Broo Doherty of DHH Literary Agency

Broo Doherty of DHH Literary Agency (2014-10-13 18:06:48)

A question and answer session with literary agent Broo Doherty of DHH Literary Agency. She accepts literary fiction, crime and contemporary women’s fiction (no sci fi or fantasy). There is an agent in the group who accepts children’s books.

Broo talked about the importance of having an agent and suggested the best way to find an agent is to look at the ‘thanks to’ section in books you have recently enjoyed reading.

To approach an agent by letter make it relevant, mention any books, short stories or articles published, as well as membership of the group and your website or blog if you have one – in fact anything that shows that you are serious about writing.

When assessing books sent to her for consideration Broo looks for good storytelling, warmth, humour, and well written and well plotted manuscripts.

For personal/family histories you could try Andrew Lownie at The Biographers’ Club, Thomas and Mercer, or Ingrams.

If you are writing non-fiction, send a proposal to the agent.

The advice on publishing and submitting to agents was invaluable and Terry thanked Broo for speaking to the group.

She ended by saying that she will consider submissions from members. Terry has her email address if you wish to send Broo your manuscript.

By Sally East

Broo Doherty, literary agent

Waxing Lyrical with Andy Barrett

Waxing Lyrical with Andy Barrett (2014-10-06 17:18:31)

Terry welcomed Andy Barrett on 29 September who was leading the evening’s talk – ‘Waxing Lyrical’ about writing words for music. Andy is a singer and songwriter but apologised at the outset for being unable to sing on the night because of nodules on his vocal chords.

Andy said that in order to write lyrics it was essential to have music or a musician or composer as well. In other words it has to be a collaborative exercise. He compared writing lyrics with writing poetry and highlighted the different demands of each discipline. Lyrics are generally one dimensional, allowing more freedom for the writer with chord sequences dictating the mood of the lyrical story.

Andy gave examples of different song lyrics and defined four song types. Those with a construction of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle eight-verse-chorus (Type 3) being the most popular formula for hit songs. As with many forms of writing, Andy said that the opening ‘hook’ was very important in establishing the mood.

Members were asked to vote ‘good’ or ‘bad’ from a list of song lyrics, some of which were standards, which demonstrated how lyrics on their own can sometimes be uninspiring.

Andy then played two musical compositions for which members were asked to supply lyrics. These will be disseminated as MP3s and submissions will be sent to Andy to review and comment upon at his next session on November 24th.

Andy Barrett - music producer, singer, song writer, actor - inspired us with his enthusiasm for lyrics.

Richard James gives advice about writing drama

Richard James gives advice about writing drama. (2014-08-04 15:58:19)

Richard James, actor and playwright, set the theme and will be the judge for the Slough Writers summer competition. The theme is The Photograph. Full details about the competition are on the COMPETITIONS PAGE

Annual Awards 2013/2014

Sally East, David England and Keith Scudamore.

Annual Awards 2013/2014 (2014-07-21 00:06:20)

Slough Writers paid tribute to some of our best writers at the Annual General Meeting. This year four awards were presented including, for the first time, The Sandy Lee-Guard Award for endeavour.

Peter Green Trophy Newcomer of the year (voted by the committee) went to Keith Scudamore.

Sandy Lee-Guard Award for Endeavour (voted by the committee) � David England.

Writer of the Year (voted by members) � David England

Taylor award for service to the group (voted by members) � Sally East

Congratulations to all concerned.

2014 Short Story Competition Results

2014 Short Story Competition - Crime (2014-04-26 20:14:47)

At our meeting on 14 April 2014 the winners of our short story competition on the theme of crime were announced.

From the left: Sally East, Lee Taylor, the judge Elizabeth Hurst, Terry Adlam, William Campbell and Sonia Weiss.

• 1st and the Golden Cup: Whisky Chaser by William Campbell

• 2nd: Blood Money by Sonya Weiss

• 3rd: Blood Lines by Sally East

Highly commended were Scenes of Crime by Terry Adlam and Playing by the Rules by Lee Taylor

Elizabeth Hurst said that she did not ‘enjoy’ judging the competition because there were some truly awful crimes. She judged the stories on the extent to which the plot was character driven and how well the characters came across; the quality of the writing, which she said was very high; and whether the stories were focussed and pacey with good description. She commented that it was a difficult task because she was not comparing like with like, apart from the fact that they all featured a crime.

Elizabeth Hurst announcing the result, William on hearing of his victory, Sonia discussing how she developed her story and Sally reading her story to the group.

