November: NaNoWriMo
Join Sisters in Crime to “sink 50K” with the #SinC50K National Novel Writing Month Challenge! NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. This annual event takes place in November, and the goal is to get 50,000 words written during the month. The organization helps you reach that goal by creating community support, badges for participation and other events to support you as you get that draft done! Learn more about #SinC50K, including how to register to get weekly encouragement and prompts and emailed invitations to all our planned activities, including write-ins, webinars before and after November, and a special event to celebrate at the end of the challenge.
November 12: Flash Fiction – Murder at the Manor
7 PM on Zoom
Murder at the Manor features your stories (maximum 250 words) based on writing prompts from Agatha Christie novels. You can build on any of the following first sentences from her books:
- Mrs. Ferrars died on the night of the 16th—17th September—a Thursday. . .
- I was standing at the window…looking idly on the street below. . .
- Mrs. Oliver looked at herself in the glass. . .
- Everybody has been at me, right and left, to write this story. . .
- It was in June that I came home from my ranch in South America for a stay of about six months. . .
Feel free to write in any style you wish, be it cozy, noir, thriller, etc. Members will be able to read their flash fiction at the meeting. So, sharpen your daggers and pencils—this should be an exciting meeting full of skullduggery, detection, murder and mayhem in only 250 words.
December 10: Build a Story Together!
7 PM on Zoom
Writing is a solitary activity, so to celebrate the end of 2020, we are going to Build a Story Together. We will start with a brief, “surprise” description of a person, place or situation. After launching the story, the narrator will stop in mid-sentence and wait for someone else to add to the storyline with several, inspired sentences (up to 15 seconds worth), stopping in mid-sentence to turn the narration over to someone else.
For example: John was sitting on the bulkhead looking out at the water. It was late at night, but there was a full moon. He could make out something floating toward him. It looked like . . . (next person) a log or—could it be? He had never seen a dead body before, but the object coming in his direction . . . (next person) . . .
The story building continues until each participant has had an opportunity to say something and a coherent story has been formed. (Participants can respond more than once if there is time. To make it more challenging, we will provide a random list of words to include in your contributions to the storyline whenever possible.)
NOTE: Holiday cookies will be served—but you must bring your own. Sorry.