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BURNLEY & DISTRICT WRITERS’ CIRCLE PROGRAMME 2024
27th January: Annual General Meeting - please note this is a change of date from 13th January.
24th February 2024 (postponed from 10th Feb): A story or poem inspired by a place. Poems to be a maximum of 40 lines. Prose to be 500-700 words.
9th March 2024: Flash fiction (exactly 100 words, excluding title). Any topic / subject matter. The word count must be exactly 100 words. The title is NOT included in the word count. The idea is to tell an entire story - beginning, middle and end - in those 100 words. Word choice is vital!
13th April 2024: Historical piece (500-700 words). For this exercise, 'history' is defined as a time before your own date of birth, i.e. something about which you do not have a personal memory. Pieces must be prose, but can be fiction or non-fiction.
11th May 2024: Story from a given first line (500-700 words). Our task is to prepare a story from a given first line. The line to begin your works with is, "The hall was scented with wood smoke and despair."
8th June 2024: Dialogue (500 words)
22nd June 2024: Summer social & 70th anniversary celebration
13th July 2024: Non-fiction piece (500-700 words)
10th August 2024: Poem (up to 40 lines)
14th September 2024: Piece of writing, fiction or non-fiction, inspired by nature (500-700 words)
12th October 2024: Workshop. Our 2024 workshop will be on mystery writing and will be delivered by Megan Taylor. Megan is the author of four dark novels and short stories. She lives in Nottingham, where she provides Creative Writing workshops and courses when she isn’t busy with her own stories. You can read more about Megan here.
9th November 2024: Stream of consciousness (500-700 words)
14th December 2024: A piece that involves a box in the attic (poetry/prose - 40 lines/500-700 words)
BURNLEY & DISTRICT WRITERS’ CIRCLE PROGRAMME 2025
11th January 2025: Annual General Meeting
8th February 2025: Monologue (500-700 words). Monologues have always proved a challenge and prompted lively discussion afterwards. Monologue: (from greek meaning 'single' and 'to speak'). A speech given by a single person to an audience and may be delivered within a play or directly to the audience sitting in the theatre. Example: the 'friends, romans, countrymen' portion of Julius Ceasar. It may help to practice performing your monologue in front of someone else, even if that is to yourself in the mirror.
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PREVIOUS EVENT PROGRAMMES
Our previous programmes have included the topics below. Why not use them to inspire your next piece?
Alternative Christmas story: - write a new Christmas story - can be poetry or prose! Word limit of 500-1000 words for prose and a maximum 40 lines for poetry.
Art of description - using only your senses describe a physical place, such as a market, a teenage bedroom, a pub, a hairdressing salon, a souk in Marrakesh, a stately home, a garden. Anywhere can be used, these are simply examples to get you started..
Blind date dialogue - write a piece showing the dialogue between participants on a blind date. The piece does not need to be exclusively dialogue and may include, for example, the individuals' thoughts, but the predominant content should be dialogue.
Character study: prepare a character study using a photograph of a face. Consider / include: a physical description, a back story, who are they, what are they, the context into which they fit into a story. Word count: maximum 500 words.
Children's story - The task is to write a children's story. In terms of word count, it was quite difficult to set a word guide for children's stories as it depends upon for what age people are writing. The recommendations were 500-700 words for stories aimed at older children, but many way well be under 200 words if they are aimed at very young children.
Dialogue: prepare a piece of dialogue. Brief narrative may be included.
Estate agent - channel your estate agent skills by choosing any unattractive, inanimate object and writing about it in a way that makes it sound beautiful. For example, it could be a rusty old lawnmower.
Factual article: write a newspaper / magazine report / article about a local (not necessarily to this area) cultural/folk/traditional event/custom.
Factual piece by quirky character: prepare a factual piece such as a traffic report, weather report or instruction manual for a simple task in the style of a quirky character.
Half a conversation: 'A redacted a conversation', a conversation between 2 people where you can only hear one side of the conversation (like you might hear a telephone call). The conversation should be completely intelligible to the listener from your piece. You should write the complete conversation and then redact / block out one half of it. It's not sufficient to write only one half, as then it's relatively easy to manipulate so that it makes sense to the listener. Writing out the complete dialogue requires a little more thought to render the surviving half intelligible. It also means, if we wish, the whole conversation can be read out afterwards.
Humorous description of an everyday, routine task: word limit 500 words.
Inspired by wikipedia - visit the free-to-access online encyclopedia wikipedia, select 'random article' (on a desktop view, this appears in the left-hand menu) and you will be taken to one of the many articles within the wikipedia site. It could be anything! If you don't like the first option, repeat the process until something inspires you. Any type of written work is accepted for this task (prose, poem, article etc but please don't use the wikipedia article as you find it!). The piece you write doesn't have to be on the same topic - the wikipedia article could simply be the inspiration. The choice is yours, or rather wikipedia's!
