NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO WRITERS WORKSHOP
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Who We Are
    • The Kouhi and Phillips Awards
    • 20 Years on Snowshoes - Anthology
  • EVENTS
    • LitFest >
      • LitFest 2025
      • Book Fair/Literary Market
      • LitFest 2025 Photos
      • LitFest 2024 Photos
    • Workshops >
      • Archives
    • Wednesday Words
  • CONTESTS
    • 27th ANNUAL WRITING CONTEST >
      • 27th Annual Contest rules
      • Contest Judges
      • Past NOWW Writing Contest Winners
  • CALENDAR
  • JOIN
  • CONTACT

Honest but Tactful ...by Susan Rogers

3/27/2017

0 Comments

 
“I’ve developed a thicker skin,” John Pringle told the gathering of 18 people who attended the NOWW Critique Workshop on March 14 at the Waverley Library. One of four members of the Thunder Bay Writers Guild who demonstrated their feedback techniques by critiquing two pieces of writing in front of the audience, Pringle said he’s benefitted from being part of the group “more than I ever thought I would.”
 
Pringle, who recently published his second collection of short stories, Spirals: Stories of Northwestern Ontario, and has won literary prizes from NOWW and the Canadian Authors Association, travels from Atikokan to attend the monthly Guild meetings. “You have people who are going to read your work and be honest with you,” he said.
Picture
Writers Guild members (left to right) Sherri Lankinen, Sue Blott, Deborah de Bakker and John Pringle at the NOWW Critique Workshop. (Photo: Jodene Wiley)
Guild president Deborah de Bakker talked about the commitment required to belong to a critique group. Each member of the group must contribute a story every four months. The other members are expected to read the stories ahead of the meetings and come prepared with both an oral and written response. Those critiques are “blunt”, she said, but must always be respectful and never include personal attacks.
 
“My writing is so much better because of the Guild,” said Sue Blott, a multiple award winner in NOWW Literary Contests. She likes the structure of having to write to a deadline. “That discipline is wonderful for me.”
 
A teacher by day, Sherri Lankinen, writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction. She has driven through snowstorms from her home in South Gillies to take part in the monthly evening critique sessions. “The biggest thing for me is motivation,” she said.
 
The Guild now has its full quota of 12 members. When a space opens up anyone who would like to join must submit samples of their writing, which are read by a selection committee.
 
Other Writing Groups in Thunder Bay
 
Another critique group in Thunder Bay is seeking members. Writers Northwest currently functions via email rather than meeting face to face.   This group also has an application process for joining. For more information contact [email protected].
 
Blue Sky describes itself as “a very humble writing group” that meets bi-weekly on Tuesdays at 4 pm at Blue Sky Community Healing Centre, 512 Victoria Avenue East. It is a group for experienced writers as well as newcomers.  For more information, call Cindy Crowe at 807-473-9851.
 
The Writers Circle meets at the Waverley library the last Wednesday of the month. It’s described on the website as having a “fluid” membership, welcoming new faces at every meeting. Here’s a link for more info: http://www.tbpl.ca/writers
 
 
Below are the guidelines John Pringle put together for how the Thunder Bay Guild operates.
 
On Giving Criticism

 
  1. Be positive. We are not in this group to undermine one another’s confidence or motivation.
  2. Be tactful. It ain’t what you say, it’s how you say it.
  3. Be honest. If something is fantastic, say so. If it just doesn’t work, then say so…but don’t trash it.
  4. Do your homework. Read the piece at least 2 or 3 times and give it some thought. Don’t come to the meeting unprepared
  5. Stick to the point.
  6. Try to be somewhat objective about characters and content. You may hate the characters and despise the subject matter but if the story is well-written and stirs up an emotional response then cast your remarks in a positive light.
  7. Come to the meeting as a writer. Writers make things up, create things on paper. We are not editors hell bent on following rules. Don’t stifle the magic. Break all the rules you need to, to keep the writing alive.
  8. Offer your advice as suggestions, not the one way and the only way.
  9. Ask the writer questions if you need clarification. Don’t always expect an answer.
     10. In this group the author always has the last call.
 
 

0 Comments

Meet Joan Baril ...

3/20/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
How long have you been a member of NOWW?

Many years. Can’t remember when I first joined.

What do you normally write?

I write literary short fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir, essays.

Do you have a favourite book or favourite author?

