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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
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