Welcome to the Vision Writers webpage.
We meet on the first Sunday of every month, Feb – Nov.
Venue: Brisbane Square Library
266 George St,
Brisbane Queensland
Australia 4000
The meeting room we use is 1.9
Time:
11:00am – 2:00pm
If you’re thinking of coming along to a meeting, consider joining the VISION Discussion List (Yahoo! Group) to check on meeting times and ask questions.
May’s meeting was a grand affair. Sixteen attendees (including myself) and Seven submissions to fly through. We had Three new faces which, considering one drove all the way from Toowoomba, was way beyond what I expected.
I am beyond speechless at the variety of submissions we receive each month, and believe me when I tell you, if we were to put together an anthology it would never be able to be pinned down as anything except broad spectrum Speculative Fiction. You never quite know what you’ll be reading next. Very exciting!
Now I had a couple of people ask me after this meeting what our take home lesson would be this month, and I decided to look at when is the right time to end a chapter.
We had a sleep epidemic on our hands this month and, as was pointed out, this is the perfect chance for your reader to close the book and do the same. Certainly NOT what you want happening.
The idea is to force the reader to be driven on by a cliff hanger, a point of view change or a plot twist that they decide, ‘Just one more chapter’. The trick is to do this at the end of each chapter so your story becomes The book you can not put down.
Rowena Cory Daniells *co founder of vision* is a master of the art of the cliffhanger chapter endings.
The idea I’m getting from some online research is that the cliffhanger doesn’t even need to be an action sequence. It just has to be enough of an urgent situation that by turning the page there may be some sort of resolution.
Will it be what you expected? Dun Dun DUUUUN!
This quote I took straight from writersdigest.com
“A good rule of thumb: Ask yourself, How can I end this part so that the sleepy reader is compelled to keep the light on, if only to see how some crisis turns out or how some crucial question is answered?”
Have a marvelous May everyone. Keep making pages!!!
I am in shock that we’re already 4 months into the year.
Time really does fly when you’re having fun, and we certainly had plenty of that this meeting.
Ten of us all up and one lovely new member came in to check us out. We missed the few who couldn’t make it and hope that they’ve had a brilliant day regardless.
Our take away lesson this month was all about passive voice.
Here’s a little pic thanks to auwritingcenter.blogspot.com.au
Any input from people who attended the meeting today is most welcome.
An Active voice will make a story easier to understand and more interesting to read. Keep that in mind.
Have an awesome April everyone. Keep making pages!!!
At a Vision Writer’s meeting that is.
With so many new faces in recent meetings I thought I’d take a few moments to publicly answer some of the more common questions I get asked before a meeting by first time attendees.
#1 What do I have to bring?
Yourself. The rest of it is optional, though I do suggest bringing a pen and notebook with you, as there is always useful information floating around the room.
#2 Do I have to critique at my first meeting?
Not at all. However if you have joined our yahoo message board, and feel comfortable doing so, you will find the stories we’ll be critiquing in the Files area.
#3 Are there any rules I need to be aware of?
We’re gathering to give constructive criticism on stories people may have been working on for years, so respect is really the foundation of it all.
#4 Is there an age limit?
We’re not always critiquing content suited to a young adult audience. I would suggest anyone under the age of 17 have their parent or guardian join the message board and decide if the content for that month is suitable reading for the maturity level of their charge.
We would also ask for that parent or guardian to attend the meeting to decide if it is suitable for their charge to be in attendance.
#5 Does it cost anything to attend Vision Meetings?
Not currently. In the past meetings have been held in coffee shops and other assorted venues that may have incurred a cover charge.
For the last four years or so we’ve been meeting in Libraries which is free of charge, unless we collect membership fees or donations. So we refrain from asking for money and we get our meeting space for no cost.
Hope this all helps a little. Keep making pages!!!
Without proper description, characters may as well be teapots.
We had 3 new members at this month’s meeting, and I was so pleased to see 2 of the 3 new people from February weren’t put off; not only coming for a second helping, but both added to our submission pool for this month.
We ended up with 14 in attendance and 7 submitting members to critique.
To give everyone a fair chance we introduced timed critiques for the first time, and it worked out really well.
Our take away lesson this month was to add description to characters, especially in a crowd situation, so it gives the reader a more real experience.
The member who was pointing this out during here critique, mentioned that until there is description, she thinks of them all as teapots. This may have made us giggle, but upon further reflection it makes perfect sense.
How many of you are plagued by teapots in your story?
Have a magnificent March everyone. Keep making pages!!!
What a brilliant start to the year.
Members, new and old, gathered at our meeting room at the Brisbane Square Library on the 3rd of February.
There were news updates, introductions and tales of destruction and survival from ex tropical cyclone Oswald.
We got down to business with 5 submissions to critique, and with 12 of us in the room, the information and brain power was quite electric.
I have a feeling we’re going to need to request extra chairs at our March meeting, as we hope to have some of our regular attendees from 2012 returning to the fold.
The caliber of the submissions just keeps getting better and better… though the one lesson we all have to be aware of is “Show, don’t tell.”
I can not wait to see what is submitted for our March meeting.
Have a fantastic February everyone. Keep making pages!!!
X Belinda
Meetings have been continuing!
The September meeting is on Sunday, 4 September 2011 at room 2D of the State Library at South Bank from 11 to 2.
The October meeting will be on 2 October 2011, and the November meeting (the last official meeting for the year) is 6 November 2011.
At the November meeting we will vote in the exec for 2012, so please consider nominating!
Welcome to 2011!
We have a different venue for our first meeting on Sunday 6 February 2011. Usually we meet at the State Library but it is closed because of the floods.
Location: For Sunday 6 February 2011 only we are meeting at the Brisbane Square Library in room 1.9. The Brisbane Square Library is in the new BCC buildings at the top of Queen Street Mall opposite the Treasury Casino.
Time: The time is the same as usual: we start at 11am and go until 2pm unless we run out of stories earlier. Then the survivors go for coffee.
Fee: There will be no fee for this first meeting. We will have a small fee of $2 for future meetings to cover admin and opportunities. There is no fee for this meeting because of room hire requirements.
Stories: Stories for critique can be printed and read before the meeting. They are uploaded at the group file page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vision-writers/files/.
Questions? Likely to get lost? If you have any questions about location, or have technical difficulties, or want a phone number in case you get lost, please contact the Vision email list. You will need to be a member to do this (or access the stories). You can apply here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vision-writers/files/
At our last critique session on 7 November 2010, we held our Vision AGM. The new executive are as follows:
End of year picnic: We voted not to have the Christmas party at the old venue as, while pleasant, it was difficult for some people to reach. A more central venue was put forward, and it was decided that the party would be from 11am-2pm, Sunday 5 December 2010, meeting at Roma Street Parklands at the amphitheatre – contact the list in advance for a contact number in case you can’t find us. To bring: Food, and a contribution to the Picnic Challenge.
Picnic challenge: There is a folder on the group site called Story Scraps. Please contribute strange story fragments or ideas you have lying around but haven’t used – if you can’t upload them, give a cry for help on the list and a member of the exec will add them. The challenge for the meeting is to write and bring along a 500 word piece based on/combining at least two of the scraps. There may be prizes.
Meeting fee: We have not been charging a fee for the meetings since we moved to the State Library. At the AGM, we decided to charge $2 per meeting. This will be put towards emergencies, special projects, prizes, gifts for guests, parties or so forth as the need arises. This will also give Tim something more to do at AGMs, although we did audit his report this year by making him shake the pencil case of funds. There is no charge to join the email list.
Free of malware, and in a sexy new format, the Vision Writers site is finally live again!