Written by Katie Miller

THE LATEST meeting of Airedale Writers Circle was an evening run by members for members.

It was led by Peter Morrison, our chairman, and Chris Manners. Because of holidays it was a smaller gathering than usual but we split into two groups to answer literary questions.

Why not try some yourselves? The answers are below.

1) Who wrote the James Bond thrillers? Not too hard but what was the name of his house?

2) Where does the word ‘Triffid’ come from? Who was the author?

3) A novel by Patrick O'Brian about a ship's commander was turned into a film starring Russell Crowe. What was the title of the film/novel?

4) What play is the following quote from, and who wrote it? "Life's a poor shadow, a petty player, that frets and struts his hour upon the stage, and then is seen no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Chris introduced the other main part of the evening. This involved us comparing two versions of a published novel, set in 1947, three pages each. One version was the published one, the other a draft.

Behind this exercise was the rationale that reading other writing can only improve our own. For myself, reading celebrated authors just makes me feel daunted!

We weren't told which version was which or the author's name. Opinion was divided! Some saw A as more succinct, but B was more detailed and a more satisfactory read with more description and dialogue.

During the ensuing discussion we learned that B was the published version, from Winter of the World by Ken Follett. Chris knows Ken which is how he got a copy of the draft pages.

The rest of the evening was very informal. One member talked about a poem returned because of earlier 'publication' yet it had only been printed for the family and one friend. Could this be publication?

All work for competitions must be unpublished and original but many poetry competitions are vague about what comprises ‘publication’. This work was not in the public sphere but was seen as published.

We are keen to include new members in our group. As well as members' evenings, we have speaker evenings throughout the year. Published authors, newly published authors and writing-related speakers can be helpful and sometimes spur us on to produce more of our own work.

We listened to Sophie Hannah and Anne Cleeves before we saw their work televised. I found them inspirational. You may find something which motivates you too, or simply holds your interest one way or another.

We meet on the second Tuesday of each month, in the Centre for The Visually Handicapped on Scott Street, Keighley. The cost for non-members is £3 for the evening.

The next meeting is on Tuesday September 9 at 7.30pm when Sean Whittle will share his Cave Rescue experience with us.

Answers. 1) Ian Fleming, Goldeneye; 2) The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham;3) Master and Commander; 4) Shakespeare's play, Macbeth.