My favourite books change all the time. I read about a hundred a year. One or two always speak so strongly to me that I remember them and think about them long afterward. Here are a few: Any Human Heart by William Boyd, The Russlander by Sandra Birdsell, Sweetland  by Michael Crummey, The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy.

Some books are so powerful they explode in your hand. I felt this when reading In the Darkroom by Susan Faludi, or The Two Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby, two of my favourite books of 2016. But books are personal things. What one person loves, another person shrugs off. At the end of every year, I put a list of my favourites on my blog, Literary Thunder Bay. I try to limit the list to the top ten although sometimes it grows to the top fourteen or more. I sometimes add a separate list for non-fiction or for graphic novels which I love.

I love short stories and that leads first to Alice Munro. But there are others: William Trevor, Pushkin, Anton Chekhov, Katherine Mansfield, Margaret Atwood, Mavis Gallant. And we have some terrific short fiction writers in Thunder Bay such as John Pringle, Marion Agnew, Sue Blott and many others.

I listen to short stories that I find on the net. I buy audio CDs of short stories when I can get them. I believe you can learn a lot about writing from hearing a piece spoken.

Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you found your way to writing:

I started writing fiction quite late in life. My writing began with a column in the Northern Woman’s Journal about women’s issues and a weekly column in the Thunder Bay Source about immigrants. Then Herizons magazine in Winnipeg phoned and asked me to do an interview with Laurie Conger, a local musician. This assignment led to other interviews for Herizons. I loved talking to people, trying to figure out their motivation, get at their basic story.

My first attempt at short fiction described an ideological split in a women’s group. It was never published but I learned a good lesson. All the women I showed it to thought it was about them!  So I joined a writers’ group and let my writing colleagues do the critiques, one of the best ways to learn the craft. I now belong to three groups. They motivate me. Analyzing the work of others and listening to the comments helps me a lot.

Some people are so insightful they can put their finger right on the problem. The more you experience this and the more you write yourself, and the more you are open to criticism, and the more you read, the more you learn; and of this learning, there is no end. I am still learning stuff: about character, about interior voice, about structure, about slipping in the basic facts at the start. And I am sure there is more that I haven’t thought about yet, but one day I know I’ll go to a workshop which will shoot an entirely new concept into my brain.

One of the best things about writing is belonging to writing groups and book clubs and attending readings and launches.  I go to at least one writers’ conference a year and I always learn something of value. I’ve also spent time at writers’ colonies in Newfoundland, Arkansas, and Devon England. I like to travel so it is a bonus to add a writing event into a trip. It is a double bonus to hear writers like Joan Clark, Miriam Toews, Diana Gabaldon or Jack Whyte.

One thing I have learned to take with a pile of salt is the traditional list of tips for writers. Most of these so-called rules have been broken over and over by the best in the field. Show, don’t tell! I can hear Alice Munro laughing. She “shows” all the time as did the great master, Anton Chekhov. Write every day, another clichéd tip.  Says who? Everyone has to find the method that works.  A novel must have a certain structure. Rachel Cusk, in her recent wonderful novel, Transit, drop kicked that rule into the dumpster.

I have learned to evaluate criticisms. It’s a good exercise which forces you to think deeply what you are trying to do. Even a confusing or off-topic criticism may have a germ of good sense hiding in it. And it is good practice to listen even though you may not follow the advice.

I write a lot of stuff that has no hope of being published but who knows, an anecdote or a slight bit of story may be worked into something one day. I keep a journal, also a clichéd tip, but one that works for me.

Tell us a bit about your writing and what the process of writing is like to you:

Recently I have been working with memoir but it’s difficult because you have to be absolutely honest about yourself. You have to study yourself with all the courage you can muster. You also have to consider the historical circumstances of your life, not only your family background but the zeitgeist where chance has placed you.

Writing memoir feels like you are pulling your heart out of your body and cutting it up. But I believe that unless a memoir cuts to the heart, it is not worth doing at all. Brutally honest memoirs like Joe Fiorito’s The Closer We Are to Dying or Maria Campbell’s Half Breed stay with you forever while memoirs that pull their punches float away into the land of forgotten books.

Once I get an idea for a story, I can’t stop until I get it written down. Sometimes I stay up all night. But I am never sure if it is going to work of not. I put the story away for a month or two and sometimes I am happy with the way it reads later and sometimes not. My main problem as a writer is getting that original idea and then I’m off and running.

Basically, I’m a binge writer.

