On this course, you will learn how to use historical research to create stories. We will consider what research for writers can be, and look at different ways to go about it. The emphasis will be on the joy involved in delving deeper into something that fascinates you. We’ll be looking in detail at extracts from published novels and short stories in order to examine how other writers have turned true stories into fiction. Through writing exercises you will practise turning the stuff of research into the stuff of story, considering how letters, objects, film and images can be transformed into fiction.

Tutor: Bethan Roberts' first novel The Pools won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers' Award. Her second novel The Good Plain Cook was serialised on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime and was chosen as one of Time Out's books of the year. My Policeman, the story of a 1950s policeman, his wife, and his male lover, followed in 2012, and was chosen as that year's City Read for Brighton. Her latest novel, Mother Island, is the recipient of a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered prize. She has also won the Society of Authors' Olive Cook Prize and the RA Pin Drop Award for short fiction, and written drama for BBC Radio 4. Bethan has worked in television documentaries, and has taught Creative Writing at Chichester University and Goldsmiths College, London.

Further details available on the West Dean website

Dates: 11 to 13 May 2018
Location: West Dean College of Arts and Conservation, West Sussex
Cost: £231.00