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Writers' Forum Magazine Review

  • Writer: Robyn Weightman
    Robyn Weightman
  • Nov 28, 2018
  • 11 min read

Writers' Forum is a monthly magazine on 'How to write, What to write and Where to sell it.'

The magazine I will be reviewing is from October 2018, (it takes time to get it posted to Australia,) but the monthly magazine follows the same basic pattern with varying articles and focuses.

I highly recommend checking this magazine out as the articles are very well written by varied people and the information they give is invaluable. They also host many monthly competitions and give writing games and challenges. But that's just my opinion. Below I will go through the magazine article by article, and you can decide for yourself if you'd like to check it out or not ;)

P4: Headlines - News Front

This article is exactly what it says on the tin. People who read the magazine write in with news updates in the writing world that they've seen during the last month. The Amazon tax was a big report in this article as it effects all of the high street book shops (which, if you're like me, you love.)

There are also adverts for writers needed in other peoples work, workshop notes and some queries of help (i.e. a writer had lost their notes and wrote about what to look for and who to tell if someone found it.)

As a bonus, if you write to the magazine with a news update you can have a chance to win a years subscription. Pretty neat :) Your articles just need to be under 200 words. You can attach a good quality photo to go along side it. But you have to make sure if it is about an event that the dates are in the future so as to be useful to readers.

P6: How to write - Find like-minded people to help.

In this article, debut author Jane Lacy-Crane, interviewed by Kate Chapman, talks about her experience of becoming a debut novelist and what the most important thing for her was.

In this case, she talks about finding other writers and joining writing clubs as, for her, these helped to improve her writing and ultimately get published.

It's a very good read and provides a lot of information about Jane's personal experiences.

P8: Reader Letters - Writers' Circle

In the writers' circle, readers write to the magazine to discuss past articles, writing tips and funny stories. As always in this magazine, if you write in and are chosen as the head story, you win a free years subscription, (this magazine is great for rewarding its readers for their input.)

If you write a bad review about an article then the editor will write an apology or explanation discussing the problem you had with the previous article.

The winner in this months edition wrote an appraisal of an article from the previous editions 'Get started' page. In my personal opinion, this should not have won because as a reader of this edition I didn't get anything from reading their snippet. However, it was well written and gave a good outline of last editions read.

Lastly, this page has a writers' game called 'First Draft'. This is also submitted by a reader and if you're chosen you can win £25.

In the 'First draft' game, a reader submits around 250 words of a published work (not their own.) In this work, they have to create 20 grammatical or spelling errors. The game is to find these errors and correct them. A great way to practise your editing skills.

I really liked this game. Please check it out and if you do too I might even make a version for this blog ;)

P10: First Steps - Get Started

Douglas McPherson's article on the 'Living Wage' was very frank, honest and to the point. It talks about how only 1% of writers can live off their writing alone and goes through what these writers did in order to do this.

Douglas' suggests writing articles and short stories for magazines in order to get your name out there and stand a greater chance of your works being traditionally published. If you write to an agent and your name is already known in the journalism world, then you're far more likely to be chosen.

In the right bottom corner of each article, the journalists published work is advertised for you to check out. If you like the writing style you can read more :)

First favourite article.

P13: Likely Stories - Tales of my Guru

This is my second favourite article in the magazine. Tales of my Guru, by Hugh Scott, explains the meaning of flow in your work. But he does it by telling a story of himself speaking with his Guru. His Guru is a made up person who appears when he needs guidance, who frankly speaks to him and eats all of his food.

Scott's writing style is superb and so easy to read. He also has a book advertised in the right corner of the page, but his seems harder to get a hold of. However, if I find it i'm buying it.

By the way, his description of flow, (summed up,) is "when one event follows another, and there is no problem in understanding the relationship between the events."

P14: Marketing - It's a wrap

It's a wrap is a fun article amongst intense writing advice. For me, it was more like reading someone's summed up diary. Barbara Henderson explains creating a cinema-style book trailer and what she'd advise you do before and during the process to make it run smoothly.

P17: Advice - Dear Della

Dear Della is an agony aunt page for writing related problems. You can write in about problems you're having in your book or for advice about how to use resources or behave in the writers' world.

If an entry happens to relate to something that's happening to you, then it can be very useful. You might also find an entry which you didn't think you were struggling with but it turns out you needed to hear Della's advice.

P18: Children's Books - Writing 4 Children

This was mostly an advert for Karen, at Speckled Pen, publishing and editing services. But she did give some good information on voice. Stating that you should have a post it above your desk saying 'just be you' whenever you write.