Science Fiction and Steam Punk

Science Fiction and Steam Punk at SW (2014-03-20 08:38:02)

Steven C. Davis is a bookseller, science fiction writer and host of the web radio show: Gothic, Alternative and Steampunk Progressive Rock show (GASP) on BLAST 1386 (Reading College). He visited Slough Writers to talk about his work.

Steven opened the session asking members what their definition of science fiction was. There were many different views and opinions as to what the genre incorporates. Steven gave an example of Margaret Atwood’s work which received the Arthur C. Clarke award for science fiction, but which the author has always strongly suggested is not, describing it as speculative fiction. Steven explained how science fiction nowadays can cross so many literary genres and is quite often against a dystopian background setting.

A sub-genre of sci-fi is Steampunk, featuring steam-powered machinery in a 19th century setting and which Steven explained has evolved a counter culture with followers dressing up in Victorian costume and engaging in pursuits such as tea-duelling. Steven then read extracts of his publications Cornix Sinistra and The Heart’s Cog Imperative. It was a fascinating evening introducing us to several new ideas and aspects of SF.

2013 Article Competition Results

Results of the 2013 Article Competition. (2014-02-11 18:26:13)

Tony Matthews, Lee Taylor and Kay Woods with the judge Sara Waddington (front).

• 1st and the SW Article Trophy: How To Give Up Smoking by Lee Taylor

• 2nd: Back To Nature by Kay Woods

• 3rd: Caught Short by Tony Matthews

Mike Pearcy's Narrow Winding Way was short listed.

At our meeting on 2nd December 2013 former Slough Writers member Sara Waddington was the judge. She began by telling the group how being a member gave her a good grounding in writing before becoming an editorial assistant and then editor on several specialist magazines. She now produces magazines for a variety of companies.

Sara said that she enjoyed reading the articles and learnt a lot about a range of topics. The layout of the articles was varied and some included sidebars and subheadings. She judged the articles on originality, appeal for publication, style of writing, grammar and punctuation. Sara read her comments on all the articles before giving the results.

Slough Writers Support Burnham Library

Slough Writers Support Burnham Library (2014-02-10 18:34:37)

The financial crisis continues to threaten the future of many libraries and we recently joined forces with The Friends of Burnham Library to help create an arts festival aimed at increasing community involvement in this vital resource while celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the library. Two of our members were co-opted onto the committee to help organise a writing competition. They went on to serve as judges in two of the sections of the arts festival. The result was a very successful two week event culminating in a prize giving at which Sir Terry Wogan presented the awards.

The photos show Sir Terry Wogan, visitors to the library reading the winning entries in the writing competition and Slough Writers member David England giving a reading of traditional folk tales to a full house at the library - one of many public events held during the festival.

2013 Poetry Competition Results

Winners of the 2013 Poetry Competition Announced (2013-11-14 21:44:40)

Wally Smith, Jenni Heward Craig and David England.

At our meeting on 11 November 2013 the results of the self-judged Summer Competition were announced.

• 1st and the SW Summer Trophy: Winter Tales by Jenni Heward Craig

• 2nd: Learning Curves by Wally Smith

• 3rd: Ness of Brodgar by David England

Carol Breuer's Jagged Pieces and Tony Matthew’s Wonderstruck were runners up to the top three.

The task set for the Summer Competition was to create an anthology of five poems. The project was judged by those taking part and submissions were anonymous to ensure fairness. All those taking part wrote critiques on all the work which provided a valuable source of reference for all those taking part.

Terry had collated the results and critiques on the 11 entries. To score the entries he gave 5 points to the first place from each entrant, 4 to the second and so on. He said that every entrant was awarded points. He read a selection of the comments on each anthology before giving the results. The result was very close.

Wally Smith who took second place reads his anthology.

Christine Webb on Poetry

07 October 2013 Christine Webb on poetry. (2013-10-13 22:39:26)

Terry introduced and welcomed poet Christine Webb. She talked about poetry and how it has evolved through the ages, reading a selection of her own and other poems to illustrate her talk. She has published a number of anthologies of her poetry and the poems she read included After Reading the Bible, After That Hour. Horace at Sea and Fly6.

There were eighteen members present and Christine gave an inspiring talk based on her passion for and wide knowledge of poetry.

2013 Poetry Competition Results

Back row from the left: second place Sally East, third place Mike Pearcy and winner Dan Hicks. Guitarist Ally McCulloch is the one with the guitar.

