Then just turn up to Willesden Green
Library Centre (click here for map) any Thursday at 8pm. There will be signs within the Centre directing you to the room or ask any member of
the security staff.
We LOVE creative writing, both narrative (fiction and non-fiction) and poetry.
You can have a look at the Monkey’s Typewriter, our award-winning anthology, to
see the kind of writing that flourishes within the group (we can give you a
free copy when you turn up).
It may be helpful to point out the things that we are less excited
about:
· technical papers
· papers for school or university work (unless it is a creative writing course)
· writing for very young children (but something for older children, that might appeal to adults would be welcome)
· illustration-based work (we are inexperienced at criticising comic strips or graphic novels)
· straight-forward diaries or blogs (unless these are essentially telling a story and the format is a device)
· journalism (we are not experienced at looking at work that is intended for newspapers or non-literary magazines)
· religious sermons or works that seek to proselytise
· racist or otherwise bigoted pieces, where the intention is not to create art but to insult
· pieces that have already been published or which the author is not interested in improving - the group is about improving one’s work, not seeking out praise. Similarly, if you write autobiographical work, no matter how sensitive the material, it will be judged as a piece of narrative writing. We will not go easy on you just because you have written something traumatic. We are not therapists!
We are sorry about all these caveats, but it is better to make matters clear
right from the start so that we waste neither your time nor ours.
To become a member, simply turn up, see how you feel about and read something
out (not necessarily on you first visit if you don't feel like it). We will
judge you on how you participate - how you contribute feedback, how you take
feedback on your work, and how you improve it.
We accept that people will write the odd dud, which will end up in the bin (we
all do it) and sometimes a piece will not work. We want people to improve,
which is what the group is all about…It is our experience that when people come
each week and are not able to evolve or improve, reading the same thing over
and over, or reading out pieces which all suffer from the same basic problems,
this quickly becomes boring and causes good members of the group to drift away…
We like new. Everyone likes new. Come along and maybe we can make new together.
Thank you.
We hope that you will join us. If you have any questions, please contact Anne on info[at]willesdengreenwriters[dot]com or Bilal on altahafut[at]hotmail[dot]com.