Erskine Writers Meeting 6th February 2024

 

1. Apologies received from Sandra and Donnie, John H, Joan, Jackie, Elizabeth, Sandra R and Irene.
2. Jeannie has sent flowers, chocolates and good wishes to Donnie from the club.
3. We discussed the submission of work for critique by members. 

It was noted that it does not work if the person who submitted is unable to be present.

We also discussed the fact that members submit in different formats eg  pages, pdf, Word 

 which some are unable to open.

We wondered about reducing the frequency of crit days and / or asking people to bring enough printed copies to share one between two on OM days, so that when it is read out we have the printed copy to refer back to.

All of the above will need to be discussed when more are present (there were 7 of us) or at AGM before next year’s programme is put together.

4. Jeannie read her submitted document, a prologue for a historical novel she is writing. We discussed the sprinkling of Scots and archaic words to indicate an earlier time and agreed that worked well. The discovery of a brooch in the prologue is based on a legend. A brooch   found at Hunterston is believed to be of Viking origin. There was also the influence of a visit to the Boat Museum in Oslo. Nouns or phrases in groups of three worked well. We discussed the absence of dialogue particularly after John S’s helpful workshop on dialogue, but it was noted that the characters in the prologue would not reappear in the novel, so we don’t need to get to know them better. Also dialogue would have meant more Scots, more archaisms which might be difficult to follow. It was suggested that one or two paragraphs could be made into more, shorter paragraphs. There was a comment that reading the prologue made us want to read the book.
5. Rob read his submission Katie’s Christmas Eve based on a real event which happened on a recent trip to Canada.  We all enjoyed the amusing twist towards the end. It was advised it would be helpful to have more paragraphs. It was also suggested that dialogue could be introduced on the journey home, and that the ending could be made less abrupt. Some suggestions were given about expressions which might be changed eg consigned to bed ---tucked up in bed.

The story is written to be passed on to grandchildren and Lorna suggested that it would be a good idea to do it also as an audio book, so that grandchildren and others would have the story in Rob’s melodious Welsh accent. We discussed various audio and printed formats, My Life a Book, Bonus Print with stories and photos, Lulu (cost £12), feed-A- read, publishing on Amazon, the fact that you can leave royalties to charity, and that once you have published with Amazon if you make changes, you have to pay for this.

6. Morag read The Follower her entry to the Flash Fiction competition and agreed with Vikki’s suggestion that tension could be ramped up a bit when the two characters meet on a bus before the denouement. 
7. Joyce read an extract from a murder mystery novel set in the music scene in London which she worked on a number of years ago. It was suggested she might like to write a synopsis and bring this along with a chapter to a future meeting.
8. Jeannie read a murder story set on the Treshnish Isles and there was discussion about where this might be submitted