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Without a strong story structure, your characters won’t reach their potential, your plot will feel disjointed, and your themes may never see the light of day. Story structure holds the whole of your fictional world together and enables your tale to travel through its various landscapes...
Have you ever experienced that ‘stuck’ feeling, where you don’t know how to get to where you need to be with your writing? You start something but can’t seem to finish it. Or you do finish it but it’s nothing like you’d imagined it in your head. It’s...
It is a truth universally acknowledged that by the time you read this many of us will already have broken our resolutions for the New Year. Why is that? Do we set ourselves unrealistic goals?
If your resolution is to make 2022 the year in which you finally write or finish your novel, it's a good...
'Life is what happens while you're busy making plans.' John Lennon was probably quoting others when he famously said this, but the idea will resonate with anyone engaged in something creative. It's true of daily life as well and never more so than at this busy time of year.
We are...
It's such a good question.
Point of View in a novel, or POV for short, can seem like one of the most baffling choices a writer has to make. But it's straightforward once you learn what the choices are, how they work and - crucially - what how to fix it when POV accidently shifts midway...
We're often asked 'what are the essential skills I really need in order to call myself a writer?' It's the question asked by people who know they love writing but also sense that they have much to learn in order to be the best writer they can be.
As fully committed writing geeks we love lists, so...
Our live autumn series of half-day Stay Home Sundays are starting soon and they've got us thinking about how to create the ideal conditions for a writing retreat at home. With a little thought and forward planning it can be done.
Here’s what we recommend:
- Clear...
We're at a party and someone asks, 'So what do you do for a living?'
When we say 'We teach people to be writers,' we often get the intrigued response: 'But can you really teach someone to write? Surely it takes natural talent to be a writer?’
Well, yes and no.
Talent is part of...
We're excited to announce the first in our new series of Get to Grips online courses, designed to help you learn the essential skills of creative writing. For our first course we've chosen that mysterious thing called point of view, or POV for short.
In this video Jane gives you...
An unexpected silver lining of the pandemic was the discovery that we could do so much online, reaching many more writers with our courses. To make the most of this great opportunity, we have set up this new online home. Welcome! Come on in and have a look around.
Our web address is the...
Isn’t it funny what you miss? In pre-pandemic times the purple folders in which we carry our workshop notes and essential information for our retreats are a familiar sight. They sit on the table with us during workshops and by the fireside in the evenings after dinner during our residential...
We’re celebrating the success of one of our regular retreaters, Ellen McGarrahan. Her debut book is published in the USA today by Random House and we are thrilled for her and proud to have helped a little along her writing journey. Ellen isn’t on Facebook but many of our guests will...
