The final session of the third season of the Frank Brinkley Pimlico Fruit and Sex Writing Group for Writers and Frank! We met at mine (first time!) and had mulled wine and mince pies and if you missed it, you're a total fool.
Attendees: FB, CW, EP, JW
Read: The Barber (FB short story); A Pathetic Apathetic (JW nanowrimo opening); ideas from EP
First on the block was The Barber, one of two stories I wrestled with throughout November (the brief thoughts on the other are right here). The Barber describes a few days in the life of Faisal, a barber in Hasan Abdal in Pakistan. It's a little about death, about new beginnings, and about being in a community but feeling entirely alone. I'm pretty happy with it; it seemed as though Fas was too. The language problems didn't come across as jarring (How far can one use Pakistani slang in a short story in English?), the tone and pace worked, more or less, and it held up well in the reading. Now onwards, to try to recreate that spurt of productivity.
John boldly offered us the opening of his Nanowrimo novel. He didn't win but was left with this little tidbit of a good idea. The story details the changes that come across a man who's settled for mediocre for far too long. As with any longer form idea, there are plenty of plot and character details that need to be straightened out and clarified, but John recognised that more than anyone. The idea has its strengths, so it's up to him to make something of it.
Finally we did something we've not done in quite a while, and riffed on a few ideas of Ellen's for a short (ish) film. It will be great to see what direction she takes things, as she has the makings of potentially a very engaging, very thought-provoking, violent piece, and once more, she's just gotta put the words down. So, all that's left to say is:
No comments:
Post a Comment