From a Patio on another Planet...

By 7.30 on Monday 19 March four members of the Severn Valley Authors were sitting down to coffee and cake in Welch Gate. No Tony or Annie, who are never late, and we began to wonder how we were going to manage a meeting in the absence Tony, who was supposed to be reading his latest short story. Ten minutes later, however, they turned up. Their uncharacteristic lateness had been due to Tony driving to Rob’s house by mistake, and after a hard day at school, Annie had been too exhausted to notice.

Tony’s short story, entitled The Limit, was excellently written and an enjoyable read. There was much to admire in the authoritative description of a career in journalism, the expert and easy treatment of dialogue and the following delicious metaphor in the opening paragraph: In the grey-blue flesh of the evening sky he watched an aeroplane make a peach-coloured incision with its vapour trail. The cut quickly healed itself as the trail evaporated and Richard smiled to himself. 

                Tony cunningly managed to sustain the readers’ interest by keeping the location of the main character nicely ambiguous until the very last word of the piece, at which point the reader realises with a jolt that Richard Wycherley is reminiscing over his career as a newspaper reporter from his patio on another planet. 

                Most of the discussion surrounded the problem of the time over which the events had taken place. Rob pointed out that the main character, given his whereabouts, had to be reminiscing from a time in the fairly distant future; yet, as a budding journalist, he had interviewed Spitfire pilots – the youngest of whom would have been around 85 years old by the year 2010. So if Richard Wycherley was reminiscing from a patio on another planet, it couldn’t have been too far in the future, for he wouldn’t have survived that long. If he’d been born in 1985 he’d have been 25 in the year 2010. The narrative excludes the possibility that he’d retired or was even considering retirement, so it seems unlikely that Richard was relaxing on his patio on Planet Zog much later than 2050 - and we all felt that the idea that people could be drinking wine on their patios on one or more planets in less than 40 years time was a little far-fetched.

                Stretching Annie’s credulity was also the fact that Richard could lean back in his patio chair at the same time as reaching for the wine glass at his feet.

                Clive (who enjoyed the quality of the writing but shared the general confusion about time) remarked judicially that you probably could if you were pissed. He should know.

                Exercising his right to reply, Tony stated that two thirds of the story could have been set in the present. The exercise became a game to see how long he could keep the reader wondering where Richard Wycherley was doing his reminiscing.

General News:

Rob announced that he had abandoned his efforts to get literary festivals interested in his talk about the background to his novel-in-waiting No Mean Affair. No doubt they’ll change their tune when it gets published. He is writing a new short story for the Bristol competition and has entered the ‘As You Read It’ short story competition, along with Tony and Annie. Winners will be invited to read out their stories in at the Forum Theatre in Malvern on 17 May. Tony has already booked tickets and we decided to make it an SVA day out. Linda was feeling under pressure because her computer had expired and she was having nightmares getting used to the funky new red Toshiba lap-top - with a mentoring session with Kathryn Heyman looming next week. Clive stated that he had no news and had become so outraged by British politics that he didn't even feel able to blog about it. A shame - Clive's recent blogs on current events have been excellent and insightful and wouldn't be out of place in a newspaper column (http://cliveeardley.weebly.com). Personally I've always found any powerful emotion, whether positive or negative, provides a terrific incentive to write.

The next meeting will take place on Monday 2 April at Clive’s. Annie to read, and Clive to blog.

John Clare on grammar

At SVA meetings, we often spend quite a bit of time discussing the finer points of grammar. Part of our critiquing of one another's work involves close scrutiny of the nuts and bolts of language but perhaps we worry too much sometimes. A propos, I was amused to come across the following unrestrained opinion, expressed by the great English poet John Clare: 'Grammar in learning is like tyranny in government — confound the bitch I'll never be her slave'.

A New Chapter

The meeting started with the news that a new chapter has started in Rob’s life. Rob has become a granddad. Daisy was born on 27th February and weighed 8lb 4oz. Many congratulations.
We met at Rob’s house on Monday 5th March and read Linda’s piece. It started with the most fantastic quote: ‘Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless: peacocks and lilies for instance’ John Steinbeck

Rob described the writing as poetic. Chris praised the fantastic detail, good dialogue and descriptive flair. Clive had enjoyed the piece so much that he had also passed it onto his wife, Marilyn to read, who had also enjoyed the piece. Tony liked the phrase ‘houses clung to the cliffs like barnacles.’ There was also a super description of the Midlands as ‘a place of averages and in-betweens’. I particularly liked ‘gauzy perfumed roses climbed the walls, dusty pink like snatches of petticoat.

Linda must be commended on her writing. Everyone agreed that it was evocative and carefully crafted. Well done, Linda, this project is definitely taking shape before our eyes.

