Thank you, the Summer School is a tonic. Monies should be sought from the NHS!
Thank you, the Summer School is a tonic. Monies should be sought from the NHS!
Lindsay Bamfield
More infoClose BoxThe course will use brief discussions/brainstorms and a number of writing exercises to develop writing skills focusing on characterization, point of view, dialogue and plot. One or two of the writing activities will involve some reading out and peer feedback, but most will be for your own review.
Session One - Characterization
Overview: What do we want our fiction to achieve for its reader?
Characterization: What makes characters memorable?
Creating characters without descriptions. Getting to know our characters.
What do we know, what do our readers know?
Session Two - Dialogue
What can dialogue add to fiction?
Writing dialogue using characters from session 1.
Creating dialogue between two people using pictures in art.
Session Three - Point of View
Whose point of view? How does point of view affect the story?
Choosing a different point of view - third person narrative.
Rewriting in first person. What changes?
Session Four - Plotting
What makes a plot? What drives a plot?
Creating a plot from an opener.
Mapping a plot.
What next? Ideas on where to showcase your work.
Lindsay Bamfield is a founder member of Greenacre Writers - a London based group for those working on novels and short stories and has tutored at a number of creative writing workshops for Greenacre Writers as well as individual writing tutoring for people with language impairment, complementing her work as a specialist speech and language therapist.
She has completed her first novel and is working on her second. Her writing includes a number of non-fiction articles published by an international women's on-line magazine, short stories published in anthologies and on-line, and flash fiction published in Mslexia, and Woman's Weekly.
View Lindsay's website
Alison Chisholm
More infoClose BoxSession 1 - Getting it Written
Steeping yourself in poetry, sourcing ideas, pre-writing and research.
The first draft.
Session 2 - Getting it Right
Checking on techniques of form, rhyming and free verse, metre and grammar.
The importance of revision.
Session 3 - Making it Better
Enhancing your poem, original approaches, layers, precision and final revisions.
Session 4 - Letting it Fly
Outlets for the poem - magazines, internet, anthologies and collections, competitions and readings.
Exercises will be set throughout the course, giving each poet the opportunity to produce new work and make plans for future writing.
Alison Chisholm writes regular poetry columns in Writing Magazine and Springboard, and has written instructional, humorous and autobiographical articles for magazines, radio and newspapers. Author of nine collections of poetry, a poetry correspondence course and a range of textbooks about the craft of writing, she has taught creative writing in adult education for nearly 30 years, and visits schools to encourage young people to write.
Alex Davis
More infoClose BoxThis course will be exploring writing genre fiction through the use of its archetypes, and considering how using these in an original - or even a traditional way - can result in great stories. Each of the first three sessions will offer practical tips on how to write in each genre, as well as allowing time for a writing exercise. The final session will spend some time looking at how genre publishing works, and the markets specific to each field of writing.
Session One: Magic and Monsters
Exploring fantasy archetypes (elves, dragons, wizards etc)
Session Two: Demons and Darkness
Exploring horror archetypes (vampires, werewolves, zombies etc)
Session Three: Spaceships and Cyborgs
Exploring SF archetypes (robots, spaceships, aliens etc)
Session Four: Genre Publishing
Tips on getting published - introducing a selection of magazines, presses and agents.
Alex is a writer and events organiser specialising in science-fiction, fantasy and horror. As well as running three literature festivals and the East Midlands' first Writing Industries Conference, he has run three years of Alt.Fiction in Derby. He has also spent two years working as Desk Editor for the Black Library, working on author synopses, proofreading and copy-editing.
Linda Lewis
More infoClose BoxSession One - The Basics
What a story is, and is not. The importance of structure and why real life doesn't always work as fiction. The importance of market analysis and how to do it.
Session Two - Characters and Settings
It doesn't matter how clever the plot is, or how rich the language used, if the reader doesn't care about the characters, the story will not engage them. Settings are a great way to 'place' a character and are often enough to lift a story.
Session Three - How to find all the ideas you will ever need
How many writers would write more if only they could come up with ideas? This session will reveal some of the techniques anyone can use to generate ideas for fiction.
Session Four - Beginnings and Endings
How to hook your reader so they want to read on, and the importance of a good ending. This session will also look at themes and why it's important to know what the theme of a story actually is.
Linda was born in London but now lives, alone, in Leeds.
She began writing articles about tropical fish for magazines in the UK, USA and South Africa.
She changed to fiction from 2001 and has sold more than two hundred stories to various markets including Woman's Weekly, Yours, MY Weekly, The People's Friend, Take a Break, Chat, Best, Fiction Feast, That's Life, and Ireland's Own. She has also had stories published in various collections including Diamonds and Pearls (Accent) and Making Change (Bridge House). Linda has a column in Writers' Forum called Short Story Success.
Her first novel, The Magic of Fishkeeping was published in 2011.
Some of her other books include a collection of guides for writers and short story collections. In conjunction with Byker Books, her guide to writing fillers is for sale on Kindle, together with a collection of crime stories.
Her latest book on how to find ideas is due to be published in the Spring by Filament and is called The Writer's Treasury of Ideas.
View Linda's website
Benjamin Scott
More infoClose BoxRealising who your children's book is aimed at can be stumbling book for many writers - what works well as an idea for one age group can be a disaster for another. But lots of different factors influence the appropriate age group for a book, from writing style and tone, to the emotional age of characters and the subject matter. To some extent, the boundaries are artificial, but getting the target age group right is crucial to help navigate your book from your imagination to the readers'. We'll be looking at what makes Middle Grade (ages 9-12) different from YA (ages 12+) as well as using a variety of exercises to help you develop or revise an idea for the children's market.
Benjamin Scott has ghost-written five books in the new Star Fighters series - Books 2, 4, and 6 published this year under Max Chase with two more books 7 and 9 still to come. He has taught an online course in Writing Fiction for Young Adults for Oxford University and has been a reviewer for the children's book specialist magazine Carousel since 2008. He reviews fiction for all ages. He is the Assistant Regional Advisor for the British Isles chapter of the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators), one of the largest organisations in the world for published and unpublished children's book creators. He is currently working on several projects of his own.
View Benjamin's website
Jane Wenham-Jones
More infoClose BoxSessions will be tailored, as far as possible, to the needs and interests of the group but a brief outline is as follows:
Session One - Why write non-fiction?
My specialist subject is…
Session Two - Writing a non-fiction proposal.
Chapter plans, layout, market requirements, what you need to know before you start.
Session three - Let's go!
Introductions, finding your unique voice and selling point.
Session four - Write it!
A chance for discussion and feedback on completed work, and helpful hints to keep you going when the course is over.
Jane Wenham-Jones is an author, presenter and freelance journalist who has been widely published in women's magazines and the national press. She has published four novels and two non-fiction books - Wannabe a Writer? - a humorous look at how to get published and Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of? - a guide to hitting the publicity trail. She writes regular columns for the Isle of Thanet Gazette and Woman's Weekly Fiction Special and is the "agony aunt" for Writing Magazine.
View Jane's website
Our selection of specialist courses form the backbone of the Swanwick programme, running throughout the week on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. These in-depth courses provide the opportunity for you to learn more about your chosen subject and develop your skills over the four sessions. Choose your favourite from the selection opposite. You may find you are spoilt for choice.
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