A fun and inspiring way to improve your writing, for experienced writers and beginners alike.
'A brilliant environment for learning and sharing'
Skills : Digging into genre : Workshops to make your writing gleam
'Loved it - loved it all!'
Clare Reddaway runs regular creative writing workshops online from her home in Bath. The first workshop in her Summer 2024 series is on Looking at Story. Clare keeps her workshops small, enabling all antendees to participate, share, receive feedback and advice.
22nd June – Mothers
Most of us have had mothers, or caregivers who took on that role. Some of us are mothers. Some would have liked to have been mothers, some have chosen not to be. Few writers will not have thought about this intimate and important relationship.* In this workshop we will look at mothers and motherhood, mothering and being mothered. How mothers are depicted in fiction. How we can mine our own experiences for our own stories. Mothers and mothering can be an incendiary and delicate topic on which everyone has an opinion. Come along and dare to discuss!
* Trigger warning: this workshop will discuss mothers and mothering and could touch on issues which some people might find upsetting due to their personal experiences. Please check in with yourself before booking this workshop.
The workshop will run for two and a half hours. We will meet online on zoom. Details of the zoom meeting will be sent to you prior to the workshop.
Other workshops in 2024:
18th May: Looking at Story
One of the best ways to work out how to write stories is to read them. This workshop is the latest in a regular series where we take one contemporary short story, read it closely and analyse it. We will find inspiration by examining the techniques, the themes and the form the writer has used. Participants will then write their own work inspired by the story we have read together – the majority of the workshop time will be spent on your writing and feedback.
To book click here.
13th July – Planning and Plotting
So you’ve got an idea for a long piece of fiction or non-fiction. It might be a substantial short story, it might be a novella, a novel, a series of novels, a collection of stories. You might have finished the first draft, you might have got one sentence down so far. This workshop is about planning a piece of work. It’s about plotting a structure that works. We’ll need some long pieces of paper for this one!
To book click here.
About the workshops:
The host of the workshop is Clare Reddaway, who has been running monthly writing workshops at her home in central Bath for some years - and now in a very modern way, runs workshops online. All of the workshops aim to be supportive and encouraging to writers of prose, particularly short stories, at all levels. Clare provides exercises which are stimulating and inspiring (hopefully!) in a warm, friendly atmosphere.
What the writers thought:
Some feedback for Clare's workshops:
'If you're thinking about it, take the plunge!'
‘Loved it. Lovely environment and people, great triggers for ideas and inspiration.’
'Totally inspiring!' 'Fun!'
‘Very inspirational and productive’,
‘I loved the way questions triggered ideas that seemed to be close to the surface’.
'SO helpful',
'Friendly feedback',
'I liked the mixture of tips, facts and writing exercises',
'Brilliant. Well constructed. Interesting and informative. Well executed'
'Loved it - loved it all!'
Clare's credentials:
Clare has run writing workshops for many years: at festivals and arts centres with Bristol short story collective Heads and Tales, for Julian House homeless charity in Bath, for the Refugee Centre in Bristol, for the University of the Third Age in Bath. Before Covid, she ran regular workshops at her home in Bath and at Clifton Library in Bristol. Her background as a script editor for BBC Drama and Granada TV and her MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa gives her experience of working with a wide range of writers. If you'd like to know more about Clare's writing please check out her website www.clarereddaway.co.uk.
