DH Lawrence in Cornwall…

 This WEA course starts on 26 Feb. It’s for 6 weeks and costs £48. Wed afternoons at Liskerrett Centre. 1.30 – 3.30pm. Phone number – 01872 320036 to enroll. I think it’ll be very helpful when it comes to writing our WW1 stories.

 

NEXT MEETING 28TH JANUARY ’14

We’ll be at the Liskerrett Centre, Liskeard at 7pm on Tuesday 28th January to discuss the forthcoming Course on WW1 Stories, which will again contain a Caradon theme. New aspiring writers are encouraged to join us. Once again, we are fortunate in having Lianne Crocker as our Tutor to support this project.

Please come along – or maybe  you know someone who might be interested?

We want to stress that we will be focusing on the people back home in the Caradon area, as well as the more usual Military aspects of the conflict. So often, life at home during wartime is forgotten. Although essentially fictional, all our stories will be rooted in fact.

The writers will, through research, interviews, visits and discussions, build a factual base on which to write their stories. They will then be able to present to others- such as schools and societies- what they have discovered.

We hope to ensure that sacrifices made in the Great War are not forgotten. As writers, we want to keep our local history alive.

First World War Stories.

Our next project will be short stories based on the First World War. We will be looking into other work by famous UK authors such as Katherine Mansfield and Ernest Hemingway, and researching the families in Cornwall affected by WW1.

Mining for Words

And here we all are! Thank you to everyone who attended the launch of Caradon Writers first publication. It was a fantastic evening! (More pics to follow!)

around Caradon Hill

near the cheesewring

Around caradon Hill

Cheesewring quarry

around Caradon Hill

Golddiggings, near Minions

Welcome to The Caradon Writers Group blog!

The short story is one of the most stirring and significant literary forms, which should be celebrated, valued and subsequently reach a wider readership. It is an art form and requires serious craftsmanship. Compared to other genres, the short story is often overlooked and considered a poor relation regardless of the challenges that writing succinctly presents. The necessity of making every word count and often leave much to the reader’s imagination ensures that indeed, this genre is far from an easy option. To compress or condense a narrative can prove to be a tricky process: however, just as when a chef slowly and carefully reduces his stock, seemlessly intertwinning all of his ingredients to make a sticky jus, the results can be powerful, delicious and very memorable. Arthur  Quiller-Couch wrote in his introduction to Cornish Tales by Charles Lee about the notion of fitting the tale to its correct frame: ‘…An old Dutch painter would assume his client to know the different sizes of canvas required for a kitchen interior and a sea-fight.’

 

This challenge was one put to a group of aspiring writers in south-east Cornwall. A twelve week workshop/project was devised and the writers were each given a very small canvas and instructed to choose a particular period. The project was funded by the Caradon Hill Area Heritage Project and was prompted by the recent publication: The Francis Boutle Book of Cornish Short Stories (2010) edited by Alan M. Kent and Derek R. Williams. The project’s aims were to encourage more writing in this neglected form, alongside appreciating and researching the plethora of history and heritage within the area.

The Caradon Writers Group, set up by creative writing tutor Lianne Crocker and funded by CHAHP, will be publishing their first anthology of short stories next month.