing. Today I am writing as Matthew Brown, chair of the Thanet Creative Writers charity. With my chair hat well and truly on, I have to point out that I am speaking only for myself – this is not an official proclamation by the charity, just an expression of sadness.
We recently updated our listing of Thanet based writers’ groups. Almost immediately there was aggression and abuse over content relating to one of the many groups called Thanet writers’ (or something similar). Someone actually went to the trouble of registering a new WordPress blog just to express their hate.
To clarify which Thanet writers’ group jennykettle was trolling for: I am not talking about this Thanet Writers who (as far as I know) launched their website at the same time Thanet Creative Writers formed and I am not talking about any of the Thanet (insert word here) writers’ groups (honestly, check the listing, there are a lot of similarly named groups). Back when we were the same group we met in the chapel. That specific Thanet writers’ group, which might or might not meet in the chapel now, is the group in question. They, like others, go by the name Thanet Writers.
In the year since they parted from Thanet Creative Writers, individuals have periodically taken it upon themselves to attack us on their behalf. That’s not good for anyone. The trustees of Thanet Writers have written to assure us that they are not behind the attacks and it is nothing to do with them.
I have said it before and, because it apparently needs saying again, I will say it again. I wish Thanet Writers all the best. Anyone working to support local writers is doing a good thing. If those who wish to enjoy writing are helped then this is a win. I’ve even recommended that particular Thanet writers’ group to people I’ve met who live in Broadstairs. There is no war to fight here, people. I am at a loss as to what else to do.
The entirety of the trustees of Thanet Creative Writers are at a loss to explain why some local people have gotten a bee in their bonnet about our two groups but please leave us (both groups) out of it. We have had to endure spiteful rants from local creatives on Facebook; a hate filled diatribe published on the blog of a local publisher filled with all sorts of misinformation and non-facts; and now, trollish comments on our blog. Even giving the first question of the ask us hard questions series the benefit of the doubt, enough is enough.
I have no idea who is out there trying to stir up hate but at Thanet Creative Writers we are all about peace, kindness, and respect. Thanet Creative Writers exists to foster creativity, to enable people, and to help those that want to enjoy writing to jolly well enjoy writing. We are pretty sure that this is what Thanet Writers are all about too. All this other nonsense is doing no one any good. Please stop.
Yes, I know that the details (in our listing) for Thanet Writers is sketchy at best. This is because their website (at least what was their website when we were the same group) does not load for me. All I have to go on what I remember, hear on the grapevine, or find on other websites.
Clearly, this was not good enough for jennykettle. A user who is now the sole occupant of the site’s blacklist.
I’m at my wits’ end with this. This website exists to raise awareness of the good works of Thanet Creative Writers as a charity and support writers in the joy of writing. The aim of publishing a listing of writers’ groups was to help people connect with other writers. It is not here for petty individuals to start fights. Take your school bully mentality somewhere else – it is not wanted here.
In light of this ongoing abuse, I have come to an editorial decision to carry no further information about this particular Thanet based writers’ group. Thanet Writers, I truly am sorry that your loudest fans seem to be loud and obnoxious but I cannot keep dealing with this aggression from parties unknown. It is really not worth the hassle.
This policy will stand until such time as the board of trustees directs me to change the policy or another, better, approach presents itself. Future editions of the comprehensive listing of writers and poets groups and events will carry a link to this post but no details at all. Unless the trustees want to write to me with definitive details of when and where they currently meet in which case I will include that information.
So if in the future, there is no information at all about Thanet Writers, it is because of the bullies and the trolls. Congratulations I hope this makes you happy, mean people.
Seriously, though, I do not want to disadvantage one group because of a hate filled minority but I cannot and will not keep putting up with this bullying.
I appeal to the trustees of Thanet Writers to join us in taking a stand against bullying and aggression. The aims of our two groups overlap extensively – work with us so that the trolls cannot win.
Thanet Creative Writers and Thanet Writers are siblings and that, in so far as writers’ groups go, makes us family. Family should stand together. Between us, we must surely have more than enough active supporters and volunteers to pack out many of the smaller functions rooms at local venues. Imagine the kind of events we could run if we work together.
Let us write a new chapter in which the small-minded and mean-spirited have no place and writers new and established can work together.
To avoid ending this post on a downer. Here is a fun video about not feeding the trolls.
Do unto others as they should do to you…
Anyway, this is me signing off and wishing you all peace, love, and a joyful writing experience.
What do you know, commonsense has prevailed.
Thank you for your change of heart.
Last year we posted a list of writer groups that take place in Thanet. Thanks to the wonderful feedback from readers, we expand on that list. This is an updated listing of all Thanet Writers’ Groups.
We have tried to list all Thanet writers’ groups and poetry groups. I am still convinced that there are plenty more out there to find out about but I hope that this is enough to help you to find a writers group in Thanet (or close to Thanet) that will provide the support that you are looking for.
