Meeting 18 February 2009

Fifteen attended and we ran out of time for readings, which is no bad thing since it means that plenty of members had written work to offer for comment. I asked how many members were contemplating writing a novel (though I know of four) then briefly offered encouragement, using some quotations posted on the Black Horse Western yahoo group by writer Charlie Whipple. In short, you eat an elephant a mouthful at a time. A brief discussion on the structure of a novel ensued.

It was good to have Pat kicking off the readings; her character Jim’s nostalgic visit to the loft was poignant and touched the group: you can write, Pat, so don’t hold back! Jane gave us a sad piece about a mother lapsing into Alzheimer’s: well realised and deeply felt. Chris regaled us with a poem about the ‘perfect man’, incisive with biting wit. Mary K read out two poems, one entitled ‘Nobody’s perfect’ and the second about a Valentine with a twist. There followed a brief discussion about poetry and the modern tendency to opt out of rhyme, which most found regrettable. Bring back rhyming poetry was the clarion call!

Brenda continued with her saga about Belle, restricting this section to the modern day storyline, which most felt should be tightened up. Characters good as usual, however. Glyn returned to reading another sequence from his story of recruitment in the Army in the 1960s – which had everyone laughing; we were so wrapped up in the tale there was no feedback or constructive criticism!

Cynthia read a short item about the ‘perfect man’, concluding that such a creature would not be a good partner at all. Rob read another snippet about his Spanish mother-in-law – she won the lottery, she told him, explaining that as she was 86, she meant the lottery of ‘life’. Douglas ended by reading a short children’s story written by his late wife Jean, which was about cats and piglets whose tale deserves a home.

Alan’s continuing story about the inheritance will have to wait until next week.
Nik

Story structure

Hooray! Thanks Nik for explaining what to do about selecting a different Google account to sign on. Anyone else who already has a gmail account needs to know to do this otherwise you can't get in.
Rather than email you I wanted to post this so that others can see my feedback about the 'Story Structure Architect' book. It is one of the most useful books I've read because for me (and possibly not for others) finding the structure for my novel has been a real hurdle. It simply wasn't enough to use the journey only because my throughline as the author calls it didn't keep me focused and I kept drifting off into anecdotal 'scenes' instead of moving my story forward. Reading this has opened up whole new possiblities for me and I've made copious notes. It really has helped me get my ideas in order, and now I feel ready to move on where I had been struggling with putting all my ideas in some sort of order.
I doubt if I'll make it to our meeting tomorrow as I'm inspired to write instead!
Maureen