Births & Deaths 17/01/2012
Our first 2012 meeting, on Thursday 12th, took place at Taliah’s house (which proved troublesome for some sat-navs – or their owners . . .) where we met two newcomers –Tobias Alexander Drayak (three weeks and six days old), who didn’t say a lot and was generally as quiet as a mouse, and Alison Maynard, who did have something to say, and whom we were very pleased to welcome as a prospective member. News Tim’s Sherlock Holmes / Irene Adler short story, which he read to us recently, has been accepted by Be: magazine and will appear in their second issue, due imminently. The recent TV modernised version of Sherlock was mentioned, as some of Tim’s ideas seem to have been stolen by the BBC, but he isn’t bitter (he’d just like to be paid). Tony read at Parole Parlati recently two of his Little Hope Parish Magazine satires which Tim, who was also present, confirmed were very well received. Little Venice was packed on that particular evening and we were led into a brief discussion about the extremes of quality which are often found at open mic events. Alison is writing two novels, one being a romantic comedy, and she is planning a new novel with a female medium main character. She is a member of the New Writers Scheme and of a Romantic Authors association. Clive: some bits submitted to some mags and am working on a short story set in Belfast. Taliah has had some work accepted for publication in an anthology to be published by the exotic-sounding Meadowbrook Press of Minnesota. She is also working on a 45,000 word piece on cystitis for a work on health information. Critique Tim read about 2000 words of the Alun Havergoe novel, of which he has now written in total about 15,000 words, mostly during the NaNoWriMo exercise. The overall reaction was that the piece is well-written, very funny and a very enjoyable read. Tony said it made him laugh out loud but advised re-punctuating; Taliah agreed but also felt it might be overwritten here and there; I agreed about the mispunctuation (which can easily be corrected) but was delighted by the gentle, ironic humour which I found reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh’s style, especially in the Officers and Gentlemen trilogy, with Havergoe as Guy Crouchback. Alison found a viewpoint issue, which she clarified for Tim, thought the dialogue should be ‘tightened’ by clarifying who was speaking, and advised a reduction of the Christian [I wondered about that uppercase ‘C’ – what do you think?] name usage. Readers Digest 100-word comp We had all produced a story to read, which was fun, and we agreed it was a very useful exercise [maybe we should undertake something like this regularly?]. Personally, I found mine banal, Tim’s sci-fi-outlandish [it reminded me of ‘Rollerball’, the old James Caan film], Taliah’s and Tony’s slightly confusing until explained, and Alison’s smoothly intriguing with a good hit from the line about Cromwell getting the crown. Tony’s concerned a dream about being buried alive which reminded me of a piece of music, later discovered to be Rachmaninov’s Prelude in C Sharp Minor Opus 3 No.2. This unlively subject carried over into the next item, which was a poem from Tony about a Viking burial. This seemed to bring us neatly to Terry Pratchett, whose book Equal Rites Tim reviewed for us. For our next meeting Alison will provide a synopsis of her rom-com novel, together with about 1000 words of the novel itself, which she’ll email around a week before we meet – which we agreed to arrange by using the Google Docs calendar. At that meeting Taliah will provide a book review and Tony will have about 100 words of his adventure story for boys, of which we first heard the opening chapter way back – maybe we should also get a brief ‘story-so-far’ precis? The venue is also undecided – Taliah volunteered and if that, because of Tobias, is more convenient for Taliah then I suggest we gratefully accept. Add Comment Men only 11/12/2011
One quarter (at least!) of our strength was absent on Thursday due to Taliah’s being required to spend the evening at A & E following an accident to one of her daughters. The injury fortunately proved relatively minor, though our loss was not. News Tony is exercising restraint in the face of the exciting news that both his novels are under consideration at the moment by different publishers, one of whom has promised that a contract is ‘in the post’. Tim reports that his NaNoWri Mo effort is flagging somewhat; his pace has slowed to less than the 900 words a day he was averaging at the last count, but still targets the end of January for the completion of the Alun Havergoe saga. My news, as usual, was wholly negative: Mensa magazine failed to print an article they’d accepted in their December issue but have now suggested it may appear in February’s; a filler submitted to The Oldie on December 1st has