Cleckheaton Writers Group Meeting
8th May 2017: 17.30 -18.45
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Welcome and
Attendance
·
Attendance – Alice, Andy and Kathy. Kathy opened the meeting and recorded the
minutes.
·
Apologies – Karen, Mandy and Sarah
Minutes of Last
Meeting
Taken as read and passed.
Work in Progress
I (Kathy) – no continuation of actual plot of current work
entitled Daemon. I took on board
comments from last meeting’s feedback and changed the name of character to
Tobias, after a bit of research, to stick to the meaning of the word
(protector/guardian etc.). Wrote a
short, farewell poem about a Russian colleague and friend who is leaving UK to
work in Berlin.
Andy – Still finishing current WIP – ending yet to come as
real life is dictating the story and ultimately its end. Andy
is actively pursuing a change of address to remove himself from the situation
(and therefore the plot) – this might then be the natural end – but who knows? He’s not
been able to get his head around other writing because the pending process of
change is time-consuming. However, he
has been toying with poetry in his head but nothing concrete to report.
Alice – Has been busy editing a piece from the writer’s
class and has also started a poem (non-rhyming) so there must be something in
the air! The poem started as a picture
book for children, but became too deep and which Alice feels is dark and not
appropriate for its original audience. It deals with mental health and children – so
it is quite topical at present. She
would like to continue with it personally anyway, and decide later if it’s to
be published/shared.
General conversation followed about mental health and the
press that it is receiving; such as government backing to help people/groups
that never came through; Prince Harry’s disclosure about his issues of loss and
grief at a young age and even Brad Pitt, who alluded to ‘youthful’ unresolved
issues which resulted in alcohol addiction to mask feelings which ultimately
affected his family relationships to his detriment etc. Poetry seems to be a popular medium for
unloading issues. For example, I
personally look back at any verse I’ve written and I seem to have it used
primarily as a form of therapy and secondary for storytelling.
Feedback Sessions
Sticking with the theme of poetry, Andy read us some pieces
he had written a while ago, one of which, “The Defender”, had won in a small, private
competition. It was about a security
guard and cleaner who clearly could not tolerate each other, but it was
amusing, rhythmic and packed to gills with content. He read a short piece about the “The Colonels
Men” which was a poke at the fact that troops are sent to war without any real
protection, but Alice and I particularly enjoyed “The Goblin”. It was in the vein of Rumpelstiltskin whereby
a Goblin was tormenting and challenging an uneducated youth to guess who he was
and what he was about; he gave him three attempts over time in which to make
study and then guess. The youth grows in
years and stature and through his study to learn who the Goblin is, comes to
understand and realise that, in fact, the Goblin matters not in life. He tells the Goblin this and thereby frees himself
from him. It was great funny, witty and
clever.
Andy also read us his current WIP. It’s a story about a character called Daz who
has been taken advantage of in a cruel and selfish society. Daz is mostly wheelchair bound or requiring
crutches as he has only one leg, and Andy has tried to help and support him and
take him out of the situation he found himself in. Helping Daz means he’s become embroiled in
Daz’s back story with a major piece of the writing about an ensuing fight. Although reported to the police and proper
channels etc. the story is far from over with threats still forthcoming
etc. Hence Andy now needs to remove himself.
It’s quite a gritty, hard hitting piece and pulls no punches
(no puns intended). I suggested that
perhaps he speaks to Karen about Armley Press.
At last year’s writing festival, they attended and gave an overview of
their publishing business located in Leeds.
This seems to fit in to the genre of work they deal in.
Alice read us a story she is working on for her writing
class. It was written in the
first-person about someone on a motorway bridge about to jump. It had a unique viewpoint as the person was
socially known as a non-verbal person, of which the person could not impart, so
the attending police had no knowledge of and therefore the approach was not
tempered to suit. They chose not to use
their identification card which would explain this, as they worried their
parent would be informed and brought. There
was a nice touch of this ignorance of facts and lack of understanding of a
person’s state of mind, as the police remark at what could be so bad that they
would want to jump. Alice also included
an interesting point about the yellow fluorescent jacket which ‘hurt’ the jumper
to look at and so not could engage in eye contact with the police either. The character did attempt to jump but was
saved and wrestled with by police. Andy
and I assured her it was not too graphic for her audience (14-16) and that on
the contrary, they would understand and possibly identify with the issues. The only criticism offered (which was later
than the meeting, sorry for that, Alice!) was she used the phrased ‘I jumped’
to describe the action of being startled and it could give the impression the
jump off the bridge took place in that instant, instead of happening later on
in the narrative.
CW
Competitions/Workshops/Event - nothing to report.
Writing Challenge
Session – we had no time left to do this and closed the meeting just after
time!
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