We met at Chris and Linda's but sadly Rob was unable to join us. His wife had told him that he would be visiting his mother. Is organisation a woman thing?
We did however have some visitors/interlopers/tag-alongs...call them what you will. We were please to meet Clive Eardley from Worcester who is interested in possibly joing the group or setting up one of his own. Linda also introduced us to her friend Tracy that she met on a recent Arvon course. Tracy is interested in joining a writing group and wished to attend our group to see what it was like. Chris and Linda extended a warm welcome with banana bread.
We read a chapter called 'Tears of Remorse' from Linda's novel. We had looked at the same piece before but on the advice of the course tutor at Arvon Linda is changing the piece so it is in the first person. The change was a resounding success; Chris felt the writing was more natural and Linda's voice came through more easily. I felt the writing flowed without the name Lily appearing like a clever at regular intervals. Tony disagreed as he felt the change to the first person made it sound self-pitying. Tony 'the hyphen' Gillam also noticed the omission in tightly-wound.
Tracy found the piece engaging and loved the phrase, 'Her ruffled petticoat and skirt were hoisted around her waist displaying her meaty thighs and tomorrow's washing.' Clive described the chapter as funny, moving, intriguing and authentic.
Lots of us moaned about green plums and how they sounded rather sour until Linda told us that she was referring to greengages.
Our thanks to Clive and Tracy for attending and joining in with the spirit of the Severn Valley Authors. Can anyone remind me why I have jotted down the phrase 'hermaphrodite screenplay'? in my notes.
Looking forward to Rob's return, hopefully his wife will remind him of the next meeting date!
Val has told me where I have to be and when for the next meeting. Now I only hope she puts out the right clothes for me. See you there.
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