Join the Writing Room - a welcoming home for all creative writers.
From first steps to final drafts, we have options for you - via small, friendly groups hosted live on Zoom.
Students can also access free drop-in groups throughout the week to make the most of their writing time, and we have a sharing salon on Zoom at the end of each term where we celebrate the writing that has been achieved.
We'd love to hear from you with any questions you might have, and to find out more about your creative writing so far, or why you might like to choose this moment to make a start.
Flash Fiction Workout, with Giovanna Iozzi
‘Flash is its own form, uniquely suited to innovation and experimentation…That’s what makes it so exciting to read and write. Flash fiction, done well, can be so mind-bending and fresh.’ Kathy Fish
In this class, we will explore the exciting short form of Flash Fiction using quirky themes, concepts and visual writing prompts. We will:
- Read a wide range of published Flash pieces from the heart-breaking, funny and joyful to the experimental, uncanny and weird to analyse the breadth and potential of the form.
- Discover the best online and print places to publish your work as well as competition opportunities.
- Write Flash pieces in class each week, sharing work with the group, as well as bringing in pieces worked on at home.
This course is ideal for generating lots of new material. It will bring concision, vibrancy and wonder to your work and welcomes all levels of writer.
Wednesdays, 10.30am to 1pm. May 11, 18, 25, June 1, 8, 15.
Novella Fever, with Kiare Ladner
If the short story is like a photograph and the novel is like a film, the novella is like a fever.
In six weeks, we will aim to start (or finish) drafting a novella. What you work on may be only slightly longer than a short story or slightly shorter than a novel. You may have an idea to explore, or a short story that’s growing, or something resembling a novel in progress.
On the course, we will look at what gives this particular form its power. We will think about the value of the instinctive in our writing. We will discuss the general shape a story of this length this may take. In intensive weekly sessions we will workshop both writing and story ideas.
All levels welcome.
Wednesday evenings, 6.30pm to 9pm. May 11, 18, 25, half term break, June 8, 15, 22.
Finding the Poem 2, with Paul Lyalls
This is a course for anyone who wants to liberate their creativity and immerse themselves in the joy of language. Playful, fun, entertaining, enlightening – explore your word power with Paul Lyalls. Full of off-kilter pen to paper tangoing, including an Edinburgh Festival Comedy approach to humour in poetry, scuba diving what you’ve been surviving via a trip to India!
A set of 6 workshops (one of 4 separate sets which can be taken in any order).
Week 1) Should have could have poetry tool box
Week 2) Journeys and the travelogue in conversation
Week 3) A sense of place (2) and sorry not sorry
Week 4) Image detectives and news you can use
Week 5) As the saying goes
Week 6) Tone and setting – gambling not betting
A note to prose writers: have you ever wondered what it is like to write in the poetic form? Perhaps you write in prose automatically, but would like to try to use language in another way. If your fiction needs a lift, if your life-writing needs lilt, if your central characters don’t quite sing (or even if they do!) you can free your writing through poetry.
Monday evenings, 6.30pm to 9pm. June 6, 13, 20, 27, July 4, 11.
Creative Writing Foundation Part 2, with Alison Chandler
Creative Writing Foundation Part 2 follows on from Part 1 but newcomers are very welcome.
This set of six sessions builds on the fundamentals of storytelling, looking in detail at ways to develop a sophisticated narrative and a sense of what your writing communicates to a reader. As with Part 1, the emphasis is on supporting you as a writer in a friendly, positive and constructive environment where we all learn from each other.
Week 1) What kind of writer am I? A look at genre.
Week 2) Character relationships – friends and enemies.
Week 3) Themes and motifs.
Week 4) Flash/short story/novella – thinking about form.
Week 5) Fiction and life-writing, fiction in life-writing.
Week 6) Me and my reader.
Tuesdays 10.30am to 1pm. June 7, 14, 21, 28, July 5, 12.
Prioritise Your Writing, with Alison Chandler
Producing a full-length work – whether it’s a novel or novella, a memoir, biography or a collection of stories – requires a love of writing, a willingness to grow as a writer and lots of hard work. Practicing all three in the company of an encouraging, supportive group makes the whole experience a lot more productive and a lot more fun!
Our classes are small and each session is bespoke, tailored to participants’ specific goals. We workshop our words, learning as much from our close reading of others as we do from receiving feedback ourselves, and discuss all aspects of writing craft. If you’re ready to take a leap forward with your project in great company, we’d love to hear from you. And if you’re a regular, you know you’re always welcome back to take your work to the next stage.
Wednesdays 10.30am to 1pm. June 8, 15, 22, 29, July 6, 13.
Read an account of how this course helped one (now published!) author here: www.natashaboydell.co.uk/post/from-a-novel-idea-to-a-publishing-deal
Life Writing & Memoir Evening Workshop, with Giovanna Iozzi
‘You must write a memoir as if you’re writing a novel, you have to give it a shape.’ Blake Morrison
Over 6 weeks, we will explore how to shape and structure our writing in a compelling and novelistic way. We will learn ways to hook our readers into our story, keep them turning the pages, charm and alarm them with our characters and reveal fascinating, relatable truths about our lives.
We will investigate what is meant by a strong voice in memoir and understand how stylistic devices like dialogue, scene building, setting description, and suspense creates a vivid world the reader can disappear inside. As well as reading extracts from published memoirists, nominated students will have the chance to workshop extracts of their writing each week.
All levels welcome.
Wednesday evenings, 6.30pm to 9pm. June 8, 15, 22, 29, July 6, 13.