During the news section the group talked about the Malvern Theatre Writing Competition – ‘As You Read It. Stories are submitted, the winning entries are selected and the authors are invited to read their work to an audience. Several members of the group are interested in taking part in the competition.

Chris reported that he had a talk coming up in Bromyard. Clive had no news to report. Rob reported on the latest communication from Lisa Runions of Cornwall and District Writers’ Circle. Tony’s news caused much amusement. Tony has been trying to write a blog about a book that he has not got around to writing. He has accepted defeat on both the book and its blog. This has allowed him to clear his mind and he has written a song that he was very pleased with and it only took him four and a half hours.

Our next meeting is on the 19th March where Tony will be reading his piece.

We are all philosophers now

Spot the philosopher

SVA member Chris has cycled the 16,500 miles from Bewdley, Worcestershire to Beijing. His next, equally daunting, challenge is to complete the Careful Driving Trilogy in which he charts the journeys, physical and mental, that a truck driver takes as he steers his juggernaut across Europe.

We have seen only glimpses of Chris's work-in-progress but it is enough for us to wonder at the audacity that compels him to undertake this gargantuan task. Given what he has achieved in the past we have no doubt he will bring the cargo home with aplomb.

In the extract under review, the truck driver crosses Germany while musing on how Plato's tri-partite class structure and his 'once upon a time' miracle have echoed down the centuries.  As usual, Chris's prose was virtually beyond reproach with only one 'fail' in Linda's obsessive bad-hyphen hunting and a mild rebuke from Tony regarding his 'tic' of inverting sentences so the reader embarks on them not knowing their destination.

The challenging nature of the philosophical content was a concern. Chris defended his position citing that the development of his arguments and their repetition will facilitate understanding. Nevertheless we all felt that he should not forget the limitations of his target readership – the great unwashed British public.  In Tony's words, the book must not fail the Costa coffee shop test. He suggested that Chris should beware of the 'authorial voice' and ensure the reader is always firmly either in the cab alongside the driver or in his head.

Annie and Linda observed that this will help drive (pun intended) the narrative along and ensure that the transitions from corporeal to mental journeying (a concern of Rob's) would not be 'sleeping policemen' in the reader's path.

In SVA news we learned that:

·         Tony is creating a new blog that will be a mental health discussion and ideas forum

·         Linda has submitted a further 10,000 words of her work-in-progress to her Gold Dust mentor

·         Annie is reading the 2011 Bridport Prize anthology

·         Rob has entered his second novel in the Dundee International Prize

·         Clive has unearthed a W Somerset Maugham book of essays that includes a treatise on the short story

·         Chris's recent speaking engagements in Kidderminster and Stroud were both sell-outs and resulted in the sale of 35 copies of Why Don't You Fly.

But the most telling moment of this meeting, in my opinion, came when one of our number dropped into the conversation, 'I was reading Cicero the other day'. It attracted not a flicker of scepticism or curiosity. This is the intellectual plateau SVA exists on following our immersion in Plato, Marx, and the World of Ideas.

The SVA Buzz

We had a very enjoyable SVA meeting at Annie's flat on the 7th February - in great part due to the excellent cake.


Rob read an extract from 'The Sting Inside'. He was interested to know how we felt about his new approach to  tackling the rather complicated back-story of how the English family came to be living in America. He did this very efficiently by incorporating an article about the family in the 'Burford Buzz' (a local social gossip magazine) written shortly after their arrival. I thought this worked very well. The article was light and amusing and it highlighted the American curiosity about the English.


Annie felt that Rob had introduced the story and characters in an original way that would grab the interest of readers. Clive commented that this type of magazine produced the sort of stuff that he hangs on a nail behind the toilet door. Chris felt that Rob had devised an ingenious way of setting the scene, but asked if this should be the introduction or a prologue. Tony commented that the solution to the long-winded back-story was 'inspirational' and more believable than the writing competition line. We mostly agreed that the change of name from Jon Vidler to Jay Shapiro was a good thing.


News:
Annie has entered the Reader's Digest 100 words competition. Good luck, Annie!
Rob has applied to Room 204:
            'Room 204 is for emerging* writers living or working in the West Midlands who are looking for career development. It will support 15 -20 writers per year. We will offer each writer at least a year of support, including meetings and planning sessions in the first year, with follow up contact in subsequent years.'
I have looked at the website and it looks like a fantastic opportunity and it's free. Good luck, Rob. I hope they accept you.
Clive received a cheque for £25 for his Homity Pie recipe in 'Take A Break' and has had an article printed in 'Mensa' magazine. Splendid!
Chris gave a fabulous talk at the Rose Theatre in Kidderminster where tickets were sold out and he sold nineteen books. At Stroud's Cotswold Playhouse Theatre on 17th February he had an audience of sixty and sold sixteen books.


