Details of our one hour sessions...

• Writing Fillers

  Maggie Cobbett

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  WORKSHOP - Building up the Swanwick fund!

  • Running on :
  • Sunday

  We shall look at a cross section of the many magazines looking (and paying) for readers' contributions.
  
  Written in 200 words at the most - and often far fewer - your observations, reminiscences, anecdotes, queries and tips can result in a steady stream of cheques landing on the doormat.
  

  

  Since giving up the day job (teaching modern languages and EFL in the UK and abroad), Maggie has been working as a television/film extra, which provides plenty of inspiration for her writing. Currently Chair of Ripon Writers' Group, she has sold articles, short stories and fillers to a wide variety of publications. She won her way to Swanwick in 2006 through the Poetry Competition and has been a regular attender ever since.

   

• Twitter vs Facebook

  Peter Jones

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  DISCUSSION GROUP

  • Running on :
  • Monday

  

  Peter Jones started professional life as a particularly rubbish Graphic Designer, followed by a stint as a mediocre Petrol Pump Attendant. After that he got embroiled in the murky world of credit cards until a freak accident with a zip zap machine (remember those?) restructured his DNA at the molecular level and gave him entrepreneurial powers.
  
  Now, Peter spends his days - most of them anyway - writing. He is the author of two and a half fabulously popular self-help books on the subjects of happiness, dieting and online dating. If you’re overweight, lonely, and unhappy - he's your guy. Meanwhile his debut novel, snappily entitled "The Good Guy’s Guide to Getting The Girl", will be available any year now.
  
  Peter doesn’t own a large departmental store and probably isn't the same guy you've seen on the TV show Dragons' Den.
  
  
  View Peter's website

   

• Historical Sagas

  Trish Kitchen

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  WORKSHOP

  • Running on :
  • Wednesday

   

• Drama

  Peter Lyons

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  WORKSHOP

  • Running on :
  • Sunday

   

• Ask the Media

   Monday Panel

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  PANEL: When it's time to go public, ask the media ...

  • Running on :
  • Monday

  Looking for the inside story on how to get the press, TV and radio interested in your writing? Want to know why someone else's words are grabbing the headlines instead of yours?
  
  If so, grab this opportunity to interview a panel of media experts.
  

  Simon Hall (Chair): as a BBC TV Crime Correspondent, Simon's day job is to keep the viewing public in the news about real life crimes. In his spare time, he is also the author of the best-selling TV Detective series of crime fiction novels. Simon has chaired numerous panels, from Crime Readers' Days to University Careers Forums and Waterstone's Booker Prize Debates.
  
  Sharon Mail: the winner of Swanwick's Diamond Jubilee Article award in 2008 (in memory of our Treasurer, Jill Dick), Sharon has written for the Jewish Telegraph Group of Newspapers for many years. Covering the Scottish edition, Sharon writes features, interviews, news stories and local events, as well as editing submitted material.
  
  Diana Wimbs: having written advertising copy for many of the country's best-known brands (both as an in-house and freelance agency copywriter), Diana brings a different slant to the panel in terms of the way to attract a media audience. She is also a former Writing Magazine columnist and a member of the SWWJ (Society of Women Writers & Journalists).
  

   

• Right Brain Confidence Building

  Ann Palmer

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  WORKSHOP

  • Running on :
  • Monday

  

  Ann is author of Writing & Imagery - How to deepen creativity and improve your writing, with a Foreword written by our Chairman, Dr Xanthe Wells. While serving on the committee in 2006, Ann initiated the TopWrite project, which brought seventeen young people to the School, including Xanthe herself. Ann is a long-term Swanwicker who has taught creative writing and horse-riding (the two Rs, she couldn't manage 3) all her life.

   

• Something Different About Dickens

  Fiona Samuel

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  Dickens meets Fan Fiction

  • Running on :
  • Monday

  One of the lesser known reasons why Fiona chose to read American Literature at University (apart from the fact that she loved the subject) is that she also wished to avoid having to study Dickens, having been scared off him and his works at school. Now an English teacher, Fiona has continued to successfully avoid Dickens ... until now.
  
  Ever marvelled at his masterly ability to write eight pages when one would have sufficed? Thought Magwich would be an excellent companion for Miss Havisham? Or that Fagin was misunderstood? Well take this opportunity to make it right!
  
  Following on from her invitation last year to 'Out-Bard the Bard', Fiona is now challenging Swanwickers to give Dickens a fan fiction makeover in his bicentenary year. Purists are advised to probably seek another workshop, others to come along with their tongues firmly embedded in their cheeks.
  

  

  Fiona was one of the pioneering Topwriters in 2005. Her first Swanwick did literally change her life and she returned the next year having quit her rather dull but rather safe Civil Service career to go back to University. Now a secondary school teacher, Fiona also teaches creative writing and media. She is currently trying to write her first novel, as well as co-writing a film script which is due for production next year.

   

• Show Not Tell

  Roz Southey

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  WORKSHOP

  • Running on :
  • Sunday

  

  Roz Southey is a novelist and musicologist living in the north-east of England. She is the author of the Charles Patterson mysteries, a series of detective novels set in Newcastle upon Tyne and published by Crème de la Crime (now an imprint of Severn House); the fifth novel in the series will be published in March 2011. Her short stories have won a number of competitions; one was published in The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime (ed. Maxim Jakubowski, 2009) and another will appear in the 2011 version of the same collection. She has also published non-fiction books and articles, including local and family history, and academic papers.
  
