Keith Wedmore talks about writing the study.

Keith Wedmore talks about writing the study.

Keith Wedmore talks about group collaborating in writing the study.

From March 20, 2013 interview with Mark Bowman.

Mark B.  Can you say a little more just—I’m curious about how you write with a committee of 11.  How did the writing unfold?  Did you have an outline?  Did people write sections and brought them to the group?

Keith W.  Yes, yes, yes.

Mark B.  How did that happen?

Keith W.  At the end of each session—as far as I can remember—I haven’t read through this again, but as far as I can remember, at the end of the session, we would consider whether we would now add something, or add a chapter, or have a draft chapter as a result of the day.  That, of course, doesn’t, by any means, happen every week, or every month or anything else, but it did happen.  And then somebody would say, okay.  It didn’t matter who did it at all, so somebody would write it and circulate it to the group, and we’d then come back next time and tear it apart and discuss it and produce something that we all agreed on, which was a lovely process because one of the charms of the Society of Friends is you’re allowed to change your mind. 

And so we could work it through until we had genuinely convinced each other of what it should say, and some things got altered quite a lot and some didn’t much.  I, in fact, was asked to write the complete chapter on homosexuality, and not much of that actually didn’t get through.  I mean, that was—but of course it had been in my head for something like 15 years.  I could just sit down and write what the Emperor Hadrian or somebody thought.  Which one was it?  Anyway, it’s in the book.

Mark B.  Right, you quote that.

Keith W.  Constantine, or was it…it doesn’t matter.  Anyway, there’s some emperor who thought that sodomy caused earthquakes or something.  But all that was from actually reading Gibbon’s Decline and Fall when I was in Canada.

Mark B.  Did you write other sections?  You wrote that section.

Keith W.  No, I wrote that, but, I mean, they had a hand in chipping at it, of course, and I’m only saying that most of it survived.  I still see my own words.  They probably took out some bits.  But the same thing happened with them.  We all, or I’m sure most of us, at any rate, volunteered to write a chunk.

Mark B.  Do you actually recall who was the major writer of the different sections?

Keith W.  Sorry?

Mark B.  Do you recall who was the major writer of the different sections?

Keith W.  Oh, I see.  If you hand it back a moment, it might come back.  That’s going to be difficult because of the very—

Mark B.  And it may not—

Keith W.  —[lack of] ego and vanity involved.  It wouldn’t make any difference who wrote what, as far as we were concerned.

Mark B.           Can you say a little more just—I’m curious about how you write with a committee of 11.  How did the writing unfold?  Did you have an outline?  Did people write sections and brought them to the group?

Keith W.         Yes, yes, yes.

Mark B.           How did that happen?

Keith W.         At the end of each session—as far as I can remember—I haven’t read through this again, but as far as I can remember, at the end of the session, we would consider whether we would now add something, or add a chapter, or have a draft chapter as a result of the day.  That, of course, doesn’t, by any means, happen every week, or every month or anything else, but it did happen.  And then somebody would say, okay.  It didn’t matter who did it at all, so somebody would write it and circulate it to the group, and we’d then come back next time and tear it apart and discuss it and produce something that we all agreed on, which was a lovely process because one of the charms of the Society of Friends is you’re allowed to change your mind. 

And so we could work it through until we had genuinely convinced each other of what it should say, and some things got altered quite a lot and some didn’t much.  I, in fact, was asked to write the complete chapter on homosexuality, and not much of that actually didn’t get through.  I mean, that was—but of course it had been in my head for something like 15 years.  I could just sit down and write what the Emperor Hadrian or somebody thought.  Which one was it?  Anyway, it’s in the book.

Mark B.           Right, you quote that.

Keith W.         Constantine, or was it…it doesn’t matter.  Anyway, there’s some emperor who thought that sodomy caused earthquakes or something.  But all that was from actually reading Gibbon’s Decline and Fall when I was in Canada.

Mark B.           Did you write other sections?  You wrote that section.

Keith W.         No, I wrote that, but, I mean, they had a hand in chipping at it, of course, and I’m only saying that most of it survived.  I still see my own words.  They probably took out some bits.  But the same thing happened with them.  We all, or I’m sure most of us, at any rate, volunteered to write a chunk.

Mark B.           Do you actually recall who was the major writer of the different sections?

Keith W.         Sorry?

Mark B.           Do you recall who was the major writer of the different sections?

Keith W.         Oh, I see.  If you hand it back a moment, it might come back.  That’s going to be difficult because of the very—

Mark B.           And it may not—

Keith W.         —[lack of] ego and vanity involved.  It wouldn’t make any difference who wrote what, as far as we were concerned.