I’ve always been in two minds about writers’ groups. On the one hand, a writer should surely always welcome
constructive criticism? On the other hand, writing a novel is not a team
effort. Isn’t there a risk that novelists, if they hear too many opinions on
their works-in-progress, will either lose sight of their own opinions about
what they are writing, or else give up, because, in the light of other peoples’
chatter, their novel seems such a mess?
Before I went along, I was particularly worried about the
Singapore Writers’ Group. I
imagined, in advance, that it would be a bunch of my own kind: Expat Lady
Novelists With Their Notebooks. As
it turned out, the only Expat Lady Novelist With Her Notebook in attendance was me. To my
considerable surprise, the group was split roughly 50:50 between men and women,
and though the organizer, Alice Clark-Platts, is English, and there were
several other western faces round the circle, most of the group seemed to be
local, or else to be non-western expats now drawn to Singapore from their home
countries all over Asia.
The range of writing, too, went way beyond the expat dramas
and sagas I was expecting. Alice Clark-Platts is a human rights lawyer, and she
has just completed a political thriller set in the future; it explores the
long-term legacy of the war on terror.
She did not read the night I polled up, but three people were brave
enough to do so. One put us through the wringer with a harrowing short story
about a lost child. Another read
the first chapter of a genre-bending fantasy-romance about a teenaged girl
seemingly possessed by an ancient Egyptian Queen, and destined to join a
sisterhood dedicated to protecting modern Egypt’s female politicians. The final offering was from an Indian
writer, who is working on a highly fictionalized, wildly exuberant memoir of
his teenage years. The chapter he
read was called That crazy, shit-assed chapter to all the lovely people in
the parallel universe- yes, whatever has been reported here happened in the
parallel universe. To the extent I understood it, this
seemed to me in equal measure barking mad, genius, tasteless, and funny.
Next time I go, I won’t take any preconceptions, and nor
will I take my notebook. If you do
happen to be living in Singapore, and you want to set up shop as a writer, I
recommend you give this group a try.
If you’ve ever been a member of a writers’ group, and you
have thoughts on their helpfulness, or otherwise, then do please post to share
them.
