START THE WEEK with a creative writing exercise and your main character is drunk…
Write two versions of the same scene. The setting is a work place and the main character is someone who turns up very, very drunk. First version: write in the … Continue reading
Written a short story on the theme of solitude?
Indy publishers Everything With Words are publishing a book of short stories in spring 2021 on the theme of solitude.Submissions should be between 2,000 and 6,000 words long. There is … Continue reading
START THE WEEK with a Creative Writing Exercise
A very straightforward creative writing exercise …all you have to do is write and keep on writing until you’ve managed to incorporate all the words on the scrabble board. To … Continue reading
Lockdown Writing Competition…think short, short, short
The wonderful people at Fish Publishing – who organise some of the best international writing competitions – have come up with a project that tries to capture the strange times … Continue reading
An exercise that can help you travel back in time – sensory description in memoir writing
Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon – E.L. Doctorow Adapted from Back to … Continue reading
Opening Lines – A Writing Exercise
I’m going to post writing exercises at regular intervals because I’m convinced that writing can help if you’re worried and under stress….and right now that describes most of us. The … Continue reading
Being Creative in the time of Corona
I haven’t yet spent a whole 24 hours without seeing someone I care about, but I will if not today, (I’m expecting a supply of Earl Grey tea via my … Continue reading
My New Year present… a link to a short story that might just change the way you write or what you want to write about.
Ok, the statements in the heading of this post are so sweeping they could clean your whole house. And you’ve probably instinctively flinched because who likes to be told how … Continue reading
Writing Workshop with a Bestselling Novelist – it’s a Brighton experience like no other
Running workshops with a bestselling novelist in her Brighton home was an experiment. I’ve known Sarah Rayner for years as an inspirational novelist who writes about serious subjects – bereavement, … Continue reading
Saturday Afternoon Writing Workshop with lunch (and early bookers get a free copy of my writing guide)
This is a first. I’ve taught in all kinds of places: art galleries and university lecture theatres, under a Mediterranean sun and in cold church halls, but never before in … Continue reading
How to use Shakespeare in the office
A video guide to using the best Shakespearean insults in the office…because you never know when you might need one.
Go behind the scenes of BBC Radio 4 with a screenwriter and a producer
You’re invited to a SUNDAY SALON at an extraordinary venue in the heart of Hove. It is a place to connect, share ideas and ASK QUESTIONS over tea and cake. … Continue reading
A blatant plug for a facebook page
I don’t often mention my facebook page Back to Creative Writing School but I realised that perhaps I should when a loyal follower of this blog contacted me in dismay … Continue reading
Come on an Alternative Valentine Writing and Creative Workshop
In time for Valentine’s Day learn how to create your own love story with words and images using the Regency Town House in Hove as a springboard into historical fiction. … Continue reading
