Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 September, 10.30 – 4pm (both days)

WRITING PEOPLE AND PLACES

Vicky Grut (shortlisted for Asham in 2009), with Guest Speaker (Sunday 25) Penguin author Bernardine Evaristo

Great characters are at the heart of all memorable works of fiction, and those characters don’t exist in a vacuum. A fictional setting can be a way of illuminating aspects of a personality, or it can be the driver for the story itself. Over the course of this two-day workshop, we’ll create new fictional characters and explore the effects of moving these people through a variety of locations and situations. Where has your character come from? Where are they happy? Where do they feel threatened or out of place? Along the way we’ll look at some effective techniques for revealing character, as well as ways of creating a vivid sense of place.

On the second day of the course, we’ll have a visit from novelist and poet Bernardine Evaristo.

What participants said about this course last year: ‘Great weekend. Learned a lot – thank you! Bernardine Evaristo was fabulous!’ ‘I enjoyed the expectation that we would have a safe space to experiment with our ideas. Seriously enjoyable and inspirational weekend. Thank you!

Group limited to 10. Cost: 160 including lunch on both days. More details on the website: http://www.londonwritingworkshops.com/

 

Saturday, 19 November, 10.30am – 4pm

*new course* THE WRITERS’ GYM: INSPIRATION FOR NEW FICTION

with Vicky Grut (shortlisted for Asham Award in 2009)

Recharge your creative batteries and blow away the autumn cobwebs with a day of writing exercise designed to stimulate your imagination and help you stretch your range, as well as generating ideas for new work. There will be time to discuss writing habits and strategies for dealing with blocks. Vicky Grut teaches on the BA in Creative Writing at London South Bank University. Group limit: 10. Suitable for all levels of experience.

Group limited to 10. Cost: £85, including lunch. More details on the website: http://www.londonwritingworkshops.com/

 
 Saturday, 3 December, 10.30am – 4pm

*new course*  SHOWING AND TELLING: TECHNIQUES FOR STORYTELLING

with Vicky Grut  (shortlisted for Asham Award in 2009)

‘Show don’t tell’ is a phrase that’s often heard on writing courses, meaning that it’s more effective to dramatize your story in scenes rather than to rely on summary or ‘lecturing’ your reader. But every story has its own unique pace and scale. The real secret is to ‘show’ and ‘tell’, and to do both in surprising and interesting ways. This workshop is an enjoyable opportunity for fiction writers to spend a day reflecting on their own writing habits. We’ll look at different ways of handling narrative time, the power of detail and subtext and, using practical exercises and discussion, we’ll explore different methods of storytelling.

Group limited to 10. Cost: £85, including lunch. More details on the website: http://www.londonwritingworkshops.com/