WriteNight meeting 13th October 2014 by Doug Smith

This time I wasn’t going to be late, I really wasn’t. It’s no good arriving after the activity has already started and not feeling part of it. You never properly catch up.

The others weren’t late either, arriving together bang on time with a smile and a wave. The five of us stood outside the closed, dark café and frowned at the door. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s there,” said Danni.

“I did speak to her today,” said Jo. “She definitely said it was still on.”

I peered up at the first floor windows. There were no lights. Last time, the room had been bustling and the kitchen had been in the middle of a bake. It had been very hot, and a bit cramped.

“Let’s give it fifteen minutes,” said Jo, “and then go somewhere else.” She glanced around it us with slightly narrowed eyes. “I also need to discuss the night. Don’t worry, not whether to continue it, but where we do it.”

“Yeah.” We all murmured agreement, some louder than others.

“This place was nice,” I thought aloud, “but there wasn’t much space. And it was almost as much about the cakes as the writing.”

Jo tore a piece of A4 out of her pad and started writing on it. “In case any newbies come along,” she said and tucked it inside the letterbox. “Writenighters – we have gone to the Castle pub.” There was a smiley face on it.

The Castle was quiet, quieter than I’d ever seen it, but still they had some RnB coming out of the speakers. I was the last in, and followed the others through to the back room, which was deserted, bright and quiet, apart from us, clustered around a long table. My brain must have not believed Jo when she said, as I sat down beside her, “There’s a huge lasagne coming in a minute,” so I was surprised when a big plate of food actually arrived. It smelled amazing. I thought she must have really been looking forward to the cakes in the café.

Ed passed out sheets for the exercise. It was useful stuff – spending more time considering the circumstances and motivations of your characters, and making conscious use of the three-act structure to a story. I need to spend more time on this kind of thing. It can feel like a chore, but once you do it, it can feel like a veil has been lifted, and more ideas spring from it.

As is traditional, some subterfuge ensued. Colin pondered what it would mean to use ‘death’ in answer to all the questions. Danni wondered if all this wasn’t just over-thinking. We debated briefly whether it always had to be three acts, or if a story could have no catalyst or motivation. I think it could, but then it wouldn’t be much of a story.

We sat and wrote, or typed, or thought for a while, and then chatted some more. The next NaNoWriMo came up. Ed had his characters and plot outline already well worked out, which he passed around. Jo had her pink folder ready, full of research, for an extended version of her anthology story. Colin sounded well-prepared too. I revealed I had the idea, but hadn’t mapped out how it would go yet. I bet I leave it til Oct 31^st like last year. Danni wasn’t preparing much at all. She’s a free-form story-stream kind of girl.

I can’t remember who brought it up, but we mentioned the previous project a few of us had been working on – an excuse to think more about editing. I was glad of this, as it had felt unresolved, but Jo reminded us that the competition was open until Nov 1^st, so we still had time to send if off. Colin brought out a print-out of his, which a couple of us read, and Danni hacked into it with her red pen.

Maybe I shouldn’t have done, but I looked at what Colin had been working on this evening and saw notes of the most interesting points that had come up. Reversing the three-act plot stood out, so that it was quite conclusive at the start and ended shortly after a crisis point, but what really caught my eye was something Danni had said earlier about it’s creepy when men make eye contact, but it’s also creepy when men won’t. Seems like we can’t win.

We carried on typing, thinking and writing again and let time slip by. We forgot about finishing at 9.30. There seemed no hurry. Eventually, I had to go, but only got as far as the door.

“We didn’t discuss the venue thing yet,” said Colin.

Jo immediately put down her pink highlighter and opened her pad at a fresh sheet. With true efficiency, she made a list of all the potential venues we could use to meet, with various pros and cons, and also thoughts on possible days of the week. I won’t spoil it for you – I am sure Jo will reveal all in a different post – and so for now, I wish everyone happy, obsessive and productive writing. Look forward to seeing everyone again in a couple of weeks.

The next WriteNight meeting is on Monday 27th October, 7.30pm at Ruby's Tea Party, Crouch Street, Colchester. Please do come and join us.