drawn a blank so far. Critiques Tony had emailed us all a Little Hope parish magazine article about a gardening quiz, together with some remarks which seemed to disparage the piece. Contrary, therefore, to our expectations, Tim and I both found it very entertaining, with typically gentle humour throughout - Tim reckoned there was a joke a line. In discussing the critique with Tony, I discovered how to spell ‘pheromone’ and that ‘Stiff Cock’ really is the common name of a plant with remarkable restorative powers (men only). This was disappointing for me since I was quite chuffed with my alternative suggestion ‘Memberis perpendicularis’. Ah well! My poem ‘The Canal’ failed to raise much heat either way but my short story extract, ‘Impact’, gave us something to talk about. Both Tony and Tim agreed that my idea was interesting but that the inclusion of eight characters in a short story was ambitious, especially so given that the plot required them to be introduced with minimal apparent connection to each other. Re-think called for. Other stuff Tim suggested a prospective new member, Alison Maynard, and we agreed to invite her to attend our next meeting. Alison’s website is http://alisonmay.wordpress.com/ and more can be found, Twitter-wise, at @MsAlisonMay. Taliah’s imminent family upgrade led to discussion about our next meeting’s venue and we accepted Tony’s kind offer; however, in a subsequent conversation with Taliah, she has said that it would suit her better to meet at her house. The date discussed was the second week of January but on reflection, since that’s five weeks away, I wonder whether we might squeeze one in during the week between Christmas and New Year: I’ll email separately to get the debate started. Finally, Tim suggested that we report at each meeting on books we are reading and what we think of them; Tony said we should beware of becoming a book club, to which Tim and I agreed, and we all felt that this could be a helpful addition to our meetings. Three Men In The Same Boat 25/11/2011
 From the wilds of Hartlebury, we retreated to the suburban delights of Fernhill Heath for our November 22nd meeting. Tim was our genial host and Taliah, once again, the chocolate lady, this time with some goodies from the Co-op (a Belgian branch, I imagine, they were so delicious!). News in brief: Taliah needs poems on the theme of ‘generosity’. Tim has written 10,548 words toward his 50,000 word novel in the MoNoNaNo thingy; he says longhand works well, less distracting than a computer screen with all its concomitant and subversive distractions. Sadly, one of his female characters has turned out to be less than trustworthy . . . plus ça change . . . Tony, meanwhile, is becoming a Tweet aficionado, using his knowledge to good effect in promoting book sales and associated marketing activities. Critique: The main focus was on an extract of around 1800 words from one of the novels that Taliah stores under her bed – all 102,000 words of it (and it’s not alone . . . ). The story follows the lives of three men as they seek access to their children, from whom they have been separated by the failure of their relationships with the children’s mothers. As the story progresses, their lives will overlap. The extract comprised three selections from the opening chapter, one on each of the three men. The characters and settings were well-defined, plausible, interesting and sympathetic. Tim noted an abundance of ‘sensory’ indicators which added to the realism and Tony found dramatic tension in the sense of impending ‘crossroads’. On a stylistic note, Tony suggesting that the number of sentences opening with a participle could be reduced. Taliah had forewarned of the unedited condition of the copy and to that were added issues regarding point of view, consistency of verb tenses and the odd dangling participle. Minor pieces: Tony read a Brief and Approximate Guide to Space, the latest in the satirical series which will one day be assembled into a single volume and / or a series of articles. Whereas earlier BAGs have been purely humorous, this one contained seriously interesting information on the subject matter, alongside some very good jokes – enjoyed by all. Tim read a whimsical tale entitled ‘Sherlock Holmes-Adler’ wherein Holmes introduces Watson to his bride of three months, only to warn him against drinking the poisoned tea she produces. Watson, at Holmes’ request, subsequently examines him and discovers that the ‘poison’ is, in fact, love. (Intrigued by Tim’s choice of name for Holmes' wife, I researched and found the following – which Tim kept from us, for reasons best known to himself . . . According to "A Scandal in Bohemia," the character was born in New Jersey in 1858. She followed a career in opera as a contralto, performing in La Scala, Milan, Italy, and a term as prima donna in the Imperial Opera of Warsaw, Poland, indicating