Tag Archives: creative writing

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 5 places left

Cost: £28 (Booking here via paypal or any card)




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 encourage us to look more deeply into works of art. Come prepared to try out writing the beginnings of a short story, or to get an idea for a novel. Suitable for both beginners and experienced writers.

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

3 places left on our autumn writing series of 4 weekly sessions at Brown’s Bistro Bath. Book here

Bill and Coo

This week’s prompt by Jude.

The pigeons in our garden have been amorously inclined all week.  For this week’s fast draft, write down all your associations to pigeons.  Memories, likes/dislikes, Trafalgar Square,  sounds etc. Now write a piece where pigeons feature as a backdrop for another kind of relationship. Probably between humans. You could even call your characters Bill and Coo.

 

What does an editor do?

Alex and Jude with Guest Speaker, James Ellis

Thursday July 6th.  10.30-12.30pm

Hall and Woodhouse, Bath.     

Have you ever wondered what an editor actually does? Do you know what is the difference is between a structural edit and a copy edit? What suggestions might an editor make? This workshop is for anyone who writes and wants to know more about the editing process. As Ernest Hemingway said, ‘the only kind of writing is rewriting.’

If you are self-editing, you’ll get tips on the best way to approach your work in order to get it into tip-top shape before sending to an agent, or for self-publishing.  James Elli  has worked at an Oxford-based literary agency as a submissions reader, offers a portfolio of editorial services and is an author himself.  Alex and Jude will start the workshop with some simple editing exercises.  James recently ran a popular session for us on publishing his novel The Wrong Story with the innovative crowd-funding publishing house, Unbound

 

Used car

This week’s prompt by Jude.

Was your first car new or used?  Describe the car and its particular features. Mine was a Morris 1000 split-screen. Moss grew on the window seals. The driver’s door kept flying open. It had a crank-handle for when the battery went flat. Write about an adventure you had when you owned your first car. Adventures can be large or small.

(Want to get into print this year? We’ve two spaces left on our March workshop talk  on self-publishing by the Self Publishing Partnership Bath and, at the moment, several on our April talk by children’s writer Tracy Darnton  on her Road to Publication. Book soon.)