X is for Xanthippe
Those words he may or may not have said raise a question in
my mind. Aspiring writers certainly
appreciate the support of their partners, children, other family members and
friends. But is it possible we also need
our own versions of Xanthippe? Should we
try to find people who will not just support us but also nag us?
In the last few years, as I have tried to learn how to write
novels, I’ve been very grateful to my teachers and fellow writers who have the
kindness and commitment to demand that I set some words down on a page and,
yes, nag me. So here are some heartfelt thanks
to people who have demanded I do more than I might have been inclined to do:
·
Thanks to my teacher in a Lifelong Learning class
who set the assignment that we hand in a query letter, an outline of our novels
and the first three chapters; his kind comments that I should send the package
out to possible agents were premature, but have kept me going for several years.
·
Thanks to the three leaders of my local writing
group who have insisted we play monthly writing games, writing for half an hour
on scraps of paper, sitting at tables in the room we meet in on the top of an
old pub across from the castle. Even at
those times when I think I’m unable to write (see B for Blocked), I write what
I can and feel amazed at what I end up writing.
·
Thanks to a tutor on an Arvon course who
insisted that we act out our hardest bits of dialogue (arguably the genesis of
Café Aphra) and nagged me to think as hard as I could until I figured out how
my protagonist who lives on another planet in 2683 could have possibly read
Jane Austen.
·
Thanks to the peer from that Arvon course who
kept our virtual community alive by setting up a website, and in a slightly
Xanthippean manner insisted that we write a full chapter of our novel in the
month following our return from the course.
That’s how I finished my first draft.
·
Thanks to all the friends who have set up Café
Aphra’s November challenge and now our alphabet challenge. I’m doing my best to get this in in time!!
·
Thanks to my friends from an American writing
course who, in their emails, gently insist that I take my writing seriously by,
you know, actually doing some. And
thanks to my website peers who tell me that one of these days, if I keep
working and redrafting my outlines, I really will learn how to plot.
Of course we know nothing about the true state of affairs in
ancient Greece, but I think Xanthippe was probably a great help to her
philosophical husband, perhaps by nagging him to get some of his thoughts down
before he lost them. I can hear her
saying, if he didn’t want to use a tablet, why not just dictate his ideas to
that nice young Plato…
Plato had nothing but good to say of Xanthippe. After all, she may be the one who got him
published.
Frances Hay
A positive nag as a beta reader sounds a great idea to me, Frances. This was a brilliant use of the 'X' letter.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this! Who would have thought that Socrates had a (nicely) nagging wife - though really I shouldn't be surprised, after all as they say, "behind every successful man,...."! I really enjoyed the idea of her though as a character, especially as we know so little about her. But Plato liked her so she can't have been that much of a shrew (perhaps he had a crush on her, the older woman and all that?).... hmm.... I can see the beginnings of a story in here.... :)
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