THE REVIEW

A MIX OF GENRES

We had a fantastic Meeting here on Wednesday when Luke, Jason, Charity, Annette, Hayden and Margaret F. all joined me to showcase a variety of genres among the group.

I read first, this time a piece of fiction, a short story, based on two people who did actually attend the group on two different occasions. It was in response to Kristi’s question as to whether or not they might have been gay. And I started thinking ‘what if?’ and proceeded from there. Charity noticed, though, when I switched from recounting true events to creating fiction. And Luke thought I should put the whole story in another context, perhaps a police interview. Somebody said they liked the ending. And then Charity said she hopes I never decide to write about her! Too funny. I thought it felt good to actually write something new for a change but maybe I should go back to editing my ‘Honey’ stories.

Margaret F. read Chapter 7 from ‘Babes In The Wood’. She is still doing research in the library but has progressed to the investigation by Detective McKay. There end up being many more questions about the age of the children, genders of same, false information about a French woman who was a suspect, and so on. Margaret decides she has to see the real police file.

Luke read some more from his fantasy novel. We see Goren winning a mixed combat competition against his opponent, Kennet, who had beat him before. This earns him recognition by a master. I did tell Luke I would like to know more of what Goren is thinking and feeling during the bout.

Hayden has started writing a fantasy novel called ‘The Dragonformer’. He read from the Prologue which informs us that Svelt is required to kill one group of people at the behest of another in order to save his own people. We see him commit a gruesome killing. Details of the actual killing were very vivid.

Charity read the next chapter in ‘Trixie Trouble’. Trixie sneaks out of the house at night and roves through the wild part of town looking for Marley, whom her father knew, and a job. He offers her one as a whore but she refuses. Then she decides she will bet on a fighter. This chapter was full of colour and sights and sounds and smells and gave us a very vivid picture of the world she was travelling in.

Annette read from her Victorian novel. We see sixteen year old Jane dancing at a birthday party and talking to her cousin, Robert. Then she sneaks outside to meet Ronin in the garden, but she is attacked by an unknown assailant and her dress is torn, her breasts fondled, and she is thrown on the ground and left. Ronin finds her and picks her up, covered with his coat. This scene went from the prim normalcy of Victorian life to the terror of sexual assault, a vivid contrast.

Jason read his next chapter where Kwen confronts Tiber, who is still holding a naked Damianos over a bed of hot coals. Tiber drops Damianos who is badly burned. Kwen pours water on him, but that makes things worse, and he just wants to be left alone to heal himself with his own special powers. Meanwhile, Tiber is furious and jealous and turns on Kwen. To appease him, she becomes submissive and says things to swell his egotistic pride. That is probably true to human nature.

Pat and Kristi were unable to attend, but we hope to see them next time.

Four of us who had been at the previous Meeting voted for who deserved to pick from the prize box. But the vote was a stalemate. And people seemed to want to do a secret vote. So now, for the next Meeting, those who were here Wednesday are asked to bring their vote for best piece of writing on a piece of paper (author’s name, I guess). Don’t forget!

The next Meeting will be Wednesday, May 4th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa A. Hatton
Author

THE REVIEW

WRITING ROUNDUP

Charity, Jason, Luke and new member, Pat Burnett, joined me last night for a great meeting of The Rams.

I started the meeting by handing out some things I had copied. There was a one page plan for writing a book, one page for a character chart, one page of writing tips, and one page on points to consider when critiquing.

Luke read a middle chapter from his novel, “The Heart Of The Earth”. The main character, Goren, and his two bodyguards are seeking information. They take a trip to the underground archives of the library, and we are shown a setting where they are not allowed to browse to look for the information they seek.

Pat read the prologue from her novel “Black Caul”. It was a short scene showing a girl experiencing either terror or an anxiety attack in an underground parkade. The scene was riveting and would definitely hook the reader. Then Pat read some research she had done on Bowen Island during the 1940s and 1950s. We asked her if there had been a blackout required of ferries visiting Bowen during the war years, but Pat didn’t know and said she would look that up. If any of our members remember about that, please let us know.

Charity read the next chapter from “Trixie Trouble”, entitled “A Lick And A Promise”. We see Trixie and the preacher’s son, Donovan, still bickering after their fight is broken up by the preacher. Trixie is sent indoors to clean up and is shown to her room by another rescued girl named Charlotte. Trixie is bothered that she doesn’t know where she belongs, and even more so when she sees a black mourning dress she is expected to wear.

Jason’s next chapter shows us Kwen walking through the soldiers’ encampment, on her way to find Damianos. She is accosted by the young soldier, Tement, who blames her for the deaths of four soldiers. She is the only female warrior, but can still defend herself against him, even with her injured shoulder. When she gets to the tent where she expects to find Damianos and her special coin, they aren’t there. This was a well written, edgy chapter. But we did tease Jason about using one humdrum cliché (getting sick and tired of it) when his writing is almost always descriptively unique. He never uses clichés. Beware the cliché, for the Rams will pounce on it! And again, Jason used ‘passed’ when it should have been ‘past’. Examples of use would be: The football player passed the football to another player, who ran it past the goal line for a touchdown. The years passed quickly until they were all in the past. But I’m still working on who’s and whose.

I read another ‘Honey’ story, “Rodeo of Fabrics”. It was about Honey wanting me to sew him a cowboy shirt and his having trouble choosing proper fabrics to make one. This was a very short story, around 300 words. Luke said he was waiting for the story to continue and tell him about actually making the shirt. I’ll have to think about that.

Kristi was unable to attend. Margaret F. said she was up at 3:00 a.m. and then would be working a long day, therefore in bed about the time we started the meeting. Annette said they were doing a lot of yard clean-up. And Hayden said his wife wasn’t well and he needed to stay home for her and their daughter. We missed all these writers.

The next Meeting will be Wednesday, April 20th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa A. Hatton
Author