that she was an extraordinary singer. Adler retired in her late twenties and moved to London.) I read an article I plan to submit to Worcester News, a fairly miserable sort of end-of-year review, and a love poem I’d tried to compose in the style of John Donne, which I liked, but nobody felt sufficiently moved to shed a tear. AOB: Whether the website should ‘go public’ or not and its contents remained a matter for future debate, as did the question of new members – Tim suggested that, like falling in love, we’d know when we found them . . . We agreed to meet again on December 13th but that fell through as soon as we arrived home – at the time of writing, the date remains unfixed. The critique-ees whenever we do meet will be Tony and me and we are to produce up to 2000 words apiece and email them prior to the meeting. Tim and Taliah are free to read if they wish. Tim also suggested that we each write 250 words or so describing our method of working. Someone was heard to mutter “Method??” Havergoe has a go! 11/11/2011
We met on Wednesday November 10th at Tony’s, as we have on each one of our meetings till now. Tony’s hospitality was up to his usual high standard and even Jimmy was impelled to join us for a sniff of the chocolate cake. Taliah spoilt us with Ferrari Rockets, a sort of miniature chocolate meteorite. News in brief: Taliah’s Be: magazine has finally achieved parturition after an interesting confinement and first impressions were . . . impressive. Her mother-in-law’s publishing venture has now been split into Canadian and UK arms; Taliah will choose what the UK business publishes and avoid the sci-fi chick lit exotica of British Columbia. Tony has been contacted by an ex-BBC Yorkshireman who wants the sell his novels in e-book form; Tony’s awaiting further contact and reserving judgement. HarperCollins site www.authonomy.com has picked up his Russian second world war novel ‘The Whole Rotten Edifice’ and interesting developments are awaited. Tim’s news was the best of the night by far: his wife’s health has been in question and she has now received an ‘all clear’ report. We all shared his obvious delight. I had nothing to report so blathered on about two excellent novels I’ve just finished: ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’ by David Guterson and ‘Engleby’ by Sebastian Faulks. Critique It was Tim’s turn to be under the cosh with the first 700 words or so of Alun Havergoe’s adventures which, it later transpired, is the subject of Tim’s epic 50,000 words-in-a-month NaNoMoWri (I’m sure that’s wrong but you’ll know what I mean) effort. We were glad about that because we are all taken with Alun and want to know more. We enjoyed Tim’s delicate humour which Tony perceptively described as ‘tickly’. (“small pork pie, large bite”, “crumbs, not necessarily from the same pie”) There were, it’s true, a modest quantity of insignificant punctuation errors, omissions and typos with which to chastise Tim but so small were they that it amounted more to a tickle than a smack. It was interesting to hear about his experience with the NNMW thingy – writing in longhand and ploughing through, at present, 900 words a day which, apparently, is well short of his target. Ouch! Readings. Tony read a short story he wrote eight or nine years ago and recently revised. It was set in the fens of East Anglia which which were vividly invoked and the story was an entertaining account of the hazards of genetically modifying worms. Tony’s past corporate experiences helped him create a very realistic business meeting though Tim found the account of events not entirely clear. Taliah liked the piece and I suggested the excision of all adjectives and adverbs, even though Tony had already taken a knife to it. Taliah’s account, in the form of a letter, of her dealings with a Mac dealer who failed to keep his promises amused, though Tim suggested tighter focus and I thought it a tad over-written in places. Tony was surprised that Taliah found it so easy to wreck Macs (four in four years?). I read the first section of the first chapter of my crime novel, disliking it more the more I read. It was thought by all to be too matter of fact, insufficiently personal, though worth going on with. Tony disturbed me by wondering whether the sort of setting I implied by my description of the people and the village still existed in England – are there still police houses with village bobbies?? – I’ll try to find out! We agreed to rotate the venues and meet next at Tim’s on November 22nd at 7.30 p m when an extract from one of Taliah’s novels will be the main event (don’t forget to email it to us, Taliah!) We also agreed that an additional member would be desirable if we could find someone matching our high standards . . . we’re going to keep an eye out. First Post! 11/11/2011
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