THE REVIEW

THANKS TO THE MUSE!


Thanks to Jason, Margaret F., Wendy and Jim who joined me for a Meeting last night. We enjoyed some good discussions.

Jason brought up our first topic which was professional editing. He said he thought he was ready for an editor to look at his manuscript and give a professional opinion on content, and not proofreading it. He said he felt too close to it to be objective about it after so many years and so many rewrites. Several names of local editors were suggested and pricing was discussed. It was thought he would be better off hiring someone locally rather than over the internet, especially if a local editor would give him a personal appointment to discuss his novel in person. We hope he finds what he’s looking for.

Then Jason read Chapter 23, “Plunder” from his novel. After the fire, Damianos still hears the voice telling him to get the crate with the singed book out of the fireplace. He starts a fight with Gregg and then grabs Gregg’s great grandmother and uses her to knock Gregg over to prevent him morphing into his inhuman self. Then he throws the great-grandmother and pushes the bookcase over on her, grabs the crate and runs off with it. This was a short, tight chapter full of action, and well written, though we did give Jason a rough time over one sentence.

Margaret read a paper she wrote several years ago about the skeletons of two young children found in Stanly Park. It was an academic paper and used a lot of repetition and some quotes of experts to validate opinions. Wendy asked who her intended audience would be for the book she is writing on this topic. If the audience is academic, then inclusion of this piece as is would be fine. But if she wants her audience to be the general public, then some simplification of the writing would give more clarity to it.

Jim read Ch. 18 from the second book of “Coventry Ghosts”. Here we see Jason, the antagonist who captures essences of the dead in his computer, trying to communicate with his dead parents. He has been broken out of jail in Mexico and is now transported by sub to an Asian nation that wants his expertise. He is given a lab and staff and a room full of young, live, men and women chosen to sacrifice their brains for his experiments. They are lawbreakers sentenced to death, but only the brightest ones. I did ask Jim what would happen if the essence of someone with dementia was captured by mistake. He laughed.

After Margaret had told me of the three day delay required after obtaining a marriage licence before a wedding could be performed, I inserted another chapter in front of the actual wedding. This one is in Nigel’s point of view when he and Dee go into 100 Mile House to get the marriage licence and learn of the required 3 day wait. To prevent Dee from going back to work at the Lone Butte Hotel, he agrees to buy her a new dress to marry in and goes shopping with her, noticing they are being watched by the RCMP. It was suggested I add to this chapter and develop Dee’s personality further, showing her darker side.
I also read my re-write of the following chapter, which is the one I had read last time. It shows Edna realizing she will always be wondering if she is being watched by the police for the rest of her life.

Gemma is still dealing with health issues, her own and those of her husband and brother. Margaret Moffatt has been ill, and so has Julie. We wish all three a speedy recovery and good health. Amber said she had to work late yesterday, and Lorelie said she was unable to attend. Hope everyone else is fine and still talking to their Muse. For those who don’t attend because they haven’t written anything lately, please know that isn’t a requirement for your presence at a Meeting. I’m sorry if I made people think that because I’ve said to bring something to read, either your own writing or something about writing. It is also important for the group to function if we have interested parties willing to listen and give feedback to those who do read. We need that interaction to become better readers and writers consciously aware of the intricacies of the written word.

The next Meeting will be Wednesday, October 17th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place and please know you are welcome and wanted whether you have written anything or not. Hope to see you on the 17th, and have a very Happy Thanksgiving in the meantime!

Lisa