masterclasses
Every year we hold several one-day or two-day masterclasses to support our students’ writing practice.
Each student on the two-year programme has two masterclasses included in their course fee every year. The workshops are also available to writers outside the programme for a fee. Further details are below and booking is available on our Eventbrite page.
Life Writing and Imagination – Hannah Vincent
10-4pm 13th June Kemptown Bookshop, Brighton
What role does the imagination play when we are writing about lived experience? If we agree that the life-writer’s task isn’t simply to record events but to write about them in a way that will engage our reader in character, setting and story, then we need to bring our imagination to the work.
Evoking remembered people or conversations or happenings in a vivid way in our writing can feel conflicting for life-writers so during this masterclass (mistressclass!) we’ll discuss ethical considerations and through a combination of in-class writing exercises and the study of extracts from published texts, we’ll explore techniques to enable us to tell our stories creatively and with integrity.
The session will be run by Hannah Vincent. Click here to book your place.
Timeless Tales : making meaning of myths and writing new ones.
10-4pm 14th June Jubilee Library, Brighton
Tales – folk, fairy and epic – have a timeless quality. They are islands of memory and insight if we give them time to talk to us. The first half of this masterclass will let us look at how memory works and the place of imagination; making meaning of myths. We will work with myths from selected cultures, about women and seasons. While myths are universal, what makes them distinctive and can we recall local ones?
The second half of this masterclass is to engage in writing. We will work with metaphor and its power in creative writing with our unique imagination and signature. Please bring, wear or carry an object that is precious to you to the masterclass.
The session will be run by Vayu Naidu. Click here to book your place.
Writing Crime
11-5pm 15th June Jubilee Library, Brighton
This masterclass will set you firmly on your way to being a crime writer. Your tutor – a former police chief superintendent and now crime writer – will guide you through the nature of the genre and its sub genre, understanding the world of crime, villainy and policing, then we will get on to the actual writing. We will work through how to develop gripping characters, settings, how to plot, write authentic dialogue, and craft twists, arcs and endings. Come prepared for a blistering day and armed with all the questions you’ve always wanted to ask someone who’s done it for real and now makes it up for fiction.
The session will be run by Graham Bartlett. Click here to book your place.
Exploring Experimental Fiction
10-4pm 28th June online
Moving away from tried-and-tested approaches to structure and technique - pushing and blurring the boundaries of your prose - can make you a better writer. This workshop uses examples from innovators Robert Walser, Virginia Woolf, Ann Quin, Diane Williams and David Rose to look at devices such as stream of consciousness, abstraction, and the erasure of text. Running through the workshop will be a real-time exercise designed to help you invigorate your prose and produce fresh and vital work.
The workshop will be run by Charlie Hill. Click here to book your place.
Writing Short Stories
10-4pm 29th June online
Why write a short story? Apart from length, what’s the difference between a novel and a short story? How do we know if what we’re writing is suited to one form or the other? What are the prerequisites for a short story? Are there any? What are the particular demands of the short story as a form? Finally, what must a short story DO?
We will explore these questions and more and we will have a go at writing our own short stories, using character as a starting point and plot as a starting point. Through writing exercises, we will explore the difference in these two approaches, and we will consider the value of using lived experience, fantasy and imagination in short story writing.
As part of the day’s work we will examine the process of short story writing, with advice on story structure, how to progress a first draft, what to consider when thinking about story endings, the importance of feedback and how to know when a story is finished.
A range of readings will support our activities, including story extracts and advice from experts in short form prose including Chekhov, Flannery O’Connor, Claire Keegan and Irenosen Okojie.
The mistressclass class will be run by Hannah Vincent. Click here to book your place.