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Art as Inspiration

A creative writing workshop with Alex and Jude in the Pavilion room at  Hall and Woodhouse  in Bath

10.30 – 12.30, Tuesday 3rd October

SOLD OUT   email if you want to go on waiting list.

Maximum 12 people

Paintings have always inspired writers. The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is one example. The author saw the painting by Johannes Vermeer when she was nineteen years old. ‘The Goldfinch’, by Donna Tartt is another celebrated novel inspired by Carel Fabritius’s painting of the same name. ‘In Sunlight or in Shadow’ is a collection of seventeen short stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper,by well known authors including Stephen King, Joyce Carole Oates and Robert Olen Butler.

In this workshop we will use paintings as prompts, not only to spark ideas for fiction, but to think about how to look more carefully into paintings and  ‘read’ them.

Suitable for both beginners and experienced writers, this workshop will get you writing.

Check out our booking terms and conditions here and contact us for other payment methods.

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Building your writing CV

Getting short fiction published in literary and commercial magazines, and winning or being placed or listed in competitions are good ways to build your writing CV and become visible as a writer. In the first half of the session, Jude and Alex will offer suggestions about different writing opportunities and an exercise on how to make sure your short stories are ready for submission.

In the second half, local award winning writer, Joanna Campbell, will talk about her route to publication in several different genres and answer questions.

Tuesday November 7th in the Pavilion room at Hall and Woodhouse Bath.

10.30 – 12.30 pm

Cost: £28 payable by paypal or any card below

Twelve places maximum


 

Joanna Campbell’s  stories have appeared in numerous competition anthologies and literary magazines. In 2015, Brick Lane Publishing released her debut novel, Tying Down The Lion, and she also became the winner of The London Short Story Prize. In 2016, her solo short story collection, When Planets Slip Their Tracks, was published in hardback by Ink Tears. It was subsequently short-listed for The Rubery International Book Award and was long-listed for The Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Her novella-in-flash, A Safer Way to Fall was a runner-up in the Bath Flash Fiction Award inaugural novella–in-flash contest and is published in the collection of the three winners, How to Make a Window Snake. See her work on joanna-campbell.com and tweet her @PygmyProse.

 

Jude’s short-short fictions have  won or been placed and listed in many different competitions and she is published in National Flash Fiction Day anthologies, the Fish Prize Anthology, Cinnamon Press, Flash Frontier, Great Jones Street, The Blue Fifth Review, The Nottingham Review, Severine and Halo literary magazines among other places. Her debut flash fiction pamphlet, The Chemist’s House has recently been published by V Press. She’s a champion of short story competitions as a way of supporting writers and runs Bath Flash Fiction Award and co-runs Bath Short Story Award.

Alex’s short stories have won prizes in several competitions including first prize in the 2009 Frome International Short story competition. Six of her prize winning stories are in her online collection ‘Holding On’. Other stories are published in the anthologies : The Amazing True Adventures of Totally Normal People  and ‘Tales of Psychotherapy’  Her short stories have also been published in commercial magazines. Currently, her  story ‘Rain’ is in the latest issue of In the Moment and another story is forthcoming in the same magazine later this year.

Check out our terms and conditions and contact us for other methods of payment.

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Autumn Creative Writing Sessions

Brown’s Brasserie and Bar, Old Police Station, Orange Grove, Bath BA1 1LP

Boost your writing this autumn!   Sold out

The  next series of creative writing sessions with Jude and Alex, for both experienced and beginner writers, is open for booking now. We offer fun exercises to get you writing and tips for improving your work. Places are limited to twelve. The sessions will be held at Brown’s Brasserie and Bar, Bath

Thursday mornings from 10.00 am – 12.00 pm

September 21st, September 28th, October, 5th and October 12th.

Cost: £75 for the series of four bookable via paypal or any card below.

Places go fast, so we recommend booking soon.  Read our terms and conditions here and contact us if you prefer to pay by bank transfer or cheque.

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Spring Writing Series

Unlock your writing at our spring series of writing sessions at  Brown’s Brasserie, Orange Grove, Bath.

To book, SOLD OUT BUT please email to see if we have any cancellations


Cost £72 for the four sessions.

Thursday mornings 10.00 am – 12.00 pm

April 27th, May 4th, May 11th and May 18th.

The group is suitable for beginning and experienced writers. Each session we have a theme and introduce several writing exercises to stimulate new writing or to get you started if you have never written before. It’s a friendly and fun group, with both regular attenders and new people each series.  Places are limited –

Contact us for any questions and check out our terms and conditions.     

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Get into Print – April and May workshops

Wednesday  April 26th, Hall and Wood House cafe, Bath

The Road to Publication

with children’s  and YA  writer, Tracy Darnton

10.30-12.30 pm.Cost £26. Sold Out



Are you an aspiring children’s writer? Do you have a manuscript ready to go, or an idea for a children’s or young adult book you want to get on to paper? Come to a talk followed by a Q & A session by debut YA author Tracy Darnton and hear explain the stages of her journey to a publishing deal. Discover what helped and what she would have done differently.

