The group sessions were where she was at her most vulnerable. On her own, with me by her side, she had many Eureka moments. Cobbling the story together, she\u2019d be off to her bi-monthly sessions like a lamb to the slaughter, stuffing gummy bears into her face while she touch-types like a stenographer possessed and mails it, sub headed and spellchecked to the candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018So, your character will be written in first person, as an autobiographical account?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Err. Ja. I\u2019ve decided on that.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018By a female character who is basically amoral and and sexually promiscuous?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018It\u2019s starting to look that way.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018I see the tone is satirical. Quite funny, actually. I found myself laughing out loud.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Thanks. I\u2019m hoping to satirise the present day through the prism of the past.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018How many chapters do you intend to write?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Um. I\u2019m not sure. I\u2019ve got a thing about nines. Not sure why, though.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018And the novel will be told as a series of story cycles?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018I\u2019m trying to link each episode through various symbols and metaphors, yes.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018So \u2026 you\u2019re writing a picaresque novel?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For once, she was totally lost for words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong; criticism is hard. But as Lebron James, one of my favourite basketball players is so fond of saying, \u2018I like criticism; it makes you strong11<\/sup><\/strong>\u2019. The writer\u2019s best intentions were dashed and dashed again through the unpicking of her weak points by novelists, poets and fellow candidates. The good news was; she\u2019d found her voice. The bad news was everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018So, why do you do that? The typing thing?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Because I can?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Or, because your beloved grandparents said you\u2019d be a secretary, just like your mother?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Perhaps. It keeps up my concentration.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018And endears you to the group?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018It\u2019s a kind of service.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018But does it serve the novel?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I think so. I have almost total recall of all our group sessions. What applies to one applies to all.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018But what about me?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018What about you?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Why don\u2019t you pay me the kind of attention as you do those others?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I try. You distract me in class.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Excuse me?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The sessions are not a place for you to reign. I need to deal with you in solitary confinement.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Well, don\u2019t blame me if I act out sometimes. It gets a little dull in here.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018What are you talking about? I feel like you\u2019ve taken over my brain.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Well, then you better take better care of me. I need you more.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yay, say a few group sessionists, we love Wanda. We buy her full on. Love her words. Shot, folks. But, say others, the writer has other issues on her hands than simple bedazzlement. Where is the tapeworm of the story as E. M. Foster would say? Where are the details which will give each scene verisimilitude asks the novelist? What does she need or want, as C.G. chimes in? What are the stakes? How do you make her human? It\u2019s coming, she assures them, it\u2019s experimental, I\u2019m trying it on, discarding bits that don\u2019t work, asking Wanda. Big brush strokes, she says, we\u2019ll fill in the rest later. Shitty first draft, everybody agrees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The group sessions were where she was at her most vulnerable. On her own, with me by her side, she had many Eureka moments. Cobbling the story together, she\u2019d be off to her bi-monthly sessions like a lamb to the slaughter, stuffing gummy bears into her face while she touch-types like a stenographer possessed and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":40,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnjoffe.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnjoffe.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnjoffe.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnjoffe.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnjoffe.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lynnjoffe.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/lynnjoffe.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/305\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnjoffe.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}