Workshops - Getting Started
“There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." - Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith
Cost |
To book a place |
Course outline (provisional syllabus)
9.30 am: Assemble, coffee & introductions
10.00 - 12.00: Character
Getting to know your characters. The essential first step in writing anything worth reading. How to learn who your characters are. How to get them interacting with others. Character writing exercise.
12.00 - 12.30: The business of books
When you've written your book, what next? The mysterious world of agents & publishers. Emma will talk about her own experience as well as taking questions
12.30 - 1.00: Lunch
Lunch & more conversation
1.00 - 2.45: Plot
Whether they're looking at literary or commercial fiction, agents these days will place more emphasis on plot than on any other single aspect of your MS. You MUST get this right if you want to sell the book. Plotting exercise.
2.45 - 3.00: Tea / Coffee
3.00 - 4.30: Writing style
When you send your work to agents, your work will have about 1 minute to convince them that it deserves closer attention. The quality of your writing must convince them to invest that extra time. This portion of the workshop will be based on a detailed scrutiny of the participants' own work - please see 'Homework' section below
4.30 - 5.00: Round-up, questions, good-byes
Cost
The cost is £140 (inc VAT), and includes lunch. Bookings are first come, first served so book early to reserve your place. A full welcome pack will be sent out once you've made your booking.
Homework
The more you put into this course, the more you'll get out of it. We do ask participants to try to email us a single page of your work - about 300 words is just fine. If you haven't yet written anything, then we do encourage you to give it a go anyway. We need this material one week before the start of the workshop, so we can have a look at it and copy it for group discussion.
Also, this is a course for beginners, so please don't worry if your work still feels a bit raw. That's sort of the point, isn't it?
Cancellations
We can take cancellations for a full refund up to 22 days before the event. Thereafter, no refunds - sorry.
Freebies
All participants will receive a "£50 off" voucher to be used against a full-length WW editorial review. (£30 off for MSS of less than 60,000 words).
Booking
If you want to book a place on one of our workshops, all you have to do is give us a call on 0845 459 9560 or book via the website letting us know (i) the workshop you want to book for, and (ii) your phone number.
