July 2009 #2

We met again. This time to look at a revised version of Nick's radio play and to see the final chapters of Hartwin's novel.

Both received a thorough workout. Nick had done a lot of work on his play, incorporating some of the advice but, importantly for anyone taking criticism, knowing what was integral to the story and needed to be kept. So not all suggestions are taken on board but usually the issue that was identified has been addressed in some way. This is a bit vague because I don't want to say too much about Rooineck's stuff before it's produced or published, so I'll refer to my own story, The Man in the Wilderness that has had that much desired broadcast.

When I first showed it to my fellow Rooinecks, they were supportive but to them the narrator was a creepy dirty old man. So when I worked on it again, I gave him more back story. His actions remained the same but the reader had some empathy with him. I wondered if I'd gone too far and become too sentimental about the character but it's done. It's been broadcast, I've got to get on with new stories and try to carry on what I've learned.

Hartwin's piece was thrilling, as always. A mixture of science fiction and political thriller. It was also a huge challenge as we hadn't seen many of the intervening challenges. We got to the bottom of the story, we always do.

I'm just reading Old School by Tobias Wolff. An excellent novel and all about writing. The pretentious (but likeable) students vie for the attentions of visiting authors and their attempts to produce writing to win the authors' approval are hindered by inexperience and dishonesty, with embarrassingly funny results. Finally the most dishonest attempt to win Hemingway's favour is paradoxically the most honest story.