At the BWC, we’re a keen bunch. We share our scrawlings three times a week: on a Tuesday evening, Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon. Of course you don’t have to come to all three meetings every week (though some do!); the main point of having three separate meeting times is to provide a little flexibility. Following Nick Hogg’s recent marketing push for Thursday evenings, we’re now going to hear from Jack Gilbey on the virtues of Sundays.
Couldn’t find a decent picture of Garden City Brasserie, so instead here’s a picture of something you might find there…
“The Sunday writers’ group is slightly different. For one thing, the daylight start time is ideal for the Cinderellas in our group (though less attractive to the vampires among us). For another, this group is sometimes the setting for workshops. In the past, we have had workshops on writing speculative fiction, writing from the perspective of the other gender, performing stand-up comedy (complete with mike!) writing about zombies, and satirising another member of the group.
In our workshops (which will usually be announced by the previous Tuesday if you are on our mailing list), the usual format is as follows: advance warning ensures that those of a nervous disposition can prepare themselves. On the day, there is an introduction to the subject, followed by examples of the desired text, and then we have spontaneous writing. There is a brief/scenario to write about, then we each write a piece (or pieces), there on the spot, for 15-20 minutes (sometimes longer). After that, we then take turns reading our pieces aloud and letting others comment on them.
We have been attending Garden City in the centre of Brussels, which, as its outdoor name suggests, has been really rather lovely as a summer location. It has plenty of room inside, and, if we make up more than half the numbers, we can have the music inside turned down, too…
Some possible future workshops might be:
- Writing in the style of a well-known author
- Writing about our first/a very distant memory
- Characterisation
Suggestions for future workshops are welcome. Look forward to seeing you there soon!”
Brussels Writers' Circle 