| Three stimulating new Workshops exploring new methods to develop and enhance your fiction so that it leaps off the page straight into a reader's imagination. These Workshops will give fresh insight into some of the techniques of fiction, strengthening your confidence and broadening your writing skills. At the same time, the Workshops are also very enjoyable.
All Workshops take place from 10.30-4.30 in Tower Room 3, Conway Hall. Individual Workshops are £75 or the complete series can be taken for only £200.
Sunday 7 February
Sub-Plots and Minor Characters
A fascinating Workshop examining the characters and situations which don’t always have a page to themselves but which deserve the writer’s attention. What function is served by sub-plots and minor characters? How best can a writer utilise them? Sub-plots can provide diversions to the main plot and demonstrate other spheres of a character’s activities. Minor characters can act as foils or contrasts to the main characters, they can express views which the main characters do not share but which the writer may want to examine. By becoming more aware of these little-examined areas of fiction you can use them more effectively to illustrate the themes and broaden the scope of your writing.
Sunday 21 February
Beliefs, Religions and Superstitions.
What does your character believe in? Are they religious or irreligious? Are they atheist or agnostic? Superstitious or spiritual? How do they deal with the ‘Why are we here and what happens to us?’ questions of life that fiction often creates. Religion and spiritual belief can be a major motivating force for a character, governing decisions and choices in areas both simple and complex. If a tragedy occurs – as so often in fiction, do they pray? turn to a god or fate? look for ‘answers’? Religion often covers the major rites of passage – birth, marriage, death. How does a character deal with the ceremonies involved? And of course, religion or belief can be the basis for major family and social conflicts - rewarding territory in fiction. This topic can raise profound questions reaching to the heart of fiction and illuminating a character’s inner life in a way revealed by few other subjects.
Sunday 7 March
Alternative Plotting
This Workshop will take a practical, analytical approach to plotting. We will take simple plots and evaluate the decisions involved in creating coherent narratives. By examining the choices and many alternatives, we can explore all the avenues a plot can take and follow them through to see where they lead. We will look at the decisions that the writer has to take whilst writing and see just how far ahead you can ‘plot’ before having to get onto the page to allow a situation to work out in a ‘live’ sense. This will be a lively, experimental Workshop – we will literally be making it up as we go along. But with the intention of enhancing your decision-making abilities and allowing you to feel more confident and awarding you more power and flexibility when you come to create your own plots.
If you have any queries,
or wish to discuss the workshops, please phone 020-8809-4725,
or send an email to
Quotes:
"I really loved the workshop and felt there was a great atmosphere. I so enjoyed hearing all the different things people came up with. You lead it all brilliantly and I am amazed how you manage to respond to us all, hit the nail on the head and it all seems so effortless, although it can't be. I came home full of it all, tired but stimulated!"
Penelope Boreham
"The workshops are stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable. Henrietta
provides many insights about the art of the writer and creates a collegiate atmosphere where people can share their writing."
David Lloyd
CLICK HERE FOR BOOKING FORM
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