Winners of the 2013 Poetry Competition Announced (2013-07-26 07:24:27)

At our meeting on 15 July 2013 the results of the annual poetry competition were announced.

• 1st and The Poetry Cup: Three Steps to Prison (based on Three Steps to Heaven by Eddie Cochran) by Dan Hicks

• 2nd: I Must Be Loved (based on It Must be Love by Madness) by Sally East

• 3rd: Nigel, Don’t Take My Party Down (based on Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town by Kenny Rogers) by Mike Pearcy

Lee Taylor was commended for – Madness in America (based on Breakfast in America by Supertramp).

The task as set be Terry Adlam was to write a parody of a well know song, replacing the lyrics with our own words in the style of The Treason Show. Terry writes regularly for the Treason Show - Brighton's legendary satirical comedy show now in its record breaking 13th year.

He then introduced Ally McCulloch and his guitar who would sing the winning entries. Terry said that it was difficult and soul-destroying to judge because they were all so good (and so much better than his own!). He judged the entries on singability, humour, creativity, originality, closeness to the original, the extent to which they were topical and enjoyability. The final places were only separated by one point. They were all shortlisted! Terry read his comments on each entry before giving the results.

Terry’s friend Ally played and sang the top two songs for which Terry thanked him. William thanked Terry for judging the competition.

These pictures show Ally McCulloch on the left Terry and Ally during the announcement of winners and members Applauding Dan's parody.

2013 Annual Awards

Annual Awards July 2013 (2013-07-21 11:51:25)

Slough Writers paid tribute to some of our best writers at the Annual General Meeting tonight. Three awards were given out, as follows:

• Writer of the Year went to Tony Matthews, for his many successes over the year, including publishing his memoir Late Developer.

• The Taylor Award (for services to the group) went to William Campbell for his continuing commitment to SW and in particular his long service as treasurer.

• Newcomer of the Year went to Sonia Weiss for her excellent work and successes in the short time she's been with the group.

Congratulations to all concerned.

Pictured from left to right: Tony Matthews (Writer of the Year), Sonia Weiss (Newcomer of the Year) and William Campbell (Taylor Award). The Taylor Award (pictured right) was unable to attend on the evening and will be presented to William on a future occasion.

2013 Short Story Competition Results

Results of the 2013 Short Story Competition Announced. (2013-03-28 22:41:48)

Results of the short story competition using ‘piano’ as the stimulus and judged by Reading Writers were announced at our meeting on Monday 25th March 2013. There were 14 entries.

The winners were:

• 1st The End of a Concerto by Carol Breuer

• 2nd: Encore by Jennifer Heward-Craig

• 3rd: Tombstones and Keys by Sonya Weiss

From the left: Carol, Jenni and Sonya. Unfortunately, two of the winners were unable to attend so we could not take a group photograph of the successful writers with our visitors.

Three members of Reading Writers, Josh, Julia and Charles (left hand photo above), joined us for the meeting to give the results and talk about the judging. They said that they were an incredibly creative set of stories, given the single word prompt, with an astonishing diversity of themes. The stories were particularly impressive where the writers took risks.

Reading Writers is a group of 25 writers, 9 of whom agreed to judge the competition. Each judge read all the entries and gave feedback to the administrator, Alana, who produced a shortlist of 5 stories:-Tombstones and Keys (Sonya), Encore (Jenni), Captain Fantastic and the Dirt Brown Cowboy (Sally E), The End of a Concerto (Carol) and Tuning into the Past (Mike)

Terry thanked the Reading Writers for such thorough judging. We will be judging their writing competition next term. The theme is earth or Earth and can be a short story, play or novel extract.

Theatre Writer and Producer Visits SW

Theatre Writer and Producer Visits SW. (2013-03-08 18:28:55)

Writer and producer Bart Lee (centre front) with group members.

Terry introduced our guest speaker, Bart Lee, an actor/director/producer/playwright who works with South Hill Park arts centre and Scribblers writers group that is based there. Bart gave us invaluable advice and insights into writing drama. He recommended writing collaboratively; taking part in acting/directing workshops; going to see as many plays as possible; and writing as a different person.

Tony Matthews Publishes His Autobiography

Tony Matthews Publishes His Autobiography (2013-02-23 22:01:14)

Tony has self-published his memoir Late Developer. He has copies for sale and the proceeds go to Crossroads, the charity for carers.

2012 Article Competition Results

Winners of the 2012 Article Competition Announced (2012-11-27 19:47:01)

The theme was: The Legacy of the London 2012 Olympics.

