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Led by novelist Nick Barlay, author of the lauded non-fiction family history Scattered Ghosts, this masterclass covers the technical skills needed to make best use of your material, including characters, settings and dialogue.

Across the two days, you’ll learn how to develop your narrative, create a credible world using setting and description, and discover how historical detail and narrative dynamics can come together to reveal universal truths through particular family histories.

Course Content

Your story and your readers
The people of the story: character and characterisation
The world of the story: setting and description
Creating and using dialogue
Narrative development: the dynamics of structure and plot

This course is for ...

Anyone currently writing or planning a story based on events in their family history
Writers looking to develop their skills and take their project to the next level

Tutor Profile

Nick Barlay is the author of four highly acclaimed novels and was mentioned among Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2003. In 2013 he published his first work of non-fiction, Scattered Ghosts, which tells the story of his Hungarian Jewish family over two centuries. He has also been a journalist, and wrote a long-running and popular series about London for The Times. Other writing ranges from short stories to award-winning radio plays.

You will be sent a link to the webinar 2hrs before the start time of 2pm (GMT)

Course Details

Dates: Saturday 12 February 2022 & Sunday 13 February 2022
Times: 2-5pm (GMT)

2pm GMT | 3pm CEST | 6am PDT | 9am EDT

This masterclass is available globally. If you are joining us from outside the United Kingdom, please use this time zone converter to check your local live streaming time.

You will be sent a link to the webinar two hrs before the start time. Please email masterclasses@theguardian.com if you have not received the access link within one hour of the scheduled start time.

All Guardian Masterclasses are fully accessible but please contact us at masterclasses@theguardian.com if you have any queries or concerns.

Full course and returns information on the Masterclasses website

How to write your family history: A weekend writing course with Nick Barlay