Letter to a literary character: please prepare a letter to a literary character from you (or vice versa).
Non-fiction piece: A non-fiction piece - free topic - write about anything! The only criteria are that it must be non-ficton and a maximum of 750 words.
Old opening line, new direction: choose an opening line from a famous book (or a book that most people have heard of) and use it to write an entirely new story.
Persuasive speech on a topic of your choice. Get on your soap box... what do you feel strongly about! ... nothing to incite violence! Word limit: 500 words.
Piece of writing (story/poem/factual) inspired by a colour/animal (randomly selected). The words to use are either the animal 'beaver', or the colour 'lilac' (not the flower lilac). Poetry or prose is acceptable. Fiction or non-fiction. Guidance of 500 words for prose, 40 lines for poetry.
Poetry:
Short story/poem from a picture prompt: use a picture as a prompt to write a short story or poem. The picture is just a prompt/inspiration/springboard for a piece of writing. You are not required to write about the picture. Please say how or why the picture inspired your writing. Word limit 500 words.
Short story: - using the given starting line, prepare a short story of approximately 500 words. The starting line is as follows, "It's early July, and one of those hot, muggy days."
Short story that includes a set list of words: - write a story of approximately 500 words in length and include the following words in your story: divorced, hair, hand, hunter, my, normality, she, soiled.
Story/poem inspired by a single word - INDIVIDUAL: The piece can be poetry or prose. The piece only has to be inspired by the word individual, it doesn't have to include the word. 500 word limit for prose. 40 lines for poetry.
View from a window: using the view from a window as your inspiration write , in poetry or prose, about the journey. The journey could be on transport such as car, train, bus. Or you could write about a view through the same window over a journey through time... Word count: maximum 500 words.
Workshops - Children's Stories (2023) and Dialogue (2022) delivered by professional from creative writing industry.
Sessions are 13:30 - 16:30 at Sion Baptist Church, Burnley.
New members are always welcome - visit our Contact page if you would like to get in touch.
Image: Leeds Liverpool canal at Reedley, Burnley. Image copyright Lisa Green 2023.
BURNLEY & DISTRICT WRITERS’ CIRCLE PROGRAMME 2024
27th January: Annual General Meeting - please note this is a change of date from 13th January.
24th February 2024 (postponed from 10th Feb): A story or poem inspired by a place. Poems to be a maximum of 40 lines. Prose to be 500-700 words.
9th March 2024: Flash fiction (exactly 100 words, excluding title). Any topic / subject matter. The word count must be exactly 100 words. The title is NOT included in the word count. The idea is to tell an entire story - beginning, middle and end - in those 100 words. Word choice is vital!
13th April 2024: Historical piece (500-700 words). For this exercise, 'history' is defined as a time before your own date of birth, i.e. something about which you do not have a personal memory. Pieces must be prose, but can be fiction or non-fiction.
11th May 2024: Story from a given first line (500-700 words). Our task is to prepare a story from a given first line. The line to begin your works with is, "The hall was scented with wood smoke and despair."
8th June 2024: Dialogue (500 words)
22nd June 2024: Summer social & 70th anniversary celebration
13th July 2024: Non-fiction piece (500-700 words)
10th August 2024: Poem (up to 40 lines)
14th September 2024: Piece of writing, fiction or non-fiction, inspired by nature (500-700 words)
12th October 2024: Workshop. Our 2024 workshop will be on mystery writing and will be delivered by Megan Taylor. Megan is the author of four dark novels and short stories. She lives in Nottingham, where she provides Creative Writing workshops and courses when she isn’t busy with her own stories. You can read more about Megan here.
9th November 2024: Stream of consciousness (500-700 words)
14th December 2024: A piece that involves a box in the attic (poetry/prose - 40 lines/500-700 words)
BURNLEY & DISTRICT WRITERS’ CIRCLE PROGRAMME 2025
11th January 2025: Annual General Meeting
8th February 2025: Monologue (500-700 words). Monologues have always proved a challenge and prompted lively discussion afterwards. Monologue: (from greek meaning 'single' and 'to speak'). A speech given by a single person to an audience and may be delivered within a play or directly to the audience sitting in the theatre. Example: the 'friends, romans, countrymen' portion of Julius Ceasar. It may help to practice performing your monologue in front of someone else, even if that is to yourself in the mirror.
*************************************************************
PREVIOUS EVENT PROGRAMMES
Our previous programmes have included the topics below. Why not use them to inspire your next piece?
Alternative Christmas story: - write a new Christmas story - can be poetry or prose! Word limit of 500-1000 words for prose and a maximum 40 lines for poetry.
Art of description - using only your senses describe a physical place, such as a market, a teenage bedroom, a pub, a hairdressing salon, a souk in Marrakesh, a stately home, a garden. Anywhere can be used, these are simply examples to get you started..
