Yesterday evening I toddled along to Newark -Notts – to meet/sit in on a session of the Fosseway Writers. This wasn’t completely out of the blue (I met Nick of the Fosseway Writers at last year’s Newark Book Festival and learned a little about the group there) but, because of commitments in my world, I haven’t been able to make their meetings… until last night.
The evening’s conversation was largely about a multi-handed project where a number of the group are writing an ensemble piece. Does this make it an ensemble-ensemble piece?
Anyway.
I liked the group and I enjoyed the way the participants considered such things as relationships and characters/character development, as well as considering how characters look/might look through the eyes of other characters in the ensemble, as well as through the eyes of other writers/contributors.
I’m making this sound much more complicated than the conversation was (the sign of a good meeting: the conversation wasn’t ever stilted and flowed around topics) and that’s largely to the credit of those present, and also attributable to me being a rubbish explaining device.
I was slightly disappointed to learn that Nick is in the middle of moving to France which, obviously, will mean his attendance will wind up at some point. Que sera sera. However I liked the group as a collective, and enjoyed the detailed thinking and the level of enthusiasm for the WIP.
If you’re in the area and you have a leaning towards writing prose or poetry (or both!), I strongly recommend you find a space in your weekly diary for the Fosseway Writers.
By the way, if you haven’t experienced the “Let’s xcape Café” (and I hadn’t previously), please go along and have a look. It’s a wonderful table-top gaming café that sells cakes and books!
Thanks Brennig – great to have you come along and hear about your inspirations for your books 🙂
Glad to hear that you enjoyed the session and hopefully you’ll be back for more writerly musings. Just for anyone else reading this, we’re at Newark library on the first Wednesday of the month (ostensibly for more formal workshop and speaker sessions) and then at LetsXcape on the third Thursday of the month for more general discussion amongst the members, although the current project is taking up time in both at the moment in order to get the damn thing over the line and be ready for Newark Book Festival in July.