P20 Freelance Market - The magazine Scene

This page, by Adam Carpenter, was all about journalism and which magazine's are currently doing well or not.

P22 Fiction market - Inside story

This is a great article about continuing your writing no matter how many rejections you get, and a wonderful plug for McPherson's short 'Castles in the sky,' (which I now really want to read.)

The article discusses the various reasons for rejections and why you shouldn't give up. It also gives some brief tips on the structure of short stories. Giving the suggestion that you can not just focus on one aspect of your protagonist's life but go through it all, just stick to a common theme throughout to keep the story tight.

Third favourite article :D

P24 Writing Exercise - Setting in the short story

Barbara Dyne's article on writing short stories is very useful and informative. She pin points the importance of setting the scene, even in a short story. Her article stands out because she gives many examples from famous pieces of work using this technique well, and also of what happens when the setting is not given.

Basically, if you don't set the scene your reader cannot picture where your character is. This can make the narrative either confusing or less dramatic. Both aren't good. Set the scene.

We're up to four favourite articles in this magazine now ;)

At the end of this article there is a Writers's Forum exercise, where you are challenged to write a short scene which introduces the character, setting and conflict, (like the start of a short story.) You are then asked to progress further and research a setting, writing what you might need to know in order to write about it.

This is both very useful and fun. You're given four characters to choose from for your story, may as well give it a try.

P27 The Business - Becoming a writer

Kath Kilburn has a very relaxed voice in her writing and gives some very vital advice about starting your marketing strategy early on in your writing career.

She advises designing a brand that suits you and reflects who you are and your stories genre. You must do this for your book covers as well as your social media presence and marketing.

I discuss this topic in my 'An Authors Guide to Social Media' blogs. Follow the links below to read my advice on getting your social media marketing schemes going ;)

An Authors Guide to Social Media P01;

https://crystalclearwritingonline.com/2018/10/17/an-authors-guide-to-social-media-by-robyn-weightman/

An Authors Guide to Social Media P02;

https://robynweightman32.wixsite.com/robynweightman/single-post/2018/10/17/An-Author%E2%80%99s-guide-to-Social-Media-%E2%80%93-P02-Content-Sharing-Hash-Tag-and-Fun?

P28 Short short writing - Flash Comp Results

This is a wonderful page showing the winning and runner up entries for the short short story competition, run monthly by the magazine. The winner gets £100. To enter is free if you are subscribed to the magazine, £5 if you are not.

Each month the topic for the short story changes, and they have very strict guidelines limiting either how or what you can write. In the September edition, writers had to enter a story explaining why the chicken crossed the road. But without becoming a children's book. The winning and runner up entries were both great reads by Kevin Cheeseman and Jennifer Bickley. Look them up ;)

For the next entry, the magazine has challenged writers to write a phone call with only dialogue, and from one POV (not responding dialogue.) But from that one character's dialogue you should be able to understand the whole story and find it interesting. In 400 words... Good luck!

P31 Inspiration - The writers' idea store

This article surprised me. As I read the title I thought Paula Williams was going to advise ways to brain storm ideas but instead she made a very interesting discovery. The setting of your story is very important and without it your readers can feel lost and unabsorbed. But it had never crossed my mind that travel blogs were the thing to read to see fantastic setting writing.

William's mentions blogger Jane Odriozola and Georgie Moon, both travel bloggers who are travelling the world. One with an orchestra by train, and another with her husband and dog by sea. The brief snippets put into the article of their work are beautifully written and you can really imagine where they are.

Truly inspirational.

A 5th favourite!

The page also has a fiction square game. You roll the dice and the numbers you role decide your characters traits, weather, location and object for your next story, (sort of like Cluedo.)

P32 New Column - Plays for Today: Monologues and Sketches

A very useful page if you want to get into, or are interested in writing plays. Pippa Roberts talks about where to begin, where to go and how to get to the finishing line.

P33 Achievement Chart

This is a great calendar, (in this case for the month of October,) where you can set and achieve your monthly, weekly or daily writing goals. The calendar advises to write a note of what you're going to achieve that day, and then complete it. It also provides an inspirational quote, just to get you started.

A larger version of this can be seen in my blog on DesignsbyLyons. Who makes yearly goals calendars where you receive a sticker for each day you complete a goal. Check her out!

