Another Wednesday morning, and another interesting and fun monthly get-together of Writers in Stone, our group of creatives. We do see each other in between times, to socialise, drink coffee, eat cake and to talk about our writing and things we’ve read and what we’ve been up to in our everyday lives. When we get together on a Wednesday morning it’s to share our writing, taking turns to read what we have produced, inspired by a set topic. Today the challenge was to write about this – “What are we going to do about George?” As ever there was a real variety of responses and very different stories.
I wrote about an amateur band of amateur rockers which was based loosely on the stories my husband has told me about the various groups he’s been in since being a teenager. I didn’t use any of his tales, but used the experiences he’d had to make it more realistic. When I finished, he read it (as he always does) to make sure it made sense and – for this particular story, that it was realistic.
In my story there were five lads, in their twenties, who played around the local pubs and at functions such as birthday parties and celebrations. One of the members of the band, George, wasn’t as good as the others, but they tolerated him as his dad not only had a van to transport their equipment to venues, but also a garage where they could rehearse. All had been ok-ish, until George started calling it “his” band, making decisions without consultation, and generally being a bit of an arrogant idiot. My story was how the four lads discussed what to do to reign George in without actually sacking him, because of course, they needed the rehearsal space and the transport. A solution was found and the story ended with them feeling very optimistic at the new opportunities which had come their way – without George.
It always amazes me how varied the stories are, written by my nine talented friends, and what completely different takes we all have on the prompt we’ve chosen. Each year an anthology is produced, usually in the autumn or early winter – ready for Christmas, and without doubt one will arrive later this year. We’ve been really pushing ourselves to be better writers and to be encouragingly critical of what we write, and it’s paying off. I think the standard and quality of the work in it this year will surpass the excellent previous editions.
We call ourselves Writers in Stone because our first meetings were in Weston Quarry, so we were literally surrounded by stone. My featurred image is of the quarry.
Lois Elsden 