What are your favourite stories? What inspires you?

My favourite story, by far, is, “The Dead” by James Joyce. It is a layered story revealing several ideas and shades of meaning that aren’t necessarily apparent on first reading. This is my ideal story. It is like turning a beautiful vase around in your hands and seeing different lights and combinations of colours as it moves. Alice Munro does it perfectly.  I only marvel.
Like many writers, I sometimes use an event from my past and try to work it up as a story. I have written about my childhood habit of breaking into houses and the time I set fire to the staff room during my first year teaching

What inspires me? Real life stories. I love listening to people. A Ukrainian immigrant, a doctor, described her experiences during the Chernobyl tragedy. I did a lot of research and wrote a story called, “The Wolves Return” about that terrible event. I haven’t sold it yet, but you never know. I’ll keep sending it out.

An aboriginal friend related how all the children in her village were scooped and sent to residential school. All except her. She was helping her dad on the trap line at the time. With her permission, I turned it into fiction and “The Scoop” became my most reprinted story. I have read it in Newfoundland, Arkansas, England, Vancouver and elsewhere. It was published in Room.

For no good reason I became fascinated by Prime Minister Mackenzie King, a strange character indeed. The more I read, the weirder he got. The story, “The Monument” was published in the New Orphic Review.
​

In short, I follow my obsessions. That is the only way I know how to write.

0 Comments

Before you Submit ...

3/13/2017

0 Comments

 

Before You Submit
By Marion Agnew


This year, my short story “Demeter’s Easter” placed second in the Ten Stories High contest, sponsored by the Niagara Branch of the Canadian Authors Association, and is appearing in their anthology. How did a writer from Northwestern Ontario get a story recognized in that particular regional contest?

Here’s the short version: RESEARCH.

1. I wrote the story. This is where it all starts, right? I finished a short story. After that, I revised—as it happens, over the course of several years. My own craft skills improved with practice, so when I returned to it after a few years focused on creating new work, I could see and fix issues. I had also received useful feedback. (NOTE: NOWW is sponsoring a Critique Workshop March 14 on how to give and receive feedback on writing. You should attend! Check out the Events tab on the website.)

2. When I felt the story was ready to submit, I analyzed it. It’s a fairly straightforward narrative—a boy grows up, and the narrator is an adult woman (his mother). It’s set in a nonspecific “now,” in a nonspecific European-heritage culture in a vaguely North American city. It’s not experimental; there’s no magic, explicit sex, or gore. It was relatively short—2700 words or so—which is unusual for me (I blather on), so I had more options than for some of my longer stories. Many journals specify word limits—I’ve recently seen 1000 and 1200 for short fiction, with others at 2500, 3000, 3500, and 5000. A few still accept longer pieces, of 8000 to 10,000 words.

3. Based on research, I knew where this story would NOT fit—for example, any journal that looks for edgy work, historical fiction or science fiction, or dystopian narratives. I knew it was also a general story, which excluded journals with specific themes—stories of immigrants or belonging, spiritual awakening, true love, the apocalypse, rebellion, the environment, social justice, etc.

When I started creative writing, I looked to other people from this region. Where had they successfully placed short stories? I noticed that both Joan Baril and John Pringle had successfully entered this particular contest, so it was on my radar. “Demeter’s Easter” is my third short story to find success in this contest.

A side note: One of my early published short stories was set in the Grand Canyon. I tried it at three or four Canadian lit journals before investigating U.S. publications. Eventually, it was accepted by the South Dakota Review. I submitted it there because their guidelines said they looked for stories set in the North American West and Southwest.

Another side note: Years ago, I was contacted through Twitter by Suzannah Windsor, a Thunder Bay native living in Australia. She was in the throes of establishing Compose, an online literary journal, and was inviting submissions; they reprinted one of my short stories. Skip ahead several years, and the Spring 2017 issue will include my essay “Bypass Instructions”.

AND, note this: before submitting this essay, I researched recent back issues. Although I’d read the journal throughout the years, I couldn’t assume that my work still fit. Personnel changes; tastes change. Some literary journals are staffed by students, so three years can mean a complete change in staff and open the way to new aesthetics and focus. Plus, the zeitgeist in which we all create can change radically in a very short time.

So: RESEARCH is crucial to finding venues interested in publishing your work. Here are a few hints for finding those venues.