The brief was to write an article suitable for inclusion in a magazine or journal of your choice about the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics and/or Paralympics. This could, but does not need to, focus on the sports events and participation. Other aspects could be the effects on construction, infrastructure, regeneration and/or the economy.

Sally East introduced the judge, Louise Dance. Louise is a teacher who, during a long career, has taught children from age 4 to 16. She enjoys reading, swimming and walking. Having volunteered for the London 2012 Paralympics, the topic that she chose for the article competition is close to her heart.

Louise said that the entries were completely different, so she looked for originality and empathy with the reader. The standard was very good, so she chose the ones that appealed to her.

Louise commented on each of the five entries, before giving the results.

• 1st and The Summer Trophy: The Art and Soul of The Olympics by Sally East

• 2nd: The Legacy Balancing Act by Mike Pearcy

• 3rd: More Than a Games by Wally Smith

From the left: Second place Michael Pearcy, winner Sally East, Louise Dance who was the judge with Wally Smith who came third.

2012 Summer Competition Results

Winners Announced Summer Competition 2012 (2012-11-27 19:26:08)

The meeting on 12 November 2012 was to award the prizes for the summer writing competition which was to produce a ‘How To’ manual.

The judge, Tony Rossiter, was unavailable, but had sent a message, which Terry read out. Tony said that although there were only five entries the judging was not as easy as he had imagined it would be. He detailed the main areas that he was looking for in the submissions and gave examples of where things could have been improved.

• 1st and The Summer Trophy: How To Make Do And Mend A Merry Christmas by Sally East

• 2nd: How To Write Your Own Funeral by Tony Matthews

• 3rd: Observing The Night Sky Naked by Wally Smith

From the left: Third place Wally Smith, winner Sally East with Tony Matthews who came second.

An Old Friend Visits

An Old Friend Visits (2012-10-05 16:17:59)

Former member Charlotte Betts gave a talk to the group about how she wrote her novels and the road to publication. Charlotte started writing 12 years ago and spoke of the invaluable support she received from Slough Writers, before leaving 9 years ago. She has had two novels published by Piatkus and is due to have a third published. Her novels are historical romances. The first, The Apothecary’s Daughter, is set in London during The Restoration and the sequel, The Painter’s Apprentice, is set during the Glorious Revolution in the 17th century.

The Apothecary’s Daughter was picked up by an agent via the You Write On website, having been voted book of the year 2010 and also won the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers Award in 2011

Charlotte read a couple of passages from the books and talked about her research. The evening ended with a period of questions and answers and then Charlotte signed copies of her books for members.

Author Charlotte Betts (sitting) visits Slough Writers.

From the left standing: Visitor Tom, Sally Clark, Chair Terry Adlam, Sally East and Carol Breuer.

2012 AGM Awards

AGM Awards 2012 (2012-07-16 22:30:00)

Slough Writers paid tribute to some of our best writers at the Annual General Meeting tonight. Three awards were given out, as follows:

• Writer of the Year went to Wally Smith, for his many successes over the year, including publishing his novel The Intricate Soul.

• The Taylor Award (for services to the group) went to Sally East for her hard work on behalf of the group.

• Newcomer of the Year went to Linda Hurdwell for her excellent work and successes in the short time she's been with the group.

Congratulations to all concerned.

Pictured from left to right: Wally Smith (Writer of the Year), Linda Hurdwell (Newcomer of the Year) and Sally East (Taylor Award).

2012 Poetry Competition Results

Poetry Competition 2012 Results (2012-07-16 22:33:00)

At the AGM tonight, we were pleased to announce the results of the 2012 poetry competition. The competition was judged by Gill Smith - comedy writer, stand-up comedian and poet - on the theme of "Obsession". Entrants had to write three poems on the theme, producing a related cohesive collection.

Gill remarked on the many approaches taken by the authors in dealing with the subject matter, from lightly humorous to the serious and disturbing. Gill also noted the high quality of the poetry and the difficulty in the judging process, but ultimately awarded prizes as follows:

• 1st and poetry cup: Folding Alaska by Sonya Weiss

• 2nd: Daily Obsessions by Terry Adlam

• 3rd: Teatime, Hope and Attainment by Kay Woods

• Highly commended: Obsessions and How to Overcome Them by Dave Smith

Pictured from left to right: Terry Adlam (2nd place), Dave Smith (Highly Commended), Gill Smith (judge), Sonya Weiss (1st place), Kay Woods (3rd place).