Last but not least, if our friends in Canada are following this blog, I would like to say to Lisa how much I enjoyed her father's story 'Fool's Paradise'. I promise to be more proactive about keeping in touch in the future!

The Innominate Tale

We gathered at Clive’s house and read Clive’s short story. A tale without a title.

The story unfolded and told of Dennis Afrani, a middle aged business man, who had been posted to Belfast by his company to set up a new branch. Dennis’s character was carefully drawn as a philandering, dishonest egotist. Before long his opinions make him the butt of a practical joke. His reaction to the practical joke was extreme. The story also had a strong theme about the political situation in Northern Ireland.

The group enjoyed the story and found it amusing but also though-provoking. Particular phrases were singled out for special attention including: ‘all pink and powdered and silver-haired in his Rubinacci chalk strip three piece;’ ‘the strangulated vowels of Belfast’ and the question: ‘Are you a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist?’

Another facet of the story that appealed to all was thinking about the fall-out that would follow Dennis’s over-reaction. Clive was also praised for his natural sounding dialogue. ‘Linda-the-hyphen-Bruce’ spotted several hyphen related incidents: over zealous use and omissions. Rob again performed open prose surgery; he suggested removing the ending to the piece to leave a much stronger finish.

As for the news this week, I had nothing to report. Rob has received several emails from Lisa Etherington-Runions from Cornwall and Area Writers’ Society (our twinned writing group in Canada). He is planning to send her his latest piece. Aside from that Rob has entered several competitions and has made structural changes to his work in progress called ‘The Sting Inside.’ Linda has delayed her most recent Gold-dust session. Chris talked about his upcoming talk at The Rose Theatre in Kidderminster. Tony has entered the clocks competition and is working on two linked articles. Clive has submitted a rant to ‘The Oldie’. Tony asked, ‘Do they accept unsolicited rants from unknown ranters?’ It would appear that they do not.

If not now, when?

Primo Levi's 1982 novel If Not Now, When? chronicles the adventures of a group of Russian and Polish refugees caught behind German-occupied lines in World War II. I read this remarkable book several years ago and expected it to be a rather worthy account of tragic events, since Levi himself was survivor of Auschwitz. Instead, I found it to be a compelling, fast-moving adventure, full of drama and beautifully-written.

I was immediately reminded of Levi's novel when we were presented with Annie's short story, based loosely on her Estonian father’s wartime experience. In Annie's story, the protagonist -- a young man called Olev -- admits, at the time of the Russian invasion, he 'wasn't even the man of the house, let alone a man of the world'. He is confronted with a choice: to fight for those who have invaded his country and taken his freedom ... or to flee. The ensuing events follow Olev and his younger brother as they leave the family farm and head north, dodging Russian troops. Annie's story cleverly shows how Olev's obsessive-compulsive difficulties in later life are a direct result of his wartime experiences. Thus, not only is this a convincing slice of history but also a realistic psychological portrait.

As we were reunited for our first meeting of 2012, Linda observed that the story was quite a departure from Annie's usual subject matter. Several of us were confused by what exactly became of Olev’s brother. We all presumed he must have been drowned in the river-crossing but this was ambiguous, perhaps highlighting the difficulty of making meaning clear, particularly when describing an action-packed scene. Clive liked the verisimilitude of the formal language used in the dialogue, suggesting the 1940s setting and creating the illusion of characters speaking a foreign language. Everyone agreed that the ending could be strengthened by deleting the two final sentences, proving once again that, sometimes, less is more.

In our news roundup, several of us have taken up the challenge to submit an entry for a Reader's Digest competition to write an ultra-short story of a mere 100 words. Whether or not any of us win, we plan to post all of our entries on the SVA blog in the future. Clive is working on a very dark short story about Ireland. Rob has entered the Birmingham Book Festival Short Story competition. Linda continues to receive lots of positive feedback from her writing mentor on her novel-in-progress, as she assiduously produces 10,000 words per month. Chris is currently working nights in his day job (so to speak) and -- as a former night worker myself -- I sympathised with the disruption this causes to life in general and any attempt at a writing routine in particular. I'm not sure if it's any consolation to Chris that William Faulkner is said to have written As I Lay Dying while working nights as a powerhouse.

And so, the powerhouse of creativity that is the SVA saw in a new year of writing activity. It's well-known that writers need to be a bit selfish and single-minded and to avoid procrastination. In the words of The Song of the Partisan:

If I'm not for myself, who will be for me?

If not this way, how? If not now, when?