  View Roz's website

   

• Ask the Judges

   Sunday Panel

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  PANEL: If you want to appeal to the competition, ask a judge ...

  • Running on :
  • Sunday

  Fed up with reading someone else's winning story, poem or article? Want to know why they won when you didn't?
  
  Now you can put a panel of Judges on trial - and ask for their verdict on what they consider to be a winning way with words (and why).
  

  Della Galton (Chair): Della has judged dozens of short story competitions, and also ran them with Vanda Inman, the creator of Write Space. This year, Della has been a lead judge for Healthy Living's national short story competition, Town and Village Times national and international short story competition, as well as judging several local (and Swanwick) competitions.
  
  Alison Chisholm: Alison helps to select the themes for regular Writing Magazine poetry competitions, as well as judging the entries and writing a report on the winners. She also judges the annual Writers Bureau poetry competitions, alongside other competition events such as the 2012 Southport NAWG and Nottingham Writers' Club poetry comps. Alison co-wrote Writing Competitions: The Way to Win (published by Writers Bureau).
  
  Stella Whitelaw: Stella's judging experience spans many years, including judging short stories, radio plays and novel first chapters. She once read 2,000 individual short story entries for Best magazine (reading every single one at the rate of 40 stories a day). Such is the depth and diversity of Stella's experience that she has even judged a pavement art competition at a Literary Festival!
  

   

• Never Too Late

  Millie Vigor

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  TALK

  • Running on :
  • Sunday

  

  Millie Vigor was born in Dorset, grew up and went to a village school there. She says that her real education began when she left school at age fourteen to go to work and, with no chosen career in mind she careered through life instead. Many and varied were the jobs she undertook. In retirement she has become a full time writer. Her first novel, Catherine of Deepdale, is published by Robert Hale Ltd. London, with options on the next two. Now 85, Millie says success has taken her 80 years to achieve. Once told to 'Make the good things happen', she says her motto became Never Give Up and she hasn't looked back since. She lives in Shetland with her constant companion, a cat called Harriet.

   

• Ask the Police

   Wednesday Panel

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  If you want to know the crime, ask a policeman ...

  • Running on :
  • Wednesday

  Got a criminal element in mind for your novel, play or short story? Dying to know if the forensics are feasible, the crime credible or the plot plausible?
  
  If so, take advantage of this unmissable opportunity to ask a panel of Policemen to help you with your enquiries.
  

  Michael O'Byrne (Chair): a retired Chief Constable, Michael served in the Royal Hong Kong Police for four years before joining the Met where his duties ranged from vice to a murder enquiry (because he could speak Cantonese). His career then took him back into uniform through Surrey and Thames Valley Police, ending as Chief Constable in Bedfordshire. Michael's vast experience covers most areas of policing, although his special interest lies in the control of drugs.
  
  Dennis Clarkson: the majority of Dennis's police career was in CID, during which he dealt personally with numerous murder enquiries. He was a Detective Inspector for many years in Leeds and surrounding areas, as well as serving on the Regional Crime Squad. Although now retired, Dennis retains a keen interest in current police procedures and spent time recently with a Detective Superintendant in HMET (Homicide and Major Enquiry).
  
  Ian Martin: Ian's considerable police experience ranges from minor theft to murder squad enquiries and everything in between. Prior to retiring injured as a uniform sergeant, Ian's career spanned CID, Fraud Squad, Special Branch and Arson Squad. He served six years in the Military Police and Special Investigation Branch, as well as being in the 'firing line' during the miner's/fireman's strikes and the troubles in Northern Ireland.
  

   

• Finding Your Inner Writer

  Xanthe Wells

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  How to tap into your creativity

  • Running on :
  • Wednesday

  Inspired by Lucia Cappachione's The Power of the Other Hand, this one hour workshop will introduce you to the power of your subconscious mind and the amazing influence it has over our confidence and creativity.
  
  Through visualisation exercises brought to life by sub-dominant hand drawing and dialogue techniques, we will discover the power of our inner writer and learn to trust its guidance as we embark upon, or continue with, our writing projects.
  

  

  Xanthe holds a doctorate in creative writing and currently runs her own freelance business The Writerspace, as well as being this year's Swanwick Chairman.
  
  She offers coaching and editing support for both professional and aspiring writers and has recently worked on a number of texts for the coaching industry. Xanthe has also contributed to a series of original philosophy and wrote the Foreword to Writing and Imagery by Ann Palmer. Most recently she has completed work on a success guide for teenagers published in Ireland spring 2011.
  
  As well as her own writing, Xanthe also enjoys teaching English and creative writing to adults and teenagers in various contexts. At Uppingham School she has been dubbed with the pseudonym 'Dr X' and works hard to maintain this slightly enigmatic identity!
  
  View Xanthe's website

   

• Writing for Christian Markets

  Chris Wroe

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  WORKSHOP

  • Running on :
  • Wednesday

  This workshop focuses on the key steps to take - and avoid - in approaching Christian markets. For example, how do you avoid the danger of 'preaching' in reflective writing? Do you have a 'hook', a well balanced argument and a satisfying conclusion? Is there a clear theme running through the article? How can you make it personally significant to the reader?

  

  As a senior lecturer and academic, Dr Chris Wroe is also a noted contributor to publications such as 'The Crusader' and is actively broadening his writing outlets to other Christian markets.

   

One Hour Sessions

At the end of the Swanwick day, there is still time for a one hour session, panel or talk to whet your appetite for more writing!  These independent sessions offer a taster of a variety of topics to round off your day before the evening's entertainment.  Perfect after a cup of tea on the lawn!