1. READ! Read literary journals, online publications, anthologies in which your colleagues’ work appears, NOWW’s magazine. Read in your genre, whether it’s YA novels, picture books, or steampunk. REMEMBER: Thanks to NOWW, the Thunder Bay Public Library carries issues of several literary magazines. PLEASE check them out, so that the library knows they’re used and they remain a resource for our writing community. 

2. LOOK BEYOND. Where else are people finding publication? For example, someday I may write something short enough and striking enough to land in Brevity, an online journal of brief creative nonfiction. Meanwhile, the writers’ bios list other places where their work has been published. I look at those publications online and read issues or excerpts. If I can see my work appearing alongside what’s there, I make a note to submit something.

3. THERE’S HELP. The Review (http://www.thereviewreview.net/) asks readers to describe the contents of several literary journals. (Compose received a good write-up there within the past few years.) Places for Writers (http://www.placesforwriters.com/) lists links to calls for submissions, contests, and journal guidelines and specializes in Canadian venues. I follow Submittable on Twitter (@Submittable), and they highlight various publications that are looking for submissions.

4. PERSIST. Keep writing, keep revising, keep submitting, keep track.

5. CELEBRATE THE PROCESS. Publication is great, but it’s not the only reason to celebrate your creativity. Pat yourself on the back each time you finish something, each time you revise a story, and each session when you actually sit down and express yourself in your chosen medium. These moments  make up a substantive, creative life.

Good luck!



Picture

Marion Agnew lives and writes in Shuniah, where she and her husband, Roy Blomstrom, spend a lot of time watching Lake Superior. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in literary journals in the Canada and the U.S. and in Best Canadian Essays (2012 and 2014). More information about her is at www.marionagnew.ca.

0 Comments

Support and How to Get It ...

3/6/2017

0 Comments

 

Group Support
by Sue Blott


 
You’ve written something—a poem, a short story, a chapter, a piece of creative nonfiction. Way to go!

You’ve read and reread it countless times and you’re sure it’s as good as it can be. Yes!

But now what? What’s the next step? For many people, it’s sharing the work with others.
​
Choose your others wisely—you want people who:


  • understand the writing process
  • write themselves
  •  read lots
  • produce work you respect
  • have empathy with your frustrations
  • can rejoice in your triumphs
  •  can offer helpful suggestions
  • support and encourage
​

Good writing groups fulfill all those qualities. After being so close to your work, of knowing and understanding everything you’re saying, you can easily miss things that other readers pick up straight away. Perhaps you’ve changed tenses unknowingly or tend to use the same phrase over and over or have similar descriptions too close to one another. Maybe you have little variation in your sentence length. Or your characters all talk the same. Whatever it is, you can be sure a good writing group will notice and set you on the right path without making you feel like a fool.

     The Thunder Bay Writers Guild is one such group. It’s been around for decades and consists of twelve members who meet monthly to critique each other’s work. As members critique the work of others, so they learn to hone their own editing skills. But more than anything else, a group such as the Guild keeps its writers writing. Members are expected to submit at least three stories a year; in fact the ability to regularly produce good quality writing is a prerequisite for becoming a member.

If you’re curious about how the Guild works or about their critiquing process or you’re interested in joining or forming a writing group yourself, come out to the next NOWW workshop on Tuesday 14th March at 7pm at Waverley Library. Four long time Guild members will be there to demonstrate their critiquing process and to answer any questions you may have. Perhaps it’s time to take your writing to another level.

Picture
Sue Blott has been an active NOWW member almost since its conception. She also belongs to the Thunder Bay Writers Guild (since 1999), LUNA (Lakehead Unfinished Novel Association) and ParaTactics poetry group. Her writing is greatly improved by the support and critiques from these groups. 

0 Comments

    NOWW Writers

    Welcome to our NOWW Blog, made up of a collection of stories, reviews and articles written by our NOWW Members.


    Archive

    November 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Who We Are
    • The Kouhi and Phillips Awards
    • 20 Years on Snowshoes - Anthology
  • EVENTS
    • LitFest >
      • LitFest 2025
      • Book Fair/Literary Market
      • LitFest 2025 Photos
      • LitFest 2024 Photos
    • Workshops >
      • Archives
    • Wednesday Words
  • CONTESTS
    • 27th ANNUAL WRITING CONTEST >
      • 27th Annual Contest rules
      • Contest Judges
      • Past NOWW Writing Contest Winners
  • CALENDAR
  • JOIN
  • CONTACT