Notes of Our Latest Meeting

Our meeting of 7th Aug 2025 was a manuscript evening.

First to read was Denise who wrote a piece based on a picture by Manet of the bar at the Folies Bergere. The barmaid, Susanne, is the main character who is looking out on the clientele and describes the actions of the tarts who all started out with high aspirations of a better life, but most of whom will end up like her, scraping an existence, with a price tag on their bodies. A friend of hers, Amy, flies on a trapeze, watched by the punters who stare at her skintight green costume. A man by the bar picks up an orange. Then She follows the man at the bar into the dark labyrinth of the tables. The members commented that it had an excellent ending which fitted perfectly with the characters and their situation.

Next was Peter with “Silent Whispers” about a character, Jason, who starts to hear faint noises after he has his ears syringed. He fails to locate the source of the noises and gradually they change into voices with comprehensible words. Eventually his frustration causes him to shout at the noises to go away, whereupon the voices make it clear that they have heard him and Jason decides his only choice is to run away and find some earplugs to give him some peace. Members helped with suggestions as to which sections could be trimmed to ensure that the word count was within the limit set for submission. Then Joan read “Remembered for Ever” as the main character, Alice, went into the secret entrance to Harrogate Theatre balcony at midnight on the tenth of December. No lights were lit as she climbed to the balcony. She looked down from the balcony and contemplated her fate as she fell. Her body had been moved, but Alice is still there in spirit as she roamed the theatre.

The members then had a discussion about how we organise our writing submissions.

Our next meeting on 21st August is a 800 word Dialogue competition. Please note this is a Thursday again. Apologies and we will revert to Wednesdays on the following meeting. Details of our programme can be found online at https://harrogatewriterscircle.weebly.com. If you want to improve your writing then why don't you pop into the next meeting.