Ageless Thanet has free activities for people aged 50 or over who live in Thanet. These groups include Creative Writing, Life Writing, and a Film Project. For more information about any of the activities please call 01843 601550
Arts in Ramsgate run writing classes priced at £7.50. Facilitators for this are Karen Bellamy and author Katerina Dimond. They meet in Harbour Street Ramsgate. You should book in advance. More details about the event.
Broadstairs Writers’ Circle meet on the first and third Monday of the month (except August) at the Brown Jug Inn; 7.30pm to 9.30pm. Rumour has it that this is the longest running Thanet writers’ group.
Chapel Open Mic Night welcomes spoken word poetry and readings and runs at the Chapel pub Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8pm.
Dead Island Poets meet in pubs around Thanet mostly in the Ravensgate Arms for open mic poetry nights and are run by Penny. Dead Island Poets don’t have a site or a Facebook page but Thanet Creative Writers members often post events like these to the Thanet Creative Poets Facebook group.
Hilderstone Writers’ Circle is, as far as we can tell, run by Maggie Solley at Hilderstone Adult Education College, Margate. I don’t have any further details but the contact number is 01843 860860.
Isle Writers gather 2.00pm – 4.00pm on the third Wednesday of each month (except December) at Broadstairs Library.
Inspirations hold their meetings between 11am and 1pm at Westgate Library on the fourth Saturday of each month (except December). We can’t tell you much else about this Thanet writers’ group so if you are involved or go along please tell us more.
TCW: Poetry is an as yet unnamed poetry group that Thanet Creative Writers host. The focus is on helping new poets find their voice but all poets are invited to come along and read their poetry. People who simply love hearing poetry are also welcome. Events are always posted to the Thanet Creative Poets Facebook group.
Thanet Blogging Writers are a loose association of writers from Thanet that blog. A lot of them take part in our writing competitions. Check the directory listing for more on these great bloggers.
Thanet Creative Writers hold a number of events throughout the year. Matt hosts a weekly writers’ gathering at his home each Tuesday at 7:30pm (address at the bottom of most pages on this site) called Writers’ Tea and Chat. This Thanet writers’ group has no fixed agenda and is there for whatever writers feel they need to talk about. This tends to be review and feedback. Sometimes the cat joins us.
Thanet Script Writers are a group that meet in The Ravensgate Arms in Kings Street Ramsgate. Their focus is “writing box sets”. We understand that Thanet Script Writers don’t meet every week but we hear that they meet on a Tuesday about once a fortnight. If someone can update us with more accurate information that would be fantastic.
Thanet Write On is a Thanet writers’ group that has a few mentions about the web. Run by one Philip Cowlin by all accounts. Philip can be reached on 01843 293167 according to my sources.
Thanet Writers’ Group is a writer’s group founded around the same time we were (2013) that seems to be quite interested in sharing writing competitions. We don’t know much else about the Thanet Writers’ group. May or may not be connected to other groups of almost exactly the same name.
Thanet Writers (a group forked from, but not affiliated with, Thanet Creative Writers) They used to meet every Thursday at about 8pm at the Chapel (while open mic night is happening) to critique work and discuss the running of their website. We did hear a rumour that they had relocated to the Ravensgate Arms but cannot confirm this. Not to be confused with Thanet Writers’ Group. Why all the hate? I don’t need this stress.
Thanet Writers & Artists is a website project that I understand is being set up to promote writing and creativity with daily interviews, videos, and advice columns. According to an email I received, Thanet Writers & Artists are in the last stages of planning and launching. There is an associated group of creative types that meets for critiques and all that but the email did not say where or when they meet. I’ll update you when they update me.
Thanet Writes Right are another group that we have only recently heard about. The word is that Thanet Writes Right are a Thanet based writers’ group that meet in Margate Old Town somewhere. If you know more then please get in touch.
Third Thursday Writers’ is run by Peggy Rogers and is a University of the Third Age (U3A) group. There is a waiting list to join this Thanet writers’ group so you’ll need to make contact in advance.
Westbay Writers gather for writing exercises and support at Westbay Cafe Tuesday mornings 10am to 11.30am. Westbay Writers is hosted by Susan Emm who you can contact by email on westbaywriters@gmail.com
Writers of Thanet are an online link sharing group hosted by Reddit.
Writing Matters run paid causes in creative writing around Thanet. Prices seem to be about £80 for 8 weeks. Check the link for more information.
Writers’ Circle is run by Maria Brown and is a University of the Third Age (U3A) group. You should probably use the contact form to find out more information about this writers’ group.
Writers Unleashed meet in the Ravensgate Arms, King Street, Ramsgate at 8pm on the second Monday of the month. The group is aimed at writers of Poetry, Prose, Flash Fiction, and Song to read or perform or listen to others.
I’ve tried my best to get as much useful information here so you can find a writers group that suits you. Things change and the details were as reasonably accurate as the sources I was able to look them up on when I wrote this list. Huge thanks to the numerous local Groups and Forums that have helped compile this list with wonderful feedback.
