Gavin Jones, Jenny Palmer, Nicola Nuttall
What a moving and thought-provoking afternoon as three authors delivered very personal accounts of how their stories came to be written and published.
First up was Gavin Jones whose theme was ‘Short Story Writing’. He began by giving a brief history and definition of ‘the short story’. It is generally accepted that a short story contains between 1000 – 10 000 words and is confined to one character and one storyline. Gavin then read out his short story: ‘The Constellation of the Little Fox’ that was received by the audience in rapt silence, until a spontaneous burst of applause when he finished.
Gavin then explained that the origins of the story went back to his childhood interest in astronomy and foxes. In 2013, while grieving the death of his mother, Gavin paid a winter visit to Malham Tarn on a clear night, where he observed the starlit sky – and heard a fox bark in the trees across the lake. This gave him some of the basic elements of the story in terms of the location, character, atmosphere and mood. Over the next few years, Gavin worked on the tale for short periods of time, often destroying early drafts, before putting the story away, to return to it later with a new perspective and re-writing it. Eventually, the theme became clear to him – grief: the paradox of wanting to hold someone close, but having to let go. After much work and many more re-writes, he felt confident enough to show the story to critical friends, who suggested amendments and improvements. Finally, after even more revision and proof reading the story was accepted for publication. As he told his personal story, Gavin gave advice and encouragement to anyone who was considering writing a short story.
After a refreshment break, members welcomed Jenny Palmer, who spoke about her two books: ‘Whipps, Watsons and Bulcocks’ and ‘Witches, Quakers and Nonconformists’. Jenny began by reading a poem, inspired by a visit to Twiston cemetery, an ancient Quaker burial ground on the edge of the hamlet of Twiston, where Jenny was born and where generations of her family had lived. Jenny had traced her ancestors back through ten generations to the early 17th century and discovered that the Whipps and the Bulcock families at that time had been some of the first Quakers. Jenny then gave us a short history of the Quaker movement, which had its origins in the local area, and explained why Quakers had been subject to so much suppression and persecution until the 19th century, when societal attitudes to nonconformism were more accommodating.
Jenny then presented us with details of her family members who had lived in Twiston and were buried in the Quaker cemetery – now abandoned and overgrown. She also explained some of her personal history: how she had lived away from the area for most of her life, only returning after retirement, when she began to research her family history and write her books.
Finally, we welcomed Nicola Nuttall, a local woman who lives round the corner from Higherford Methodist Church where we were meeting. Nicola read extracts from the book: ‘The Stars Will Still Be There’, her account of the period from when her daughter, Laura, was diagnosed with a gioblastoma multiforme in 2018 until her death four years later. Nicola explained that she had always kept a diary and after the devastating news of Laura’s diagnosis – aged 18, just days after her arrival at university in London – the diary had become a refuge, where she could set down her thoughts and emotions. At first, Laura was given only a year to live. Wanting to give Laura things to look forward during the initial, gruelling treatment, the family started to devise a ‘bucket list’, which was to grow and grow. At the same time, they researched alternative treatments, which eventually prolonged Laura’s life.
Nicola’s excerpts covered Laura’s diagnosis and the post-operation period, before giving us a flavour of some of the amazing adventures that Laura experienced, including driving an amazing variety of vehicles, large and small; visits to Greater Manchester Police HQ, MI5; travelling to South Africa, business class, to name but a few. During her illness, Laura also manged to graduate from Manchester University and become a passionate advocate for young patients with brain tumours.
Members shared Nicola’s rollercoater of emotions as she read the extracts, which were searingly honest about the effect of Laura’s illness on the family, especially her younger sister. We all admired Nicola’s fortitude and her pride in her amazing daughter who experienced more in a short time than most people do in a lifetime. There was hardly a dry eye in the room as Nicola read her final extract, a letter of advice that Laura was asked to write for the Year 6 pupils at Barrowford School. She possessed wisdom way beyond her years.