Fan Club
Monday 15 August
The Castle Hotel
7.30pm – Free
An evening of fanfiction, impressions, musical tributes and who knows what else, as we all geek out over the things our performers really love.
This time, the prompt was set by writer and First Draft team member Abi Hynes. Read it below, and take a look at musician Jez Hewes’ creative response on our blog.
The Prompt
There is a city surrounded by water with watery alleys that do for streets and roads and silted up back ways that only the rats can cross. Miss your way, which is easy to do, and you may find yourself staring at a hundred eyes guarding a filthy palace of sacks and bones. Find your way, which is easy to do, and you may meet an old woman in a doorway. She will tell your fortune, depending on your face.
Jeanette Winterson, The Passion
The above is a serious contender for my favourite passage of literature of all time. I first read Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion when I was still at university, and it opened up my understanding of what a novel could be. The influence of these few sentences can be seen in loads of my own stories. Sometimes I have to check myself as the words spill out: Am I trying to be Jeanette Winterson here? It’s one of those books that feels like a foundation stone on which other influences have been built; so much so, that when somebody tells me they read it and hated it, I can’t help but take it as a personal insult.
I think sometimes it’s easier to be a critic than to be a fan. It feels very exposing to lay out our best-loved songs, stories, or pieces of art on a table for all to see, to brand ourselves as someone who Really Loves This Thing.
But that’s exactly what we want our performers to do for our next First Draft event. We want writers, musicians, comedians, and other performers of all kinds to come along and share the things they love and have been inspired by. Write us a piece of fan fiction, or play us a mash-up of your favourite bands. Come and do your impressions, your tributes, your obituaries. Enthusiasm is infectious, after all. And at First Draft, we always like to be enthusiastic.
Join us for our Fan Club on Monday 15th August. We won’t judge you for your taste, we promise.
Line up of performers
Mike Milling – comedy/cartoons
Thom Hammersley – spoken word
Trisha Starbrook – fiction
Lydia Hounat – poetry
Anna Percy – poetry
Julie Burrow – drama/comedy
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Bo Power – music
Marli Roode – fiction
Adam Blaize – comedy
Reece Williams – spoken word
Sophie Galpin – comedy
First Draft 