Blind date dialogue - write a piece showing the dialogue between participants on a blind date. The piece does not need to be exclusively dialogue and may include, for example, the individuals' thoughts, but the predominant content should be dialogue.
Character study: prepare a character study using a photograph of a face. Consider / include: a physical description, a back story, who are they, what are they, the context into which they fit into a story. Word count: maximum 500 words.
Children's story - The task is to write a children's story. In terms of word count, it was quite difficult to set a word guide for children's stories as it depends upon for what age people are writing. The recommendations were 500-700 words for stories aimed at older children, but many way well be under 200 words if they are aimed at very young children.
Dialogue: prepare a piece of dialogue. Brief narrative may be included.
Estate agent - channel your estate agent skills by choosing any unattractive, inanimate object and writing about it in a way that makes it sound beautiful. For example, it could be a rusty old lawnmower.
Factual article: write a newspaper / magazine report / article about a local (not necessarily to this area) cultural/folk/traditional event/custom.
Factual piece by quirky character: prepare a factual piece such as a traffic report, weather report or instruction manual for a simple task in the style of a quirky character.
Half a conversation: 'A redacted a conversation', a conversation between 2 people where you can only hear one side of the conversation (like you might hear a telephone call). The conversation should be completely intelligible to the listener from your piece. You should write the complete conversation and then redact / block out one half of it. It's not sufficient to write only one half, as then it's relatively easy to manipulate so that it makes sense to the listener. Writing out the complete dialogue requires a little more thought to render the surviving half intelligible. It also means, if we wish, the whole conversation can be read out afterwards.
Humorous description of an everyday, routine task: word limit 500 words.
Inspired by wikipedia - visit the free-to-access online encyclopedia wikipedia, select 'random article' (on a desktop view, this appears in the left-hand menu) and you will be taken to one of the many articles within the wikipedia site. It could be anything! If you don't like the first option, repeat the process until something inspires you. Any type of written work is accepted for this task (prose, poem, article etc but please don't use the wikipedia article as you find it!). The piece you write doesn't have to be on the same topic - the wikipedia article could simply be the inspiration. The choice is yours, or rather wikipedia's!
Letter to a literary character: please prepare a letter to a literary character from you (or vice versa).
Non-fiction piece: A non-fiction piece - free topic - write about anything! The only criteria are that it must be non-ficton and a maximum of 750 words.
Old opening line, new direction: choose an opening line from a famous book (or a book that most people have heard of) and use it to write an entirely new story.
Persuasive speech on a topic of your choice. Get on your soap box... what do you feel strongly about! ... nothing to incite violence! Word limit: 500 words.
Piece of writing (story/poem/factual) inspired by a colour/animal (randomly selected). The words to use are either the animal 'beaver', or the colour 'lilac' (not the flower lilac). Poetry or prose is acceptable. Fiction or non-fiction. Guidance of 500 words for prose, 40 lines for poetry.
Poetry:
- Inspired by the elements (earth, air, water, fire).
- Start a poem using a word of greeting, e.g. hello, goodbye, farewell.
- Write a poem with personification of seasons.
- A poem with the theme ‘Sound of Silence'. The sound of silence could be literal or more creative, e.g. thoughts in your head, things you'd like to say.
- A poem themed on 'Memory Lane'. Memory Lane could be used as a specific place or a journey through your own, or someone else's, memories.
- Turn a well-known poem into a short story (500 words approx). The poem can be a poem or nursery rhyme but it must be well-known.
Short story/poem from a picture prompt: use a picture as a prompt to write a short story or poem. The picture is just a prompt/inspiration/springboard for a piece of writing. You are not required to write about the picture. Please say how or why the picture inspired your writing. Word limit 500 words.
Short story: - using the given starting line, prepare a short story of approximately 500 words. The starting line is as follows, "It's early July, and one of those hot, muggy days."
Short story that includes a set list of words: - write a story of approximately 500 words in length and include the following words in your story: divorced, hair, hand, hunter, my, normality, she, soiled.
Story/poem inspired by a single word - INDIVIDUAL: The piece can be poetry or prose. The piece only has to be inspired by the word individual, it doesn't have to include the word. 500 word limit for prose. 40 lines for poetry.
View from a window: using the view from a window as your inspiration write , in poetry or prose, about the journey. The journey could be on transport such as car, train, bus. Or you could write about a view through the same window over a journey through time... Word count: maximum 500 words.
Workshops - Children's Stories (2023) and Dialogue (2022) delivered by professional from creative writing industry.
Sessions are 13:30 - 16:30 at Sion Baptist Church, Burnley.
New members are always welcome - visit our Contact page if you would like to get in touch.
Image: Leeds Liverpool canal at Reedley, Burnley. Image copyright Lisa Green 2023.