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| Godrevy Lighthouse from St Ives |
ANNOUNCING FICTIONFIRE BY THE SEA - WORKSHOP AND RETREAT FOR WRITERS
I
hope you’ve had a wonderful summer. Much of mine was spent teaching on creative
writing summer schools for Oxford University, but before that we had a lovely
holiday in Cornwall. I’ll be heading back to Cornwall next month – and I hope
some of you will be too! I’m delighted to announce I’ve not only opened
bookings for the autumn/winter season of Focus Workshops, but I’ve also
organised a weekend workshop and writing retreat for you in St Ives.
Here
are brief details of these upcoming events – visit the website to find out
more!
FICTIONFIRE BY
THE SEA
Do
you dream of a place where you can step back from the real world, where you can
take time to think, free from distraction, where you can share the joys and
challenges of writing with like-minded souls? I’ve designed my first
Fictionfire by the Sea guided workshop retreat for you, in St Ives, Cornwall,
from October 17th to 19th.
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| St Ives |
There’s
nowhere better to be if you’re looking for inspiration. St Ives, with its
magical light and atmosphere, its thriving artistic community and its
spectacular views, is just the place to feed your spirit with renewed creative energy.
The
venue for the weekend will be Zelah Studio, only metres away from Porthgwidden
Beach and with great views across St Ives Bay to Godrevy Lighthouse. I’ll be
running workshops focussing on how to stay true to your writing dreams and on
evoking the spirit of place in your fiction. You’ll also have the time to
pursue your own writing projects and I’ll be on hand throughout to give you
advice.
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| Porthgwidden Beach |
Local
Costa Award-winning novelist Ann Kelley will join us on Sunday 19th
for a reading and Q & A session – her stories evoke an exquisite sense of location.
Accommodation
will be available at discounted rates for those who want it, at www.stivesretreat.co.uk
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| Zelah Studio |
Much
fuller details of the location, workshop schedule and what’s included are on
the Fictionfire by the Sea page on the website: www.fictionfire.co.uk/page28.htm. The aim is for
you to recharge your batteries, fill your notebooks with fresh writing, and
leave with rediscovered vision and purpose.
Booking for
Fictionfire by the Sea is now open – limited numbers of places available – www.fictionfire.co.uk/page28.htm
FOCUS WORKSHOPS October to December
1 Share and
Support (October 11th)
You’re
invited to share and discuss your work with other members of the group in a
friendly and supportive atmosphere. These Share and Support Workshops are very
popular, so do book early!
2 How to Write a
Synopsis (October 25th)
Synopsis-writing
= Stress! This workshop will show you how to encapsulate your work while still
keeping its power to hook the reader.
3 Paths of Glory
(November 8th)
In
this centenary year of the outbreak of World War 1, this is the first of two
workshops exploring how writers deal with the subject of conflict – how they
explore concepts of honour, how they convey drama and emotion.
4 Aftermath
(November 22nd)
The
second of these workshops on the subject of war examines how conflict affects
the soldier who survives, the family at home, the nation. We’ll consider
honour, victory, defeat, loss and memory.
5 Share and
Support (November 29th)
The
second of this season’s Share and Supports – for details, see Workshop 1.
6 Festivities
and Frost (December 6th)
How
do writers make use of descriptions of winter and Christmas scenes? What
purposes do they have? What effects do they create? Whether you’re ‘Bah,
humbug’ or ‘God bless us, everyone’, this workshop will show you the potential
of the festive season in fiction.
As
usual, all workshop last from 2-5, with servings of tea, coffee and cake. Each
costs £30 and there are discounts for booking more than one workshop.
In
other news, I’ll be attending the Historical Novel Society’s conference in
London this coming weekend. Last month I was so happy to win first prize in
Words with Jam magazine’s First Page competition with the opening page of the
historical novel I’m working on, so that was a brilliant vote of confidence in
the project, spurring me on. Here’s the link: http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk/2014/08/first-page-competition-2014-results.html
Hoping
to see you by the sea in Cornwall or at a workshop in Oxford soon!
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