Participant's Notes and First Jottings at a Workshop on Writing Fiction
A Hermit Crab Fiction by Ruth Edwardson
A story should have ….
A Beginning
Protagonist’s fifteen-year-old mother wants to keep her.
No. Why not? Nobody to help or support.
Stocky nurse standing over her, tutting at her hesitation.
Nurse - No point going over it all again, young lady, you’ve signed the papers. Let’s just get on with it.
Mother gives baby up. All she can give is a name, her own – Katherine.
Nurse swaddles this tiny package of new life into a tight bundle, as if she thinks the baby might try to break free from the story set out for her.
Early life
Katherine settles with her adoptive parents, Martha and Dave. She’ll have a good life with us. Few of her clothes escape being pink. Martha has a top notch kitchen but Katherine’s meals are reheated convenience food (include examples). The few toys she has are dolls. She’s taught to mother them and dress them in clothes similar to her own. Dave chooses which school she’ll go to and Martha chooses which friends she can invite home. These friends tease her e.g. she likes the stray cat that turns up in the playground each day, so they call her Kitty. Martha and Dave take this as a sign she’s fitting in.
When they deem she’s old enough, they guide her towards boyfriends from a vetted group. More than a boyfriend, she’d like a dog. Their neighbours have a mongrel. He always bounds up to her, licks her and looks pleased to have her as his friend.
A Middle
She doesn’t get a dog but she’s groomed towards a husband - a nice young man. Martha selects her wedding dress, white, with multiple flounces. Dave arranges the reception. Takes pride in his choice of wines. They tell her she looks like a princess. Start to call her Kate.
Both sets of parents insist her babies be christened.
Turning point
One of children’s playschool helpers encourages her to take them to the library. She reads books with them and soon finds she likes making up stories of her own. She’s drawn towards other shelves offering reading which opens up new worlds and knowledge to her. (Focus on growing/learning together with her children)
She would like to train to teach, but her husband needs her to help in the office of his management consultancy. She will learn much later that she’s not on the books, so no pension for her.
An End
Show the protagonist taking control of her own story.
She has left the management consultant.
Works part-time in the library.
Has a rescue dog; a mongrel.
Her children now have children of their own.
Can we come and stay with you, Grandma?
Use showing as she and her grandchildren
make bug hotels in her garden
take the dog for walks in the woods
poke around with sticks in the ground, searching for anything crawling, creeping or fluttering
draw pictures of the wildlife and flowers
help her in the garden and learn how to grow herbs, fruit and vegetables
peel and chop, mix and stir, whisk and beat with her in the kitchen, as she makes meals with what they have grown (good section to include touch, smell, taste)
She decides she likes her given name. Everyone now calls her Katherine. Martha and Dave are long gone. She didn’t become a teacher but she goes to a local school, to help children with their reading. She belongs to a book group. She has written some short stories for children and has signed up to this workshop to explore -
Writing about what you know - Can remember from about age four. Can only imagine what it was like for mother at the beginning.
Feedback from tutor – Interesting outline. Work dialogue into each stage to show character.
Question. Should I write this as fiction or memoir?
Not sure yet. Feel less exposed making it fiction.
This story was a finalist in the 2024 WestWord Hermit Crab Prize.
Author: Ruth is a retired languages teacher. She enjoys writing fiction, walking, gardening, bird watching and learning languages. The time spent on each depends on the weather. Her work has been published in Writers' Forum, Scribble, the Parracombe Anthology 2022 and in WestWord.