FRIDAY / SUNDAY PROGRAMME - EXAMPLE

These courses run on Friday 25 June between 19.30 - 22:30 and continue on Sunday 27 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 5 June to: Friday / Sunday Courses, c/o Barbara Large, Conference Director, The Winchester Writers' Conference, Research and Knowledge Exchange Centre, 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: £120
Includes Friday dinner, Sunday lunch, tea, coffee & biscuits.
Coffee and biscuits will be available in the Terrace Bar on Friday evening 20.30.

B&B: (Standard) £32
B&B: (En-suite) £41.50

WHAT MAKES AN EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S BOOK? FINDING IDEAS AND CRAFTING THEM INTO A CHILDREN'S BOOK (WS01)
JUDE EVANS (Friday) TRACEY CORDEROY joins on Sunday
In this workshop we will look at the children's book market and which titles have achieved critical and commercial success - and why. What are the qualities that make writing for children special? How can you develop these in your own writing? Come prepared to analyse, to brainstorm, and to write! Do you struggle to find ideas? Or are you awash with ideas but need focus to develop them into something that is suitable for children and that is publishable? This workshop will consist of a series of brainstorming and writing exercises on developing ideas, plot, characters, dialogu, narrative style and pace.

CREATING COMPELLING CHARACTERS (suitable for beginners) (WS02)
KATE NASH
Great stories come from great characters so it is vital that writers make characters interesting. Using interactive exercises, we will explore different strategies to inspire you creatively to build three-dimensional and appealing fictional characters. No prior preparation necessary although, as there will be the opportunity (optional) to work on characters from your own works-in-progress, you may want to bring along character notes.

WRITING A SERIES BUILDS READERSHIP (WS03)
VERONICA HELEY
First we consider suitable subjects which have enough tension built in to make the reader want more. Then we look at how action, character and setting, may develop, and lastly we work out how to keep track of our work. Veronica Heley is currently writing two successful gentle crime series, and has written others for children and adults.

FIRST STEPS IN PUBLISHING (WS04)
DAVID JAMES AND KEITH JAHANS (FRI ONLY)
This workshop is for those seeking to self-publish. Today anyone who can write, can publish. But how, where and at what cost? Having got your manuscript 'oven ready' for the printer, will you print and publish it yourself? Or will you look for a POD (Publish on Demand) firm? And in what format: - hardback, paperback, ebook, audiobook, podcast, or online publication? Finally, what about promoting and marketing your book? Will you market it yourself, via contacts and the internet, or hire a publicity agent to get you interviews and reviews? Delegates will be encouraged to discuss and present any research they may have done into these areas.

ONCE UPON A TIME IS TODAY (WS05)
ALISON HABENS
Dip into fairy tales, 'the oldest stories in the book', for some of the best writing advice. Learn plotting tips for the happiest endings, magical ways with dialogue, tricks to make your characters live forever; whether you're a writer of children's fiction or adult fantasy, thriller, romance, etc. Prepare for this workshop by answering: if you were a fairy tale character, who would you be?

GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT GETTING PUBLISHED (WS06)
SARAH MUSSI
Using 'high concept' thinking and the 'low down' from publishers, this course will help you turn your children's book idea into a publishing contract. It will cover crafting your project from concept to query letter. We will look at:
Presenting a fascinating subject
Choosing a great title
Setting up the inciting action
Creating an un-putdownable hook
Expressing it all in a log line that will sell
Not to mention going over the basics of what makes a good story.
Be prepared! Bring your project and a one page synopsis to work on.

WHAT'S IN A CHARACTER? (WS07)
LESLEY HORTON
You want to excite editors but your characters are commonplace. Where are you going wrong? How can you put it right? Join me in this workshop and help your characters grow. If delegates would like to send the chapters introducing the main characters, together with a brief synopsis of the novel, they should arrive with Barbara Large by June 4.

FUNNY YOU SHOULD WRITE THAT: HOW TO CREATE THE PERFECT ROMANTIC COMEDY (WS08)
ALLIE SPENCER
In this workshop we will explore the key ingredients needed to create a successful romantic comedy novel. Beginning with the all-important opening scene, we will move on to consider structure, character and plot; together building up a working synopsis and character biographies. Writers are welcome to bring their own first chapters and synopses to the class for discussion and feedback.

LEARNING FROM FILM: HOW TO TELL A GOOD STORY (WS09)
DAVID HANSON
This two-part workshop will focus on understanding the tricks and devices screenwriters use to seize attention, give information and make their audience want to stay with the story and its characters. Illustrated by film clips and discussion.

DANGER OF DEATH (suitable for beginners)(WS10)
SALLY SPEDDING
Much of crime fiction is becoming ever more dark to satisfy a growing demand. How far do you dare to go? This intensive workshop will explore exciting and unusual ideas within this expanding genre. How you can write what you don't know, with setting and characters to make your work vivid and unsettling. Beginners welcome.

STRIVING TO MAKE THE BREAKTHROUGH (WS11)
DANIEL CLAY
Aimed at those who are writing and submitting novels but unable to get that elusive first deal, the aim of this workshop is to look at contemporary literary novels such as One Day, The Piano Teacher, What Was Lost, Vernon God Little, etc. - with a particular emphasis on debut novels - and ask what makes these novels stand out from the slush-piles they were once on themselves and how we can introduce these qualities into our own work: some of the examples used last year will be used again. Anyone wishing to attend is welcome to send in the first ten pages of their novel, synopsis, and covering letter.

POETRY: NEVER SO INTENSE - NEVER SO READABLE (WS12)
PHIL CARRADICE
How to use the intense emotion demanded by poetry to create readable but accessible poems. Writing will take place in the sessions.

DIALOGUE IS NOT CONVERSATION (WS13)
CRYSSE MORRISON
Speech is an essential element of storytelling, in novels and short stories as well as dramas and screenplays. This workshop uses light-hearted enjoyable shared exercises to focus on creating credible dialogue that moves action forward as well as conveying relationships and personalities, and intriguing the reader by subtext revelations.

KICK START IDEAS FOR NEW WRITING (suitable for beginners) (WS14)
JUDITH ALLNATT
Where do ideas come from? This hand-on workshop will focus on techniques to spark ideas and provide tools that can be used again and again to boost creativity. Suitable for writers of all levels of experience, the sessions will include exercises that use lateral thinking, constraint, memory and stimuli material from other art forms, and will encourage experimentation in a supportive environment.

SCRIPTWRITING FOR MAINSTREAM TELEVISION (WS15)
BERNARD MCKENNA
Television is a growing industry with an insatiable hunger for new writing talent. Soaps, drama series, plays, situation comedies. This course will introduce key issues concerning such writing and the problems related to successful t.v. writing. We will develop plots from ideas discussed, then turn them into storylines and finally script them into scenes with dialogue.