Believe
1 October 2007
When I was small, my parents persuaded me that the fair that came to town on my birthday came just for me. You won't be surprised to hear that it didn't.
I don't suppose that my parents put a lot of energy into constructing a believable storyline for the great event. Did they tell me that they sent out invitations so that all our neighbours - and thousands of strangers - could enjoy the fair too? Did they explain that, as soon as the stallholders noticed I'd gone home to bed, they all packed up and left too?
When you create a story - a sequence of imagined events - sooner or later you will feel the desire to share it.
Some people join a writers' group where they can go and read extracts aloud. Others have friends who are interested and listen attentively. There are paid-for services that will give you feedback. You can send out copies of your typescript to agents whose websites suggest they will be interested in the kind of story - the interplay of characters and events - that you have concocted.
Of course, the down side is that people may not like it - that they won't buy into your imaginary world, that they won't believe. And they will tell you.
It's astonishing how brutal people can be. I have heard the most dreadful reports of careless, destructive criticism.
Often, when Greg and I are teaching, we will be told that it is the supportive, constructive environment that we create that our students appreciate the most.
One of the ways in which Greg often does this is by insisting that we work on texts created during the course, quickly, under pressure of time. The work is not supposed to be flawless, highly polished paragraphs of stylised prose. It is work in progress.
This means that the other students' responses can all focus on how to get the text to where the author wants it to go. Everyone plays the role of constructive editor.
'I see what you are getting at. Maybe if you ...'
Greg always ends our courses with a vote of thanks to the participants - he thanks them for their goodwill, for believing, for buying into one another's stories.
Then we all leave the Sepulchre.
