As a society, we love to read – from books, magazines, newspapers and brochures – to the information available to us on televisions, computers, tablets and phones – and, of course, to websites such as the one you are currently viewing.
We are inundated with words.
The information we gather from the many mediums at our disposal these days can be used to educate, to stimulate, or purely as a way of relaxation.
Did you ever think about what went on behind the scenes to bring it all to life?
A new group in Oliver is hoping to stimulate the minds of would-be writers, and publish those works for everyone to see.
The Oliver Scribblers held their inaugural meeting Saturday morning at the Oliver library.

After introductions, organizer Vi Brown cut to the chase.
“We’re going to focus on flash fiction. Do you know what flash fiction is,” questioned Brown of the group of four, including myself, who had ventured out in search of answers. “It’s really, really short stories. You have a beginning, a middle and an end.”
“When you write a novel, picture it like a six-lane highway. You have lots of characters, plots, subplots, and little tangents you go off on. And you’ve got three to four hundred pages to do that. With a novel you can go down many paths.”
At that point, the seriousness of the group took an unexpected turn, in much the same way a well-written story divulges subplot after subplot.
“How do you plan scribbling?” interjected a library patron, who had read the sign and decided to poke his head around the corner in search of those same answers.
“Pull up a chair,” offered Brown.
“I was just came over to tease you a bit,” laughed the gentleman.
Back to the meeting.
“If you are going to write a novella, which is smaller, look at it as a three-lane highway, not as many characters or subplots,” continued Brown. “A short story might be a two-lane highway.”
Brown’s goal is to assemble a book for publication.

“The idea is to put something together over a period of time, so that you can see that you’ve accomplished something,” said Vi Brown. “There’s really little cost, but printing cost. I can do the cover. My part-time hobby is photography. I know how to format it. And everybody has their section.”
“Do the stories need to be edited before they go into print?” queried Gail Prior.
“Part of this get-together will be to show you how to edit – to edit your own work,” responded Brown. “If I see something that’s not right, I’ll get back to you. We want to make it something that’s presentable, and something we can take pride in.”
Oliver Scribblers will also be registered with the Federation of BC Writers, which will allow communication with other like groups.
Oliver Scribblers will also become a member of the Oliver Community Arts Council, allowing the group to participate in literary events under the umbrella of the Council.
“I am already a writer with some printed works,” offered Prior, who recently moved to Oliver. “I mostly want to bloom where I’m planted. So I can bloom in this new group, learn from it, and meet new people.”

The group will focus on various aspects of writing including, grammar, punctuation, word usage, phraseology, point of view and style.
“Developing skills to write Flash is an excellent basis for other writings – novels, memoirs, family histories, business letters, letters to editors, essays and biographies,” summarized Brown.
And with that, the group left armed with homework – working toward presentation of their Flash Fiction at the next meeting.

The Oliver Scribblers will meet again Thursday, Nov. 17th at 9:30 a.m. at the Oliver Library.
For more information, contact Vi Brown at: vi.oliverscribblers@gmail.com.
-Dale Cory