Appearances
Please click the links for more information and tickets.
- 6 March, 2012: Girls’ Night Out at Essex Book Festival with Jill Mansell and Sasha Wagstaff. 8 pm, Maldon Library, Maldon More info here
- 15 March, 2012: I’ll be on BBC Radio Berkshire’s culture panel with Sarah Walker at 2 pm Listen here
- 16 March, 2012: 14/4 Literary Dinner. 7 pm, The Harte and Garter Hotel, Windsor More info here
- 21 April, 2012: I’m giving a workshop on Writing Sex Scenes at the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. 2 pm, The Chequers Inn, Chipping Norton More info here
- 26 May, 2012: Advanced Novel Writing course, 10 am to 6 pm, RISC, London Street, Reading. More information in ‘Courses’ below.
- 13-15 July, 2012: The Romantic Novelists’ Association conference at the University of Cumbria in Penrith. I’ll be giving a talk on ‘Learning Story Structure from Pixar Films’. More info here
- 7-9 September, 2012: The Festival of Writing, York University. I’ll be giving workshops (titles TBC) and taking appointments as a book doctor. More info here
- 13 October, 2012: Advanced Novel Writing course, 10 am to 6 pm, RISC, London Street, Reading. More information in ‘Courses’ below.
Courses
I run day courses on novel writing at RISC, London Road, Reading, Berkshire UK. Groups are strictly limited to 11 participants (because the room only holds 12 people). These are the dates I currently have booked for 2012:
ADVANCED NOVEL WRITING
Saturday 26 May 2012, 10 am to 6 pm and
Saturday 13 October 2012, 10 am to 6 pm
(Please note: each course is entirely separate and self-contained; this isn’t a series of courses, though of course you are welcome to come to both!)
This course will help you revise and polish your novel and get you ready to submit it to an agent or editor. It covers advanced conflict, pacing and story structure, writing your synopsis and putting together your submission package. Activities are a mix of discussion, workshopping, critique, and hard serious work (fuelled by cake).
The price includes my written critique of either the first page of your novel, the one-page synopsis of your novel, or your submission cover letter.
If you’ve finished or nearly finished at least one novel and are ready to take your work to the next level, this is the course for you.
Because groups are small, I am generally able to tailor the contents to the participants’ needs. Here are some comments from writers who have taken my courses:
I found the content excellent and your methods have encouraged me to keep going.
You are a truly inspirational teacher!
A brilliant and informative day.
You’re very good at encouraging students to find their own conclusions rather than just telling them the answer. I had a couple of big revelations about my WIP during the day that came out of exercises or conversations you had set up, but felt as if I’d completely worked it out for myself.
The price for the day is £80 per person, which includes tea or coffee and a sandwich lunch. There’s a £5 discount (so you pay only £75) if you bring homemade cake to share!
If you’re interested in booking a place on this course on either of the dates, or if you have questions, please let me know by sending me an email, using the “contact” link on the top right of this page.
Workshops
I do a variety of writing workshops for groups, and I’ve delivered them to professional writing groups, students of creative writing, aspiring authors and creative writing associations, teachers, secondary school pupils, and reading groups, in libraries, classrooms, conferences and universities, in the UK and the US, and even on television.
My most popular workshops are:
Creating Character. This is a hands-on, practical workshop on creating a character from scratch. Participants start with a blank piece of paper, and by the end of the workshop they have a fully-rounded character and have practised several techniques on how to best create character.
Writing Sex Scenes. This is a fun, practical and slightly raunchy workshop on creating sensual sex scenes that have real emotional depth. It involves strawberries and chocolate and is by far my most popular workshop.
First Hundred Words Challenge. Editors, agents and readers say that the first few hundred words of a novel can make them decide whether to read on or not. Are your first hundred words as good as they can be?
In addition, I have already-prepared and well-received workshops on Getting Published, Self-Editing, Pacing, Story Structure, and Creating Point of View (the latter specially designed to fit in with current A-level English Literature and Language and Literature curricula). And I can often adapt or create a new workshop according to a group’s needs.
Please contact me using the “contact” link above if you’d like to discuss my giving a workshop to your group.
Book News
THE SUMMER OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY is out in mass-market paperback in March 2012. A cross between a contemporary novel and a Regency romance, it’s the story of a failed would-be novelist who gets a job as a historical interpreter in a stately home, where they’re re-creating the summer of 1814. ‘Wonderful…moving and heartbreaking and funny and real’
Also, look out for my short stories in S Magazine (March) and Your Cat magazine (March) and my article in RWR Magazine (May).
GETTING AWAY WITH IT is published as DE STUNT VAN HAAR LEVEN by de Kern in the Netherlands, and as MIT DEN AUGEN MEINER SCHWESTER by Diana in Germany. Both are out in May 2012.
Contests
If you sign up for my newsletter (hint hint) by using the form on the bottom of this page, you can get news of my contests and books straight into your inbox.