DesignbyLyons article:

https://robynweightman32.wixsite.com/robynweightman/single-post/2018/07/27/Designs-by-Lyons?fbclid=IwAR335KHvoToEKfLjVIcuwwUYJmqj8UI3SLSiMbprmITXQRnu-se-WQXwGPE

DesignsbyLyons site:

https://www.facebook.com/designsbylyons/

P37 Story Comp - Writer's Forum Fiction Competition

This section features three short stories which have won the magazine's short story competition.

The winner receives £300, and in this edition was Charles W Warren with his short 'Spicy Food.' It's a good read. A murder. The foreshadowing is superb and the hook catching. It is not my usual read, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

The runner up receives £150, and was Sue Dawes with 'Treading Water.' After reading this short I still don't have an answer to the story. I found the three different names confusing. However, being inside the mind of someone who has been comatose and then bedridden for 18 months was very interesting and the writing was well versed.

The final story, coming in third place with £100 prize, was Sarah Mackey's 'Mrs Peacock and the Broad Bean Baby.' This was actually my favourite short out of the three. It follows a child's viewpoint, with a child's understanding. The story is dark and very intriguing, highlighting some ideas of living in a highly religious family.

This article is obviously a 6th favourite. Who doesn't like reading short stories?

At the end of the short stories, on p45, Lorraine Mace explains why she chose the three winners of the magazine's short story competition.

For me, all the stories had a theme of murder mystery and were all set in current society. Though the magazine says it accepts entries of any genre, I think the judge may have a preference ;)

In the Expect the Unexpected section of the magazine, Lorraine Mace explains why she chose the winning stories and gets into some detail of why they were good. It was a very helpful read to understand why they made it.

P46 Short Stories - Fiction Workshop

Lorriane's next article is very useful. She explains that every story needs a theme (this is different from a moral.) A theme is an underlying message that the reader can pick up on. An example of this would be "Rebel Against the World," such as in the Hunger Games. Or "Love Conquers All," such as in The Princess Bride.

The article then goes on to give feedback on one short story entry which didn't make the cut. Lorraine explains why and gives examples. In this case it is a short story which told rather than showed and was written without a theme.

P48 Travel Writing - Travel Writing Part Four, Business Matters

Solange Hando's article was very informative, (though it would have been better if i'd had the three previous parts.) Hando really gives a lot of information and for anyone looking into doing travel writing as a career it would be advisable to take it all onboard.

P50 Brainstorm - Writer's Forum Poetry Comp: Weather

Sue Butler challenges the poet readers to write a poem about the weather, but she gives hints on how to do it well ;)

On the following page are the results from the previous competition. For October, this was Jill Ruddock with her poem 'A Mekong Day.' She received £100 and a copy of the Chambers Thesaurus, (pretty sweet.)

Though i'm by no means a poet, I found these two articles very interesting and it was fun to have a think of Sue's tips in my head, (without shaming myself and writing them down ;) You'll never know!)

P55 - 57 are adverts for upcoming writing courses and festivals. Good to check some out.

P58 Motivation - The Mentor

The mentor focuses on answering a question submitted by a single reader. In this article, Emily Cunningham answers Christina's question about how to stop yourself over editing. It was a really interesting read and Cunningham uses others blog posts to give examples of advice.

The ultimate answer was to be freer with your writing. To not allow yourself to edit until you've written for 10 minutes straight and to let the real you into your work.

My 7th favourite article :)

P60 Author Know How - Research Secrets

Peter Robinson, a crime novelist, describes his research techniques. It's quite a useful read if you're struggling to know how much or how little research to do for your book.

On the side of this page is a short column called 'Writing Outlets.' Janet Cameron gives a few websites to look into that have writing tips or ideas for you to try out.

P62 Comp Calendar - Competitive Edge

Morgan Bailey interviews Jo Derrick about how to win a short story competition. And, as we know, the answer is getting that first paragraph right. It needs to catch the readers interest and be written correctly.

Jo then goes on to explain, for the stories which pass the first paragraph stage, what they do next. They need to stick in her head, by either a great setting, wonderful use of language or an interesting character.

If your story sticks, you win.

P66 Writing Rooms - Where I Write

The final article :)

For the last article, Phil barrington, interviews crime novelist, Leigh Russell, about where she writes. The answer; everywhere and anywhere. Leigh always edits at a desk as she likes to use two screens, but when she's writing it can be anywhere with a view of the sky. I can relate to this.

To conclude:

I loved reading this magazine. Thank you Bev Perrington for posting it out to Australia for us. Upon my return I will be subscribing and highly recommend people to check it out :)

Though a long blog, I wanted to make sure I gave as detailed a review as possible, so others can see if it has enough interest for them. I had 7 favourite articles, but most others I still enjoyed reading and found interesting.

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