Yorkshire Writers' Lunch

  Hi all!  This is my first post here. I wasn't sure what to put initially until I remembered a few snippets I wrote during a workshop at the Literature Festival recently. The workshop focused on setting, and how setting can build the atmosphere of your scenes. This is in three parts - and gets a little dark.  The front room was dark when Suzie got home. That wasn't surprising, but she was shocked to see full bottles of ale on the side table. So, Jim hadn't come home yet. If he had, those bottles would be empty. rolling on the floor abandoned. She took off her bag and set to work on dinner. Focused on chopping the vegetables, she jumped when the door suddenly shook with a loud banging.  "Damnit Suzie! You better open this door!" Thomas's voice resounded through the door and filled the small home. The landlord was impatient. His fist brayed on the door, the wood creaking under his fist. "Jim drank the rent money again and ran off. You better give me someth...

In case you haven’t already heard, there’s a new Scrabble game around. On one side, you can play the original version, complete with lonely but aggressive determination to win at all costs. On the other, you play as a team, get helpful hints, challenges that you work through together and win as a group, even though yours may be the only group playing. My first reaction was: ‘what’s the point?’ Playing the original Scrabble game can help children to learn how to win and how to lose; improve their vocabulary and develop skills in strategy when they realise they can add S to to their opponents ‘Boxer’, thus gaining sixteen points for only one letter. My second reaction was that today’s youngsters are too afraid of losing to enjoy challenging their friends or family, too bothered about what other people think of them or too afraid that someone will post something derogatory on social media. And then I thought again. Playing as a team, you learn to work as a team, vital f...