Discover Top Posts Tagged with #local writers

I will reread stories from any of these writers:

@carnivorouskiwi

@njckle

@peachwritestrash

They are the only 3.

#go read their stuff and educate yourself while youre at it #writers #local writers

Story Submission from @OctobersFallingLeaves.tumblr.com

When I was a little girl growing up in the late 1800s, life was simple, but there was this darkness. It was tangible. So much so superstition was the second religion to the good book. The supernatural was taught to us in ghost stories around the fire at night before bed. These stories were warnings of the things that go bump in the still night. When I was ten years old I started to see more for myself the things that couldn’t be explained away with reason. My first experience involved the town witch. She was this older woman named Ms. Smith who lived at the edge of town near where my home was. She had never married, or had children, and had lived alone as long as anyone seemed to remember. Ma said she wasn’t really a witch. That she was just a misunderstood old woman, and that I should leave her alone. Every school day I would have to pass by her house. She was always outside tending her garden in the morning, and the afternoon when I would return she would be sitting on her porch rocking in her chair. I would scurry by, careful to never make eye contact. My brother told me that if a little child looked a witch in the eye, they would be next to disappear and never be heard from again. He said that witches made a special brew out of the bones of children. One fall afternoon I was heading home from school. But the old woman wasn’t on her porch rocking like she always was. I didn’t think any thing of it, and just scurried on by like I always had. The afternoon progressed as it normally would. I changed out of my school clothes as soon as I got home, and put on my day clothes. Ones Ma wouldn’t be mad if I spilled something on while helping her with dinner. I did my chores, and set the table. Ma went out to the porch and rang the dinner bell to let Pa know supper was near done, and to come in and wash up. Which he did, along with my brothers. We set down to supper and Pa said the blessing. But before he could say amen, a strange knocking started at the front door. Pa, aggravated the blessing had been disrupted, stopped abruptly and went to see who was disturbing our dinner. Upon opening the door he was shocked to find an old mare. One he had never seen before. Knowing it wasn’t our immediate neighbors he shooed the horse off, and came back to the dinner table in hopes the horse would go back to where ever it came from since it was unsaddled and unbridled. Midway through our dinner, the knocking started again. Again Pa got up and went to the door. And again it was the horse. Irritated he shooed the horse off again. He could tell it was old, and sickly. May of even been wild. He closed the door and came back to the table. We finished supper in relative peace, and I cleared the table and me and sissy did the dishes. Ma started her mending by the fire. The boys went to the barn to finish evening chores, and Pa sat on the porch smoking his pipe. When the sun set Pa and the boys came in and sat by the fire. Pa picked up the book he had been reading, and the boys, I worked on our homework. Sissy played in the corner under Ma’s feet as she sewed on a pair of socks. A knock came on the door, and Pa grumbled about people having decency not to come calling this late. Upon opening the door he realized that the horse came back again. Getting frustrated with the animal he hit it trying to make it go away and not come back. The horse took of, and Pa closed the door mumbling about the crazy horse. The rest of the evening remained uneventful, and we all readied for bed. Just as Ma and Pa were settling in for the night a knocking started again. This time is sounded like the horse was going insane outside. It was kicking and hooving the door, and the house. Pa jumped out of bed running to the door. He grabbed the closest heavy object which was a hammer. The horse was crazed, as Pa opened the door, and tried to rush him. Pa in defense struck the crazy horse on its head hard. It stopped as blood ran down from the wound, stubble backwards and took off down the lane. The horse didn’t come back again. The next day was Saturday, and we didn’t have school. Ma was in the kitchen making a care basket to take down to Ms. Smiths. Ma said Ms. Smith had been under the weather, and she wanted to check on her. Ma also insisted I come with her. She said I needed to put this nonsense aside about Ms. Smith being a witch and see her for the sweet old lady she was. Ma knocked on her door, but there was no answer. Concerned, Ma looked through the window in to her bedroom. Her breath caught and she covered her mouth in a gasp. Ma ran back to the door and entered. I followed out of curiosity but to this day wish I hadn’t. Ma went straight to Ms. Smiths room. There we found Ms. Smith laying under her quilt. Her head looked as if it had been hit very hard with something, and she was dead. Ma turned me around out of the room as quickly as she realized what I was seeing, and had me run to get help from Pa. The next few hours were a whirl wind of activity at Ms. Smiths home. The Sherriff came and everything. It was determined that Ms. Smith had been murdered in her sleep, by what he thought was a hammer. Later on me and my brother were talking and we both think that Ms. Smith being the witch she was sent her specter in the form of that horse for help because she was sick. And it was Pa unknowingly who killed her, when he hit the horse on the head with that hammer.