Maybe there is nothing quite like what you need here? Perhaps you are looking for a group focused only on horror, hard Sci-Fi, romance. If that longing leads you to you starting your own group please do let us know and we will add you to our listing.
Too hard?
Members of Thanet Creative Writers’ charity are able to access free support setting up groups and events as well as being able to count on us to provide free promotion for the group or event. Join today.
Is it Friday already? Wow. Where did my week go? I honestly figured I would have the winners list published by Wednesday at the latest. This week’s theme of what stops us writing seems oddly appropriate now.
Last week we switched things up and pushed you to start using new social media outposts.
Oh ye gods, this is the bit I do not find easy. You are too talented by half. Seriously, very few of you had ever written a blog post before much less ran an entire blog and written for it each week. I am so impressed with all of you that words fail me. Really they do. And, if you know me, you know that words rarely fail me.
This week, I have given up trying to pick one winner and have selected a handful. One overall winner and several category “prizes”.
The award for most meta post of the contest so far goes to Artimis Blake who writes:
I will finish this later…
We have all been there, I think.
The award for the best reflective article (with a meta twist) goes to Night of the Hats. [1]
[1] Spoiler: I have read the entire thing.
The award for experimental writing goes to Braidy Spice. Along with this award, comes a link to our guide on linking.
The award for best post goes to Kentish Rambler. I’d say Kentish has what it takes to write for the large women’s magazines market. This is a top quality entry in this category.
The award goes to ProfBenJ. A great example of well-paid-off foreshadowing. There were some Dirk Gently moments there.
The overall winner this week is Jess Joy with a well-executed sequel to her lady of letters. I am reminded of Irene in “A Lady of Letters” from Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads.
For best comment this week I am going to award the prize to the most prolific commenter: ProfBenJ. Seriously, you seem to be everywhere. Well done.
This is the feature that replaced the “most comments” section. The idea is to vote for what you liked best. The community voted top post was a tie between Niel, ProfBenJ, and JessJoy who all got two votes.
Either you loved each other equally or no one voted for anyone else. I’m going to go ahead and assume the love was flowing freely.
I’m feeling talkative right now and am going to let you in a little secret. After the 12 weeks of this contest are over, there will be one grand winner. The final winner will be chosen by you out of all the posts written for the contest over the entire time it was running. Even ones that were written by me (I’d love to know how you think I stack up).
This final contest will take place here. That is a special Reddit set up just for us and this contest. You may post as many of your entries as you wish, vote for as many as you want, and you may do so from now. (Let’s see who was paying close attention, eh).
Everyone who took part did a great job and deserves as much comment, upvote, like, and share love as you can give. Go show these amazing bloggers some serious love.
In this week’s Fiction Friday Writing Prompt someone has a daughter that they think might be immortal.
Wow. How did that happen?
As always, here are some obvious questions to ask yourself.
Please have fun and we hope this prompted causes a visit from The Muse. If you write a story based on this prompt and post it online please consider linking out to us. Have fun with this and I hope I can read what you write.
I recently threw down the gauntlet and invited you to ask us the hardest questions you could think of. You can ask questions by using the “ask” link.
Nickie asks:
Why does your copy contain so many grammatical errors? Why do you not proof read before publishing? Even the first paragraph on this page for instance. ‘No really, ask us the about the’
That is a good question and it has a clear answer. The reason for many of the errors on this site is me. I am dyslexic and dyspraxic (and also easily distracted) which causes me to make spelling and typing mistakes despite my best efforts. I wrote about being a dyslexic writer on my personal blog, give it a read if that interests you.
This is also the exact same reason why our Writers’ competition posts are not always up on time. As I said in my blog post.
I also struggle with planning and organisation. I screw up, frequently. It does not take much for appointments, deadlines, and commitments to pile up into each other and chaos to ensue.
This is why we have reporting forms. There is one specifically for reporting errors (and typing mistakes and all that) because I know they are going to happen no matter what I do.
The photo of a monkey at a typewriter that you sometimes see around the site is actually a photograph of me on a bad hair day.
You can help me out by reporting mistakes when you find them so I can fix them. I appreciate every correction that gets reported to me because I know that I will make mistakes and those reports help me to catch them and make them right.
Thanks to Nickie, a silly mistake has been corrected. There will, I have no doubt, be more. Feel free to report them to me so I can fix my errors.
The other way to reduce the number of errors here is to become one of our writers. Thanet Creative Writers has always been a group project and while I seem to do most of the blogging, I am happy to have others do that instead. If becoming one of the Thanet Creative Bloggers appeals, we have a form for that.
I refuse to give up and stop doing the things that I love just because my brain is not optimally wired for doing them. If a dyslexic, dyspraxic, arthritic, geeky weirdo like me can write, I am pretty sure anyone can. I hope my faults and failing give you hope.
Ask us hard questions on anything you have wondered about and we will try to answer your question.
Thanet Creative Writers 