Weeklong Courses run Monday 29 June - Friday 3 July, 09.30-16.30, in Shawford Hall, Shawford.

BOOKING INFORMATION: We reserve the right to cancel any workshop by 17 June if there are insufficient applicants. Each delegate will be sent an outline of their workshop and details on booking accommodation.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORK: Pre-conference submissions of work are not necessary in order to attend the workshops unless specified. Please bring sufficient writing supplies.

COURSE FEE: Non-residential £325 / Daily rate £75

Download application form here

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CREATING, WRITING, EDITING AND MARKETING FICTION (WL01) Monday-Friday

CREATING THAT NOVEL
The Drive-through Imagination
Monday 29th June 09.30-16.30
ADRIENNE DINES
Writers have big imaginations but do they write mainly because of what comes out of those imaginations or because of what goes in? Big events happen to us but it is often the smaller, less obvious events that really touch us, leave us changed. We feel compelled to write about it but we don’t know where to begin. In this workshop, we will take a look at what inspires you – and what you do next. We will look at the creation of a novel from the very first
germ of an idea. In preparation for a week’s creativity, we will look at some of the ‘tools of the trade’ - finding your writing voice; creating credible/sympathetic characters; narration and point of view – who tells the story and who decides what story to tell. If you have a work in progress or just an idea, bring it along. This very interactive workshop is suitable for absolute beginners as well as more experienced writers.

STARTING THAT NOVEL
Tuesday 30th June 09.30 – 16.30
JUNE HAMPSON
This workshop will take those first tentative steps of writing, to creating believable characters, plotting, preparing manuscripts and marketing. Bring the first couple of pages and synopsis to the workshop.

PEOPLE TALKING
Wednesday 1st July 09.30 – 16.30
CRYSSE MORRISON
Characters provide plot, James Joyce said. The people you create and the way they speak are the most important aspect of your writing, whatever your genre. We will be looking at ways to create credible and intriguing characters to enrich prose, drama, and even poetry.

WHEN IT COMES TO EDITING AND REVISION...
Thursday 2nd July 09.30 – 16.30
PAUL BAVISTER
When involved in a longer project - a novel or poetry collection - it often becomes easy to drift into stylistic habits. This can lead to missed opportunities and the possibility that important aspects of writing are being left to tick over. Take this opportunity to analyse how you use dialogue, characterization, narrative and description. This day will be an opportunity to add new life to your writing, introducing new and productive routines.

WRITING THE WINNING SYNOPSIS AND
COVERING LETTER
Friday 3rd July 09.30 – 16.30
LUCIE WHITEHOUSE
This course will help you prepare for one of the most important times in the life of your novel: finishing it and submitting it to agents and editors. First we will talk about recognizing when your manuscript is ready to be sent out. We will look at opening lines, paragraphs and pages, with a view to making sure that your novel is the one which an agent doesn’t easily put aside. We will identify common mistakes and talk about effective strategies for eliminating these in a final edit, with a special focus on characterisation, pace and structure. In the second part of the course, we will discuss how to write a winning synopsis and the best possible covering letter – and how not to. Delegates are asked to bring along the opening section of their novel, as
well as draft synopses or covering letters which they would like to discuss.

WRITING FOR CHILDREN
(WL02) Monday-Friday

BUILDING YOUR CAREER AS A WRITER FOR CHILDREN
Monday 29th June 09.30 – 16.30
SARAH MUSSI
This workshop will take you on a journey from where you currently are as a writer to where you’d like to be. We will go through the valleys of plot and character and pace and style and over the mountains of agents and submissions on the path to publication. Your guide has trodden this path before [the hard way]. Together we will look at the things you need to pack to get through and which road to take. Bring along your current project – the first page or two, a one page synopsis and your imagination.

CONSTRUCTING CHILDEN’S STORIES
Tuesday 30th June 09.30 – 16.30
ELIZABETH ARNOLD
This workshop will work together to help with each writer’s
individual agenda. We will discuss characterisation, plotting
and editing from an author’s point of view and any other
matter that delegates wish to discuss. The purpose will be to help with story construction and to build each individual author’s confidence in their work. Each delegate may send up to 2,000 words by 5th June if they wish.

WRITING FOR CHILDREN: STARTING OUT
Wednesday 1st July 09.30 – 16.30
PAUL BRYERS
This workshop will centre on the practical ingredients that you need to know about writing for children. Using examples and exercises, we will discuss the empowerment of the viewpoint child and if these powers give him/her an advantage in dealing with an adult world. The development of character will involve how the fictional child relates to other children, grownups and the community. The fictional child needs to play a more central role rather than the passive role consigned to most children in reality. We will consider the alter ego, which can be represented by an imaginary creature or friend, even a protector, consider a sense of good and evil, of dark forces or threats and the benign force that will come to the rescue. Into our plan we will add a sense of things not being quite as they seem, maybe involving a journey or a quest and the obstacles that the child must overcome. This could be an individual or an institution. Then, what part friendship
plays in the storyline. Is there a sense of comfort and security in knowing that the main character in your book has at least one friend on which he/she can rely. Finally, a sense of place and how we write that into our manuscripts. This analysis will give you a plotline that works.

GETTING THROUGH THE PUBLISHER’S DOOR AND KNOWING WHAT’S INSIDE
Thursday 2nd July 09.30 – 16.30
BEVERLEY BIRCH
It is increasingly difficult for a new writer to get a hardpressed
editor to look at their work. What would convince them to look at your book and then take it on? In turn, what does an editor have to do to persuade their publisher to back their choice, publish a book, and do so successfully? A workshop about the detail of publishing decision-making, marketing and selling - a practical exploration of the state of the trade and how your work might fit. Bring along ideas of your current or next work for exercises and general discussion.

DEVELOPING YOUR WRITING
Friday 3rd July 09.30 – 16.30
JUDE EVANS
Delegates will be invited to share with the group their goals and discuss their current writing projects. Jude will give an introduction to writing for children from a publisher’s perspective. She will discuss the most common reasons why authors’ manuscripts do not achieve publication, and will set the group exercises, to help them hone their work and make it stronger and more publishable.

WRITING FOR MEDIA
(WL03) Wednesday-Friday

WRITING FOR RADIO, TELEVISION AND FILM WORKSHOP
Wednesday 1st July – Friday 3rd July 09.30 – 16.30
JOHN BARLOW
The course will help writers to develop an idea, observed event or autobiographical incident into a script for radio, television or film. The course works through exercises giving writers the opportunity to explore the techniques applicable to the development of scripts for all three media. By the end of the workshop, writers should be aware of the formats and writing styles appropriate to both radio and the screen. The workshop will look at story structure, encourage writers to develop their original idea into a treatment and begin the scripting process. Participants should submit a brief description of and extract from a work they might wish to develop several weeks in advance to allow for individual feedback and development.