This week’s notes on our last meeting have been provided by Roddie.
Present: Tom, Craig, Abby, Ray, David F, Sue and Roddie.
Apologies: Aileen, Rosie, David C, Colin.
Agenda Items Agreed
1) Venue for Zoe`s classes and other NW meetings.
2) Format and content of Fifty Shades of Tay
3) AOCB
4) Writing pieces submitted.
Craig chaired the meeting and Roddie recorded these minutes.
Business Meeting
1) There was concern voiced that it was still not clear where we would be holding Zoe`s writing classes in October and whether Zoe would be happy holding them in the university. Abby agreed to contact her to seek her position on this. It was hoped that if it was acceptable to her, we would attempt to extend the current room use. Roddie had circulated a list of classes that was being run in the uni on a non-profit basis and were apparently getting accommodation for free. This was said to be ones to replace the DUCAS classes. However the university was also planning to operate its own classes. Craig felt that the Uni might look upon as unfavourably as competition. A discussion ensued and it was generally agreed that there seemed to be little evidence of a conflict of interest between NW and other classes. It was suggested that perhaps Rosie could try to extend our room booking both for the NW meetings and Zoe`s classes. Other possibilities were discussed: Waterstones, The Butterfly cafe and The University of Abertay library study rooms.
Action: Abby to contact Zoe about uni room use.
Rosie to be contacted about extending the current booking for NW and/or for Zoe`s classes.
Tom to explore the feasibility of accessing and booking rooms in University of Abertay.
2) The last meeting decided that guidelines for Fifty Shades of Tay (FSOT) would be helpful. Roddie and David C (comment by email) felt that photos may enhance/complement the story. Abby made the point that what we were trying to create was a vision and story of a locale that may be undermined by an accompanying photo. Also, in discussion, the added complexity that photos would add to production of FSOT was underlined and the unanimous view was that in the interests of urgency, we should keep the production tasks as simple as possible so as to facilitate an earlier publication, ergo no photos, or concrete poems. Out with that, the line structure of each piece should be decided by the author. Abby reckoned that we had 23 pieces already. Roddie suggested a deadline soon for submissions to conclude that phase of the project. Craig suggested that we go for a deadline of October second. An email to members would be circulated to encourage them to get their 50-worders in. Members were encouraged to submit as many as they can so that there was more material to choose a short list from.
Submissions could be in Scots, English or Dundonian, as long as there was a connection to the local area and /or river. It was resolved that a group decision would be made about what went into the pamphlet.
Action: Craig to email the membership for submissions of 50–worders.
3) AOCB
Roddie reminded all about the tragic death of Sarah Isaacs, a former Nethergate Writer. Craig notified the group about the imminent Sunday Times short story competition with a prize of £30 K. Get writing! Roddie noted the 404ink free competition submission date of 11/9/17 for poems and poetry.
Action: none required.
4) Submitted Pieces
There were nine pieces to read, of the 50 – word stories: three from Sue, one from Tom, one from Craig and two from Roddie. Roddie also had a 2500 word extract from his children`s novel “The Isle and the Amulet” to read. This was set in the 1980s.
The longer piece was read first. It was agreed that it had improved from the previously seen draft. The balance of the omniscient view was questioned and this provided useful suggestions for revision. The second big question was whether one of the characters needed to be Aspergic (Abby, Craig). Pros and cons were discussed. A need to prune some of the extraneous detail was noted and attention to detail as
regards to some words used needing to be terms used in the 1980s was raised. David F noted that the Viking Horrible Histories book did not appear till the 90s, Sue agreed that “swots” was a more timely insult than “nerds”. Roddie agreed that the criticism was valid and constructive.
We then moved to the fifty worders. First up was Sue with three. All were liked, but the show-stealer was “The Wintry Tay”, a sensitive evocation of viewing the river by the railway bridge in winter. The wintry theme continued with “Lost Souls” and “No Mercy”, both about the Tay Railway Bridge disaster. The view was split on which was best, but it was agreed that the former was more ethereal. There was a suggestion about combining the two, but views divided on that.
Tom came next with a black humour piece called “An Overheard Conversation.” This was liked by all apart from one phrase “lost his rag” in the piece that we felt could be improved.
David F read his “Tay Whales Lament” a humorous piece from the novel viewpoint of a whale who holidays in the Tay and reports on his holiday. Universally liked by the group, it was suggested to mention “TripAdvisor”in the title.
Craig`s piece “Glebe Street” was next- a quintessentially Dundonian subject- “The Broons”. Liked by all, it must be an elemental piece for FSOT. The meaning of, and use of, the word “chichi” also raised great debate.
For the closing minutes, we had two of Roddies recent 50-worders in Dundonian: “Efter Jimmie Morrison`s visit to Speed Street” and “Efter Ray Davies sees an Invergowrie Sunset”. Revised versions were read at the meeting, different slightly to what had been circulated. Both were found to be amusing parodies of “Love Street” by the Doors and “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks. Pictures illuminated the versified venues. It was agreed that given the similar tack, only one (Sunset) would be used. This author was impressed by Abby`s ability to correctly count a disparity between the read out and the written” La-la” word count in “Speed St” (you had to be there).
We had another fun night out, featuring some good pieces, and great patter.