I may have mentioned a small but excellent pub in Weston-super-Mare, which specialises in new and different beers and ales, often from small or niche breweries, called The Black Cat. We don’t often visit, but when we do we always have a pleasant time and often bump into friends we know. Among those friends is the crime writer Brian Price who is also in our writing group, and he has instigated a new event at The Black Cat, a monthly story telling night. Quite a few of us from the group will be going along to the inaugural event tonight and I’ve been pondering on which of my stories I should take to read.
I don’t know how this one popped into my mind, but I decided to read one I wrote some time ago, called ‘Leap’. There is a beauty spot with a wonderful view in the Mendip Hills called Deerleap and I went there quite a while ago with my other writing group. It was a dull day when we went, so the view across the Somerset Levels was also rather dull, however we had an enjoyable time and from that I wrote my story, ‘Leap’. In my story a completely fictional writing group, with characters nothing like my writing friends, decide to go for a walk to a place called Prickett’s Leap. A prickett is a small deer, it is an actual creature, not one made up by me. In my story the narrator is a woman, and by chance her fellow writers are four elderly gents, who bicker and fall out all the way up to the viewing area. As in my own Deerleap adventure, the weather is unhelpful, and a heavy mist has settled on the viewing platform.
An unfortunate incident occurs and the reader has to decide for themselves – did he jump, or was he pushed – or being an old, did one of the elderly chaps just accidentally tumble over the edge. I’ve edited my original story, tightened it up, and practised reading it several times. I shouldn’t be nervous, I’ve read it aloud before, and the story is clear in my head. However, this will be in an unfamiliar environment for reading stories, with an unknown audience. I’m sure all will be well and we’ll have a jolly time, and I look forward to hearing my friends’ stories and those from anyone else who has turned up for the evening!
Here is a link to one of Brian’s books, the first in his series: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fatal-Trade-Cotton-Crime-Book-ebook/dp/B095XJX3NR
Here is a link to our writing group’s latest anthology: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anthology-Group-Anthologies-Writers-Stone/dp/B0D76WPG8D
Lois Elsden 