An unsuitable task for a writer? - Dennis Hamley
I'm quite glad this week is over. It's been dominated by what has now become an annual ritual. On November 5th I found a big packet in my postbox. It wasn't a surprise present: I'd been expecting it. All the assignments from my students on the short fiction module of the Oxford Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing. Each year I set the same sort of task for this assignment. A 2500 word story on a concept which can be interpreted in several ways - literally, metaphorically, what you will. Journey , for instance, or Flight. This year I chose Trial. So far, my tone seems rather downbeat, as if I've at last completed a chore. Well, it's hard work: these scripts need careful scrutiny, as close a critical response as I am capable of and a detailed appraisal and advice to be as helpful to the student as I can make it. They've taken me the whole week. They usually take longer. I've tried to do them quickly this time because we are going to Germany on Mo...