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York Amateur Writers

January 27, 2004
Gemma Ware

Do you secretly scribble away in your notebook late into the night? Have you been creating eloquent lines on your fridge with that magnetic poetry set you got for Christmas? If so perhaps York Writers is the place for you. This local group has been meeting for over twenty years in Guppy’s on Nunnery Lane and has become a thriving community for all sorts of aspiring writers. I asked Clint Wastling of York Writers to give me an insight into the group and what it does.

Once a week the group hold a workshop for those who want advice on their work. “People bring work in progress, read some or all of it out to the group and then receive constructive feedback and suggestions for possible markets. Anyone can comment, though with such a wide range of writing from poetry, novels, stories and articles sometimes one of our expert writers might take over.” With members such as this year’s president John Baker, an international novelist, and the respected poet Gillian Ewing, the advice that some of the published authors give can be invaluable to those just starting out. “Pieces of work which perhaps don’t work, or have problems of plot and structure can all be debated. Usually someone can find a way out of the dilemma. When a piece of work gets praise, it can really lift your confidence and possibly get you to try a publisher,” said Clint.

As well as the regular workshops the committee organise meetings and discussion groups to stimulate the members’ writing and to give them advice about how to get their work published. “Last year we discussed political correctness and dramatic writing and this year its letters to the newspaper.” Panels of experts and speakers come and talk about their particular field and the group have been visited by novelists such as Kate Locke and Martin Bedford as well as the poets Paul Mills and Nigel Forde.

Roughly every 18 months the group publish an anthology of some of the members’ best work and their most recent – ‘Experience York’ – contains stories, articles and poems all based in York. These ranged from accounts of the city’s ghost walks, to the history of famous people from York such as Flacius Albinus Alcuin, to poems and short stories set in the city’s streets. The anthology brings together a wide range of different styles from the journalistic to the bizarre – including an experimental poem written in phonetic Yorkshire. The anthology offers the members a chance to get their writing published and although the standard of the work is extremely varied, there are some interesting pieces of writing in its pages.

The group’s mission statement aims to ‘encourage writers of all abilities regardless of race, sexual orientation, disability, religion or political persuasion.’ Claiming that the age range was from “18 to 92”, Clint seemed enthusiastic when I asked what would happen if an influx of students invaded their Wednesday night writing haven, exclaiming “Great! Everyone is welcome.’” Those wishing to get expert advice on their writing in a relaxed atmosphere can go along and spice up some of the York Writers meetings. It can be all too easy to ignore what the city has to offer and remain cocooned on campus, but as students we can not only learn a lot from being in York, but we have a lot to offer it too.