We were delighted to be given the opportunity to share Dr Roger Kendall’s insights into the short life of Wilfrid Owen; in particular the months he spent in Ripon in 1918, where he celebrated his 25th and final birthday. Whilst based at the nearby army camp, the young poet rented a room in a cottage in Borrage Lane and took advantage of its quiet location to write many of his best known works. These included A Tear Song, School Mistress, Arms and the Boy, Futility, Mental Cases and The Send-off, all of which Roger read to us, making frequent reference to local sources of information that he had discovered during the course of his research.
The question and answer session which followed Roger’s talk provoked a lively discussion. Topics covered included the influence of Siegfried Sassoon, Owen’s relationship with his Welsh mother and the fact that most of his poems were published after his death. We could only speculate sadly on what might have been achieved if Wilfrid Owen had not been killed just one week before the Armistice.
The annual summer school known affectionately to writers all over the world just as ‘Swanwick’, the Derbyshire village which is home to The Hayes Conference Centre, has attracted many of our members during its 66 years. To discover why, click on the link to the right.
Cathy Grimmer and Maggie Cobbett, regular attenders, always opt for rooms in Lakeside – and yes, there really is a lake – and aim to make the most of the literary, networking and social opportunities on offer.
Maggie was happy to be once again amongst the prizewinners, but this was definitely Cathy’s year.
Not only did she sing beautifully at Buskers’ Night…
… and perform so well in her own play Requiem that she was voted Best Actress, but she has also been elected onto next year’s Swanwick committee. Well done, Cathy! You did us proud.
The objective of the all day workshop on Saturday, 17th May was for each of the ten participants to produce an original piece of prose including dialogue. In the first session the group read and discussed some examples of dialogue in plays and prose fiction provided by RWG Secretary Peter Page who was leading the day. The rest of the morning was spent writing and then sharing a piece of pure dialogue, opening with one of the two characters asking ‘Did you bring it?’. The embryo stories which merged were very varied.
After a shared lunch Peter invited two of the other participants to explore through the technique of ‘hot-seating’ one of the characters emerging from their morning writing. This was followed by a session in which each participant wrote a piece of prose fiction incorporating the dialogue they had written in the morning. The day finished with these pieces being read and discussed. All in all it was an interesting and lively day which achieved its objective.
Writing tutor Sue Slocombe gave us a great deal of insight into the importance of dialogue. It should both enliven a narrative and help the reader to a greater knowledge of the characters. Wherever possible, the participants should have distinct voices, thus lessening the need for repeated use of ‘he said/she said’ etc.
Sue encouraged us all to eavesdrop on day to day conversations and observe how speech patterns differ from written English. Grammar rules are often disregarded, sentences incomplete and speakers leave the listener to read between the lines. Vocabulary and idiom vary greatly between the generations and between people from different regions and backgrounds.
As well as aiming for realistic content, it’s also important to be mindful of the rules of punctuation. That said, some of these are debatable nowadays and the house style of different publishers should be borne in mind.
Time permitted only a short writing exercise towards the end of the evening, but we’re regarding Sue’s talk as a curtain raiser to our whole day workshop on dialogue on 17th May. (See the Events Programme for more details.)
The annual award of the President’s Cup is supposed to be a closely guarded secret between the Secretary who adds up the points and the President. This posed quite a dilemma this year and a crafty ruse had to be employed to keep Joe in the dark until the presentation. Congratulations, Mr President!
Plenty of fun and games had taken place before the great moment. After a very tricky seasonal quiz, members read out the Christmas limericks they had composed for the event and then they and their guests were ‘persuaded’ to play Charades.
The buffet to which everyone had contributed was as good as ever and the drinks flowed all evening. Thanks were given to the Committee for organising the event and to the YMCA for taking care of us all year round.
The return visit of Louise Cole from White Rose Media had been eagerly anticipated and the eighteen members present were certainly not disappointed. Louise, speaking without notes, gave us a very lively talk on the nature of self publishing in 2013 and why writers shouldn’t hesitate to give it a try. Some may wish to do so only for limited distribution amongst family members and friends; others hope for a much wider circulation. Pockets of snobbery undoubtedly remain, particularly among some well established authors who fear that their own sales might be affected, but the stigma has largely disappeared. Having said that, there’s no excuse for shoddy work. Drafting, redrafting, editing and critiquing all play a valuable role. These are very important criteria for publishing via Firedance Books, the writers’ co-operative of which Louise is a leading member. Much more information about that initiative can be found at www.firedancebooks.com.
Louise encouraged questions throughout her talk, including during the ‘break’ for refreshments. Such was the enthusiasm that we could have continued for another hour at least. Amongst other things, members were keen to learn about formatting, the difference between Amazon Kindle and Smashwords and the pros and cons of print on demand through an organisation such as CreateSpace. Louise also suggested that we might work together to showcase our work in the form of a regular blog such as WriterLot (www.writerlot.net) or maybe an anthology of members’ fiction.
Unfortunately, time caught up with us, but Louise declared herself willing to answer any email queries and has also supplied the Chair with a list of relevant contacts and websites to be circulated amongst the membership.
As well as leaving us with plenty of food for thought, Louise had brought along a selection of Firedance bookmarks for distribution, a publicity tool well worth bearing in mind for the future! Self publishing a book is relatively simple these days. Expanding one’s readership beyond the immediate circle of family and friends is the hard part!
For some of us, the countdown to ‘Swanwick’ begins when the last one ends. This year saw the 65th anniversary of the Writers’ Summer School at The Hayes Conference Centre in the Derbyshire village of Swanwick and Cathy and Maggie (captured above by talented photographer and fellow Swanwicker L.Fox Thomas) were there to enjoy it along with writers from all over the UK and many from further afield.
‘Swanwick’ really does have something for every writer and it is hoped that RWG will be represented there again in 2014.
This year’s programme notes will give you a fair idea of what went on this year, but there were lots of informal sessions in between the official ones.
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