#submissions #scary stories #creepy #creepy stories #halloween #local writers #northalabamaspoops

Each reader gets 5 minutes. Sign up at the door. Bring your words, get heard!

Where: The Gloucester Writers Center, 126 East Main St, Gloucester, MA

When: 7:30pm February 6th, 2017

***Our Open Mics are held on the first Monday of each month***

Found this book at a local bookstore. I want to be a good ally and it’s done by local artists.

#non binary #trans pride #trans #local writers

His real identity is probably one of Singapore's best-kept secret.

#local #local writers #true singapore ghost stories #nostalgia #what you used to pass around in primary school to read

Drink Coffee & Help Writers!

There is still time to support the Napa Valley Writers' Conference. Stop in our Downtown Napa location by the end of July and purchase a bag of the Napa Valley Writers' Conference blend. 20% of your purchase will be donated back to the conference. This unique blend was created with writers in mind giving you the wake up call you need in the morning and keeps you going the rest of the day.

The Napa Valley Writers' Conference Blend contains two of our Indonesian coffees mixed with one from Guatemala making a blend is low in acidity, nutty and sweet.

Mark your calendar on Wednesday August 1st to head to our St. Helena location for a Caffeinate and Donate event. 15% of your purchase will be donated to the conference. Between 3:00pm and 4:30pm you can hear participants of the conference during the Open Mic! We hope to see you!

#Napa Valley Writers' Conference #Caffeinate and Donate #Coffee and Writers #Local Writers #Napa Valley Open Mic

The Perfect Twist – with Jack Heath at the ACT Writer’s Centre

On Saturday 17th February I attended an all-day course with Jack Heath, local Canberra author, at the ACT Writer’s Centre. Jack has published over 22 books for kids, teens and adults. The course was called The Perfect Twist and focused on plot.

Jack talked about how plot, setting and character need to be woven together equally to evoke emotion and maintain the reader’s interest for the entire story, and leave them wanting more. Jack likened this to a tripod – each must balance the others out or your tripod won’t stand.

He talked about how an engrossing story should have the following elements:

The characters has goals;

The reasons for those goals are revealed;

But ever-worsening obstacles appear,

The character comes up with increasingly risky strategies to deal with the obstacles; and

Eventually they are successful.

He discussed how it is also important to include suspense and surprise, escalation, contrast and balance. As these help the reader from becoming numb.

During the day we did two short writing exercises. For the first one we were given three cards with random words on them to create a story from. For the second we were told to escalate a problem then resolve it, and given the first sentence we had to start with. We had seven minutes each time to write a story from these prompts.

This was a really fun way to get your brain into gear and get the words and story ideas flowing. It has given me some good ideas for future when I may be stuck with a story or in need of an idea or character. By using randomly generated words and scenes it opened up a whole lot of new ideas that I usually would not have thought to write about and explore.

We then talked about how there are no longer any truly original ideas any more – but if you take a separate idea for the plot, the setting and the character from already existing ideas and mix them together then you will have an original combination that has not been written before. An example that Jack gave of how to do this was to think of three books you enjoyed and the take the character description from the first, the plot idea from the second and he setting from the third.

While Jack was working on his latest adult novel Hangman he came up with the following tips for making readers forgive unlikable/anti-hero characters. His character Timothy Blake in Hangman is just as terrible as the inmates on death row he is dealing with but Jack was determined to learn how to write a terrible character that people could still relate to and enjoy reading about.

Tips for Writing Unforgiveable Characters:

1. Guilt – if the character feels at least some guilt about what they have done the audience are much more forgiving.

2. Suffering – make the character suffer for their bad choices (both their past choices and also their future choices.)

3. Recognisable – people are more likely to forgive someone they recognise or identify with – give them something they can relate to.

4. Skilled – people are also more forgiving of an unlikeable or morally grey character if they prove themselves useful.

5. Selfless act – have your character do at least one selfless act.

This was the most interesting part of the course for me, as I had been so compelled by Hangman when I read it. I was so impressed that Jack was able to write about such a horrifying/gruesome main character and make it so enjoyable. To pull off such a twisted/sick protagonist and make the reader experience his two sides and still see some good in him takes real skill. Not for the faint hearted but a gripping, thrilling read that I could not put down. This book keeps playing on my mind, because when I was reading it I found myself connecting with the main character Timothy Blake and feeling sorry for him. I also found him a really intriguing character that draws you in. I would then find myself shuddering in horror a few pages later when his “addiction” would take over. Intense but thrilling book that I’ll be recommending. (Although with the caveat: don’t eat while reading it…!)