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Review of Meeting 4th November 2025 by Piers Rowlandson

We invited Barry Smith of the South Downs Poetry Festival to talk to us about writing poetry.

There were nine members and two guests.

Barry's theme was that poetry can be inspired by landscape or even by great paintings of the landscape, for example, Chichester Canal by Turner. He then read out his poem about a river in Bedfordshire (The River Ouse?) He and his cousin grew up playing by the river. Pleasant memories were suddenly dashed by the recollection that his cousin had drowned in the river. He emphasised that poetry is brought to life by bringing in personal details and emotions. As a further example of this, he read his poem about Turner's painting of Chichester Canal, comparing it to the view across the Ouse to the spire of a church in Bedfordshire. The personal aspect was added when he realised that the mist rising off the river reminded him of his mother's dying breath. He said that the image just came to him suddenly and unexpectedly, even though he had meant to write about his mother for some time. Poems do sometimes come to one all complete without one having to make any alterations and then at other times there is so much to do to get it right. The test is to read it out loud and see if it works. We were then given a few minutes to begin writing a poem about a picture that we had previously selected.

Barry invited us to read our poems at the Open Mic at New Park on the last Wednesday of the month at 7.30. The next Open Mic is on Wednesday, 26th November. There isn't one in December.

In the second half of the meeting, Emma read out a 400 word piece of flash fiction. It was a gruesome and scary piece about a farmer who shot a boy. The father came to work on the farm with his other son. The land became sterile and the second son took root as a scarecrow. What an imagination! We discussed where the piece could be entered into a competition: Bridport prize?

Emma mentioned The Sky Island Journal as an online journal that may take short stories.

I read out a poem about children running down the Downs and falling down. v light-hearted.

Neill read his poem about a beach he knows well in Sweden that has become horribly polluted. It had great impact.

Review of Meeting 7th October 2025 by Piers Rowlandson.

Johnathan Kaye was in the chair.

Nine members attended.

I read out three reviews of novels. There was plenty of discussion around the three books, including a debate as to the wisdom of including a well-known family name as an anti-hero in one of them. In general, it was agreed that to sell books, it was as well to write in a popular genre such as murder mystery or historical romance.

Barbara read out a short piece about her aunt and her Russian samovar.

Johnathan read a part of the first chapter of his novel, After the Flood. There was a prolonged and very interesting discussion.

I agreed to contact Ian re the website:

Is it possible to upload files to the chat room rather than copy and paste?
Could a comment box be added to the articles in the chat room so that comments are not written as a separate article?

I sent an email to Ian but have not heard back as of 10th October 2025.

Review of Meeting 2nd September 2025

by Piers Rowlandson (Chair).

The brief was to read and discuss current projects.

Ten members attended and one guest.

We started with members' news.

Piers.

Nicola Garrard has published a third novel. On the Edge. Set in Devon, it is a novel about a teenage boy and his younger brothers growing up in poverty, their mother having died and their father away earning a living. The plight of small, isolated seaside villages is the background. The houses are being bought by outsiders as holiday cottages and, as a result, are largely left empty. Shops are closed and there are few jobs. The social injustice leads Rhys to join with ex-Oxford student Dodo in a campaign of civil disobedience. The writing is lyrical and the pace is fast and furious. Strongly recommended.

We thought we should invite Nicola back if we could afford her. I have circulated a message from Nicola about a book signing in Petworth at 6.30 on 6th September.

Christan.

His book, Leopard, is due to be published this month by Conrad Press. He has completed the author bio and the cover is to be discussed this week.

Sharon.

The competition had seven entries. It was hard to decide on a winner, but Neill's story about an alarm clock that took on a human and rather malignant personality stood out. Second was Daniela Bullas. Sharon read out Daniela's story in the author's absence. Neil read his own story to a round of applause. Nicky gave him a certificate and a prize of a small notepad with CWC printed on the plastic cover.

-§-

After tea, Philip read out the first 1500 words of the opening chapter of his novel, a work of historical fiction with the provisional title A Son of the Revels. It concerns boy actors in Elizabethan England, who generally played the female roles and were cruelly abused, it seems.

I read out a 1500 word piece from my short story, Cowes Week, which describes Alex falling overboard during a race.

Lesley read out the beginning of the chapter titled The Coldest Wettest June from her time slip novel. She has changed to the first person for this novel because writing it in the third person just did not work.

After each reading, there was a detailed and friendly discussion and many helpful suggestions.

Finally, I agreed to email Ian about the difficulty that people are having logging onto the website and ask him to send new passwords with instructions.

Review of Meeting 5th August 2025

by Piers Rowlandson.

Chair: Stephen Bullas.

There were eight members present and two guests.

Members' News: Christian's book is scheduled for publication in September. He has already arranged several venues to promote and sign copies of The Leopard

Steve had set us an exercise: Story Plot Structure.

Write a story, not more than a page and not less than 300 words. The prompt was, "In 1919, a nurse returns to a Yorkshire manor house in which she used to work during the Great War. Hidden in the back of a cupboard, she finds a bundle of letters tied up with twine. She leaves without opening them."

Discuss your story in terms of how plotting shaped the narrative and share the inspiration and any research behind the story.

Seven stories were read out and discussed. They were all very different but a common theme was that the letters provided closure for the nurse who had experienced trauma in the Manor House. She seems to have experienced love and loss, or unrequited love. One met, nursed, and loved an escaped German prisoner of war; another was a man who worked as an orderly, nursing the wounded soldiers as part of his job, as men at that time were not typically employed as nurses.

There was extensive and lively discussion.

Next time I am in the chair.

This is a chance to read out a piece from something you are working on, either a poem, flash fiction, short story or novel. It is recommended that the piece you read out is limited to 1500 words. If you feel that members need to have access to a whole chapter, then I suggest that you upload it to the CHAT page. If you have difficulty logging onto the members' Chat Page, I can help by contacting Ian, who created and manages our website.

Review of the meeting on 1st July 2025

Piers Rowlandson

I was in the chair in place of Lesley, who was unable to attend and sent apologies. Nine members were present and two guests were welcomed, one on holiday from Sheffield.

Members News.

Christian Johansson has had his 125,000-word murder mystery novel, Leopard, accepted by Conrad Press, which does not demand a fee.

The Meeting.

Following Christian's news, there was a discussion about all aspects of publishing, including the merits of having an agent, paying to have your novel published or printed and self-publishing.

We followed Lesley's idea of each person reading out their favourite opening paragraph from any novel or short story. Both guests contributed, as well as each member. There was a wide variety of authors represented, but no one chose Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Presumably because everyone thought it was too well known! John Buchan's The 39 Steps, Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train, George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman and Dylan Thomas' Holiday Memory were some of the other novels quoted. One person used their own novel to a round of applause. It was an amusing and interesting evening.

The 1500 word pieces on a supernatural theme are to be handed in to Nicky at the August meeting, (see below).

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