“ If you become a member at Ayr
Writers’ Club then you may have a
chance of getting published.”
course at the University of the
West of Scotland is a strong
supporter of the Club. He has
published numerous short
stories, articles and essays
in magazines journals and
international collections. Since
2011 he has published three
books and is also currently
working on a variety of fiction,
non-fiction and screenplays.
Manderson is only one of a
wide variety of people from
successful writing careers who
come to the club to discuss
their experiences.
Occasionally there are feedback
nights, when everyone from
the group will give positive,
constructive criticism and
advice on the work that you
bring in. To prevent you from
working on your own work,
you anonymously bring in four
copies of one piece of work, you
are then given a number and
your work is given a different
number, then when everyone
has handed all the work in, it is
given out to different groups.
This is so that you don’t end up
analysing your own work.
Usually the week after the
speaker has visited; a workshop
night will take place. This is
where a member of the group
who has experience in a specific
category will stand up and talk
you through how to write for
that specific genre. Whether it
is book reviews, poetry, novels,
script writing, crime fiction or
non-fiction, the help is there.
You are then generally asked to
do a small piece of work and if
you feel confident enough, you
can read it out at the end. The
workshop nights generally run
alongside the speaker nights,
so if the speaker spoke about
poetry, then the workshop will
be about poetry.
At the end of the night, each
member of each group will
read out a title and their group
advice is read out loud. After
this, you have the option to
admit (or not) that the work
spoken about is your own.
THE STUDENT VOICE: EDITION 4
The club itself also holds nine
competitions throughout the
year. These vary each year but
generally there is a TV script,
poetry and a short story or
novel competition. There may
also be other genres like true
crime, drama and Scottish
articles. Each competition
will be judged by one of the
speakers or an independent
adjudicator. You can enter
any number of the nine
competitions for £3 each or you
can buy a season pass where
you can spend £20 to cover
all competition entries, which
saves you £7!
If you become a member at
Ayr Writers’ Club then you
may have a chance of getting
published. I myself have
only been at the club since
September 2014 and I have
been published into the Scottish
Memories magazine. This is
a magazine which regularly
publishes Ayr Writers’ Club
pieces.
If you’re interested in
writing anything, fan fiction,
screenplays, stories, poetry
or perhaps you run a blog?
I would suggest that you
come down and visit the club.
Check out their website (www.
ayrwritersclub.co.uk) see when
the next meeting is and come
along. We’re all looking forward
to seeing you!
From September 2015, the
Ayr Writers’ Club will be at
the Mercure Hotel, Ayr
Visit:
www.ayrwritersclub.co.uk
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