FRIDAY / SUNDAY PROGRAMME

These courses run on Friday 27 June between 19.30 - 22:30 and continue on Sunday 29 June between 10.00 - 12.30

BOOKING INFORMATION: Join one of these courses to gain specific advice and revision for your novels, short stories, poems, features, book-length non-fiction and self-publishing.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORK: Pre-conference submissions of work are not necessary in order to attend the workshops unless specified. Please bring sufficient writing supplies. If pre-conference work is specified, it should be submitted no later than 6 June to: Friday / Sunday Courses, c/o Barbara Large, Conference Director, The Winchester Writers' Conference, Faculty of Arts, University of Winchester, Winchester, Hampshire, SO22 4NR. Only submissions from abroad accepted by email.

NOTES: Workshops will be held in the St Edburga, Main Building, Tom Atkinson, Exam Hall, University Centre Boardroom & Arts Centre 5

COURSE FEE: £100
Includes Friday dinner, Sunday lunch, tea, coffee & biscuits.
The Student Union Bar will be open from 17.00- 18.30 & 22.00-24.00 on Friday, 21.00-24.00 on Saturday and 12.00-13.00 on Sunday. Coffee and biscuits will be available in the Senior Common Room on Friday evening 20.30.

B&B: (Standard) £35
B&B: (En-suite) £45

To book your place, download and complete the application form (Adobe PDF) and send to Christian Francis, Faculty of Arts, Univeristy of Winchester, Winchester, SO22 4NR along with a cheque made payable to University Of Winchester. Bookings will not be taken without payment.

Download application form here

You will need Acrobat Reader to view and print the application form. If you do not already have Acrobat Reader you can download it for free from here.

LET'S BUILD YOUR CHARACTERS (WS01)
LESLEY HORTON
Are your characters letting you down? How can you make them work for your novel? This will be a hands-on workshop where we will look at your characters from a work-in-progress or from a manuscript you have put away in a drawer because it isn't going anywhere. We will consider your characters from all aspects - physical, psychological and emotional and through exercises and discussion you will learn how they can influence your plot line and at the same time develop and grow in stature. If delegates would like to send the chapters in which their main characters are introduced, together with a brief synopsis of the novel, please do so to arrive no later than 6th June.

ENDINGS (WS02)
ADRIENNE DINES
A poor ending can ruin a good story, leaving the reader feeling frustrated and short-changed. This is a workshop for writers who struggle with ending their stories. We will look at the 'happy ever after', the 'open ended', the 'all loose threads neatly tied up' endings and find what works best for you and the story you are writing - or planning to write. It will be a very interactive workshop. Please submit a short synopsis (up to 300 words) and any questions you may want addressed by 6th June.

IDEA GENERATORS: HOW TO GET AND DEVELOP BRILLIANT IDEAS (WS03)
BRUCE HOLLAND ROGERS
Some writers don't worry at all about getting ideas, they are able to work for years on one idea, or ideas come to them so easily that they seldom stop to think about where ideas come from. The rest of us have to work at getting and developing ideas. Fortunately, we can make the process both fun and productive if we have a deep bag of invention techniques, and in this course Bruce Holland Rogers will share dozens of methods he has used in thirty years to come up with ideas for publishable writing of all kinds. Suitable for writers of all levels who want to discover new ways to get and grow ideas.

SAFE AS HOUSES (WS04)
SALLY SPEDDING
This workshop will, through writing exercises and discussion, explore the exciting possibilities that the cliché 'safe as houses' poses. Both Rebecca and the ground-breaking House of Leaves showed that mere walls can neither keep the past from seeping through, nor protect their occupants from harm. Beginners welcome. Please send a sample three pages describing any significant place in which you've lived, to arrive no later than 6th June.

DESIGNING DIALOGUE (WS05)
VERONICA HELEY
Learn how to write dialogue which lifts your characters off the page while at the same time pushes the action forward. Using exercises and discussion, we will explore the many tricks of the trade which help to produce vibrant dialogue.

WRITING FOR CHILDREN: BE YOUR OWN EDITOR (WS06)
JUDE EVANS & STEPHANIE STANSBIE
An objective assessment of your own writing is hard, but it is important to be able to hone your writing and analyse its strengths and weaknesses. Jude and Stephanie will give the group tips on how editors of children's books assess manuscripts and set the group editing exercises to practise the necessary skills. On Sunday morning we will work on creating a striking opening. A good opening is vital for securing the attention of your reader - and of a potential publisher. Jude and Stephanie will lead the group in analysis of what makes a good opening and set writing exercises for the group to discuss.

