Vi Brown invites interested people to join Oliver Scribblers, the new writing club in town. (Dan Walton photo)
If you’re a writer or ‘wannabe’ writer, you may want to consider joining a new writing group in Oliver.
The group – Oliver Scribblers – will focus on honing writing skills through “short short stories” (also known as flash fiction). They’ll focus on various aspects of writing including grammar, punctuation, word usage, phraseology, point of view, style and more.
“It’s always more fun to have a goal when embarking on something new. The goal of Oliver Scribblers will be to produce an anthology in a physical book form,” said head Scribbler Vi Brown.
The group will also register with the Federation of BC Writers, she pointed out.
For those not familiar with flash fiction, here is a brief description:
A flash is a story with a beginning, middle and an end in approximately 1,000 words or less. It’s not just a matter of writing something and then trying to reduce the number of words. It’s deceptively complex. It involves painting a picture that encompasses a mystery or twist with an emotional impact. It means selecting the right words with the right shades of meaning without strangling the plot of characters.
Writing flash is not a fad, it’s an art. Some contemporary flash writers include Meg Pokers, Sherrie Flick and Stuart Dybek.
One of the masters is Hemingway. Here is an example of Hemingway’s famous six-word story – “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” The last two words evoke a powerful image – grieving parents coping with tragedy and writing this classified ad.
Developing skills to write flash is an excellent basis for other writings – novels, memoirs, family histories, business letters, letters to the editor, essays and biographies.
If you are seriously interested in sharpening your writing skills, join Oliver Scribblers. The first meeting will be held Saturday, Nov. 5 at the Oliver library at 11 a.m.
For more information, contact Brown at [email protected]
Brown is a member of the Federation of BC Writers. You can check her profile at bcwriters.ca under “our members” and the member directory.
By Dan Walton
