Invisible Army fiction writing group @ Bank Street Arts..

[Jimmy 1984 10]

Hi everyone,

 

I have decided to set up a fiction writing critique group and it is going to be based out of Bank Street Arts centre behind the cathedral in the city centre. The name we are giving it is - Invisible Army! I have spoken with the centre and they are keen, going to put it on their website and send me their logo etc so I can get some posters done...

 

The idea is to meet monthly and simply discuss each others work. I'm currently working on a novel so I was going to submit a chapter at a time when its my turn, but short stories are also fine. Before the meetings the writers whose work will be presented that month will email their work to everyone else so we can arrive with feedback ready to go. The room at Bank Street will cost £25 and it fits 15. If we struggle to get this number there is another more informal room which sits about 8....

 

Anyone up for this? Once I have got the logo sent to me I'm going to get some posters done up, so this should attract some more people. Give me a call or post a reply if you want to join this exciting venture!!

 

James

07828167139

[Jimmy 1984 10]

Sorry, what times would be best for people? we can do weekends or during the week in the evenings? the place is accessible 24-7 (I will be given a set of keys, I think) but the place does shut at 5pm to members of the public...

 

I'd rather a week day evening from 7pm .....

[cookadg 10]

Sounds good. Weekday evenings would be best for me. I'll try to come along if it goes ahead. It would be really useful for anyone writing novels or short stories to get feedback on their work. I like the idea of emailing work beforehand so the session is just feedback and ideas rather than spending half the time listening to people read their work out. I think it'll be important to set out some guidelines beforehand though.

[Allo1010 10]

I'm up for it, and weekday evenings are good for me too.

[Jimmy 1984 10]

hi guys,

 

I'm thinking Thursday march 15th at 7pm for our first meeting, at the moment there are 4 people interested . . how does this day sound? I'm going to call bank street tomorrow and then pop in at the weekend to get it booked . .any one else fancy it? looking for 8 to 10 people if possible . . .

 

James

[SarahD 10]

I'm interested too. Scared, but interested!

[Kaimani 10]

i'm in.....

[FatDave 11]

I'd like to be in, but I'll need to know when and what time first.

[Jimmy 1984 10]

Brilliant, sounds like we are getting some interest now. I have just been sent the logo by Bank Street so I am going to get some flyers done up. It maybe that we don't need to get that many more people involved now but its probably best we have something so that we can look for new people all the time - this is a long term project!!

 

The idea at the moment is to have the first meeting on Thursday March 15th at 7pm. We will have the room for 3.5 hours; we probably won't be there for this amount of time, but we can be if people want to really get our money's worth! I am going to go along on to Bank street this Saturday morning to get this finalised. Remember the price will be £25 per meeting, so its going to come to very little after we all chip in...

 

Probably would be a good idea for us all to meet up before the 15th just to firstly get to know each other and secondly to talk about the rules etc. Anyone up for this? I live in Heeley, near the sheaf view, could that be a good location? anyone know of any other decent places? best time for me to meet is weekday evenings, say 8pm, could do Thursday 8th March?

 

We need to start swapping email addresses as well. The idea being that the people who are showcasing their work will email the rest of the group before the meeting. I was thinking a max word count of 2500 to be handed in, what you think? say 20-30 mins discussing each piece of work?

 

I will post again on Saturday. If anyone wants to text me or send me a PM thats fine...

 

James

07828167139

[FatDave 11]

15th will be no good for me I'm, afraid. My baby girl will be born on that morning.

[SarahD 10]

What about Eccy road as a meeting point? I've no idea how to get to Heeley, I'm not a native sheffielder and I don't have a car!

 

Everything else sounds ok. Only thing is that I've almost finished my novel and don't have any short stories under that word count so I'm not sure what I can contribute! I could send you the first chapter of my novel but I've already decided not to make very many changes at this point so it's just proofreading for me now.

 

I guess we'll have to decide how much detail we want to get into RE the critique. We could all agree to print out each others stories and make amendments in pen or through track changes on Word. But then some people might not like that. What do you reckon?

[Jimmy 1984 10]

Well to be honest I have almost finished my book aswell. I'm thinking of writing a synopsis of how the story begins, develops, and then start submitting work from some point near the end...I have no idea how this might go down but its the area I need to concentrate on, ie the ending....Eccy road as a meeting point is fine for me, I'm not massively up on what places are decent round there, any ideas? I am also new to the area by the way, moved in December...

 

Fat Dave - I totally agree you need to concentrate on the birth of your child! the only reason I said Thursday 15th is because Audra, another person interested in the writing group, is only available on thursdays...could do the 22nd?

 

I am going in on saturday morning to finalise so Thursday March 22nd - anyone any problems with this date?