CREATING TRUE CHARACTERS (WS07)
BARBARA EWING
Barbara Ewing, actress and writer, perhaps comes to characterization with a double view-point: that of an actress and that of a writer. Join her workshop where she will talk about how her work as an actress informs characters in her own books. Then, in reading and discussing their own work with delegates, the workshop will show how to cut through stock clichés to find the truth of real characters.

MAKE YOUR NOVEL STAND OUT (WS08)
LUCIE WHITEHOUSE
Make sure your book demands an agent's attention. We will look first at techniques for the final edit, focussing on an unputdownable beginning. On Sunday we will concentrate on synopses and covering letter. Please bring the opening pages of your novel, draft synopses and letters.

WRITING THE BREAK-THROUGH NOVEL - ESPECIALLY FOR BEGINNERS (WS09)
DANIEL CLAY
Putting genres to one side, putting the how-to manuals to one side, this workshop's aim is to get you thinking about why you love writing and to help you to attempt the sort of fiction you would love to read yourself rather than the sort of fiction that you think editors and agents want. We will look at several best-selling contemporary first novels that don't necessarily fit into a genre, such as The Lovely Bones, The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-time, What Was Lost and The Time Traveller's Wife. Hopefully after this discussion, delegates will be encouraged to believe they can reach these heights for themselves. Be prepared to do some writing and feel free to send the synopsis and first ten pages of your writing by 6th June.

CREATING THE LIVING BREATHING SCENES THAT SHOW RATHER THAN TELL (WS10)
MARGARET GRAHAM
Think: Friday night at the flicks! We'll analyse a scene from a film, compare examples of show and tell within written fiction, and then set about writing a scene suitable for novel or short story. We'll incorporate the senses, dialogue, symbolism, action, setting, body language and tension. Relax. You'll realise you can do it easily, and what's more, it's fun!

THE VIEW FROM HERE (WS11)
MAGGIE BUTT
A workshop for prose and poetry writers on the importance of place. Through exercises and examples we will explore 'the outsider's eye' and also 'the magic of belonging', using photographs and memory as writing triggers. The Sunday session will be an opportunity to develop your writing and explore form.

TURNING CREATIVE IDEAS INTO FILM AND FULL LENGTH DRAMA (WS12)
DAVID HANSEN
This two-part lecture and workshop will show how to turn a straightforward idea into a film or full-length drama, with guidance on using narrative structure, characters, time and location to maximum effect. Participants may submit in advance (anonymously if they wish) a one-page resolved outline of a story, and following Friday's session adapt it for development in the workshop on Sunday.

WRITE PUBLISH PROMOTE (WS13)
DAVID JAMES
This workshop is for intending self-publishers. It asks many questions and attempts to answer them. Can I do it all myself or do I need a Print On Demand publisher's help? What about proofing, page layout and producing a print-ready file? Or font choice, formatting, cover design, spine, binding, ISBNs? What about the uncomputerate? Finally there's the crucial business of promotion and marketing. How do I reach my audience? What about distributors, book shepherds, reviews, internet publicity, book fairs, and buyers at independent bookshops and the large chains? Participants include David James, self-published novelist at Trafford and Eric Lowe, whose Forgotten Conscripts was hailed as a London Evening Standard Book of the Year 2007.

HOW TO BREAK INTO THE NON-FICTION MARKET (WS14)
SOPHIE KING
Do you have a specialist area you could write about? Features editors are often on the look-out for people who can write (even if they're not professional journalists) providing they have an insight into a specialist area. This workshop will look at your work and make suggestions on how it could be improved and placed with the right kind of publication.

WRITING SCI-FI & FANTASY (WS15)
Through the Looking Glass and Beyond The Horizon
JULIET E MCKENNA
This workshop will focus on key elements of writing; plot development, characterisation and scene setting. Those attending can hope to come away with new tools to improve their own work and a fuller understanding of the particular challenges and opportunities in writing SF and Fantasy.

HOW TO WRITE NOVELS FOR TEENAGERS (WS16)
PHIL CARRADICE
We will look at the essential ingredients of teenage novels; a sense of place, believable characters, fast paced plot, conflict and, above all, the creation of "community" with (and in) which young people can identify. A practical workshop with many exercises to help you create your own text. Send samples of your work for group discussion