Tracy Darnton won the Stripes/The Bookseller YA short story prize and was short listed for The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition in 2016. She recently graduated with Distinction from the Bath Spa University MA in Writing for Young People, but originally studied law and Cambridge and worked as a solicitor and law lecturer. Her debut YA novel will be published by Stripes in 2018

Prior to Tracy’s talk, which will begin after the coffee break, Jude and Alex will introduce exercises to help you focus your ideas about your YA or children’s book. What’s the essence of your plot? Which age-group is it for? Can you write a ‘book blurb’, that will hook in your readers, or an agent?

Monday 8th May, Hall and Woodhouse cafe Bath.

Meet an Agent

10.30-12.30 pm. Cost £26.

sold out. Please contact us  in case someone drops out.


Literary agent Juliet Pickering will talk about how best to prepare a manuscript before sending out to agents.  All the dos and don’ts of submitting your novels, short story collections and non-fiction works. Q & A session after talk.

Juliet Pickering worked for Waterstones as a bookseller and fiction buyer before starting at A P Watt in 2003, where she became an Associate Agent in 2007. Juliet joined Blake Friedmann in 2013, and her authors have been shortlisted for Booker, Costa, and Guardian First Book Awards, won the Whitbread and Green Carnation Prizes and, in 2015, the prestigious French literary award Prix Femina Etranger. Her interests range from literary, book club and well-written, feminist commercial fiction to crime writing. She also represents many non-fiction writers across the board, including memoir, pop culture, social history, feminist and political commentary, cookery and food writing, humour, and all sorts in-between. Juliet  is also a judge for the Bristol Short Story Prize 2017

Before Juliet arrives to begin her talk at 11.30,  Jude and Alex will introduce exercises to help you  write  a short pithy summary of your book. Come if you’ve a book ready to go or if you’ve never put pen to paper but want to find out more about the agent’s role and what they are looking for.

Read our terms and conditions here

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Get into print, February and March workshops

photo-spp

Self Publish your Book

Wednesday March 22nd, 2017,

Hall and Woodhouse cafe Bath

10.30 – 1230 pm

Cost £26: Pay via paypal or any card below

Douglas Walker, from the Self Publishing Partnership, will talk about how they work with authors and produce anything from memoirs, children’s books, cookery books, novels and collections of short stories. They have produced the  Bath Short Story Award Anthologies for the last three years –  beautifully produced books.  If you want to publish your own fiction or non fiction book in print and digital forms, come along and find out about the process.  SOLD OUT please email if you would like to be on a waiting list

Prior to the talk  Exercise on writing a good synopsis. What to do and what not to do. Useful to compile for marketing  your self-published book, or to send to traditional publishers and literary agents.

Read our terms and conditions about payment and cancellation

On Wednesday February 22nd 2017 10.30-12.30 pm at Hall and Woodhouse, Cafe, Bath. Local author, James Ellis,  talked about publishing his novel with Unbound – an award-winning crowdfunding jamespublisher, that publishes works in all genres, fiction and non-fiction. James is a graduate of Oxford University’s MSt in Creative Writing. He has had flash fiction and short stories published as well as a travelogue of his journey through Central America. His first novel The Wrong Story  is about to be  published by Unbound.

Prior to the talk,  Alex and Jude did Exercises on refining and editing that all- first page of your manuscript, and on how to write a strong cover- letter/pitch.

 

Copy and learn

This week’s prompt by Jude

There’s a bookshop of remainders in Park Street, Bristol where someone has drawn pictures of authors on paper bags, which are all pinned up behind the counter.

The drawings pictured here show the great writers,Raymond Carver and Kurt Vonnegut. Find stories by them online and write out the first paragraph. Now write another paragraph in your own words, but use the same length of sentences and a similar  style. See where it takes you.

If you want to write in the company of others in fun and friendly groups, there’s just one place on our four week series beginning on 21st September and there are five places on our Art as Inspiration group.

A story about a hotel

Prompt from Alex:

Write a story about staying in a hotel. Use a short time span and include dialogue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update on workshop places: One place left on Auturmn Creative Writing Sessions beginning September 21st. 5 places left on Art as Inspiration workshop in October and still places for Building Your Writing CV in November. Click on the links for more details and to book via paypal or any card.

Stepping Stones

Photograph by Steve Simons

This week’s prompt by Jude

 

Maybe you’re on holiday, but you can still take take some steps towards your next writing project. There are five visible stepping stones in this picture. So try writing five story ideas based on something you noticed or thought about yesterday.

More inspiration? 1 place left on our Autumn 4 week series starting 21st Sept. 5 places on Art as Inspiration in October. 10 places on Building a Writing CV in November