a week that lasts for years

comments
on the 2007 school.
Below are direct quotes from the year's questionnaires on speakers, tutors, the school experience and more.

Speakers

Iain Pattison
Inside the mind of a competition judge:

"Excellent"

"Outstanding"

"Advice valuable for all writers"

"Very informative"

"Fabulous"



John Lamont
Undoing the Nots

"Excellent"

"Brilliant"

"Outstanding"

"Incredible - best in years"

"John is naturally funny and a lovely bloke"

"Fantastic"

"Fabulous"


Jamie Rix
Lying for a living

"Excellent"

"Very entertaining"

"Brilliant"

"Outstanding"

"Very funny"

"Wonderful"

"Massive entertainment value with some useful nuggets - good value"

"Outrageous! Interesting, entertaining, informative, thought provoking - all about writing"

"The best for years!"

"Fabulous"


Carol Smith
Gamekeeper to poacher

"Good, entertaining and amusing"

"Very enthusiastic, encouraging"

"Very entertaining"

"Hugely entertaining look at the writing process"

"Excellent - bottle her enthusiasm!"

"Clear, engaging, personal"

Courses

Bridget Holding
Screenwriting/Short Films

"Very well presented and offered useful, practical advice."

"Excellent, learned a lot"

"Clear, well organised and inspiring"

"Informative, helpful and well presented. I attended as a beginner and learned some useful basics. Loved the atmosphere Bridget created in the group"

"Excellent. Easy pace and style with lots of info and relevant exercises with feedback.



Brendan Nolan
Non Fiction

"Brilliant"

"Very interesting"

"Excellent. Relaxed pace and style. Lots of info. Answered questions with authority"

"Informative and interesting"

"Good advice and ideas, very useful course"

"I learnt a lot. Lovely manner, entertaining and informative. Such an experienced person"

"Master of his craft - has taught me a lot"




Alison Chisholm
Poetry

"Alison excels in her teaching, involving all the class"

"Very good - fine technical guidance"

"Alison was excellent as ever"

"Alison is fantastic!"

"Master of her craft - has taught me a lot"

"Well prepared and clearly delivered. Revision a useful slant"

"Inspiring and practical, great material, handouts etc valuable."




Stella Whitelaw
The Novel X Factor

"Stella's course was very good, as usual"

"Excellent, structured"

"Stella is well named - a star"

"Stella Whitelaw was wonderful. Helpful, informative, easy to follow and understand. Infectious enthusiasm!"

"Useful, enjoyable and thought provoking"

"Fantastic - Stella works so hard in preparation. Really enjoyed it, all useful stuff"

"Excellent content and delivery, just what I needed"

"Stella Whitelaw is outstanding. Her efforts are beyond and above the call of duty"

"An excellent teacher and a lovely person"

"An inspiring personality. Gifted, lovely. A well run course. Helpful. FANTASTIC"




Ann Palmer
Image-in Creative Writing

"Outstanding"

"Very interesting"

"Ann Palmer's course was brilliant in accessing creative potential"

"Inspiring, well planned and very interesting"

"Gave food for thought, very interesting and inspiring"

"Pity course was soo popular! Ann explained difficult concept clearly and coped with large numbers very well"




Lee Weatherly
Writing for children

"Very good and very useful"

"Very good, well informed, well structured"

"Useful, enjoyable and thought provoking"

"Useful tips"

Xanthe Wells
Literary fiction

"Outstanding"

"Marvellous, learned a lot, well-structured sessions"

"Very good. I enjoyed being 'stretched'."

"Superb. Swanwick needs Literary Fiction for balance"

"Inspiring, well planned and very interesting"

"Very good, much more challenging!"




Val Williamson
Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror

"Incredibly knowledgeable!"

"Very good. Academic approach makes you think"

"Excellent - more next year please!"

======================================

Workshops

Michael O'Byrne
Police procedures in crime fiction

"Excellent, please can we have a 4-part course next year!"

"Very practical"

"Very good, knowledgeable"

"Excellent, exactly the kind of focus a course should have"

"Organised and professional"

"More please next year"



Joyce Ward
Drama

"A lively, very useful workshop, most stimulating."

"Passionate and helpful"

"Very enjoyable and well organised"

"Great fun and an eye opener!"



Roy York
Radio comedy

"Brilliant, never laughed as much producing good work from it"

"Very good"

"Would have loved this to be extended to a 4-part course!"



Zana Lamont
Getting in the Mood

"Excellent workshop by Zana Lamont"

"I loved Zana's workshop"

"Outstanding"

"Zana's workshop was a first time and enjoyable experience for me"

"Inspiring, helping to structure a different approach to releasing blocks in creative writing"

"Very impressed with Zana Lamont's workshop!"

"Superb"

"Just marvellous"

"FANTASTIC!! Please more"

"Inspiring, learned many new things that I can put into practice"

"Exceptional, more please. Every day would be good to reinforce methods"



Della Galton
Writing the magazine short story

"Very practical"

"Excellent, as usual!"

"The magazine short story workshop was excellent, exactly what I hoped"

"Excellent, really valuable advice and information"

"Inspiring, encourtaging, enthusiastic, excellent"

"Real nuts and bolts, excellent up to date info"

"Clear, engaging, helpful"

"A fount of knowledge"

Tarja Moles
Research for historical fiction

"Useful info and template for planning research"

"Excellent"

"Structured input, very helpful, excellent"

Jean Saunders
Creating great characters

"Excellent"

"Jean's characterisation workshop has caused the birth of my next heroine. Thank you"

Benjamin Scott
Collective marketing for authors

"Excellent and needed"

"Very good and thought provoking"

"Particularly impressed with Ben Scott"

"Full marks. Please ask Benjamin to do a course next year!"

======================================

Themed workshops
In your own write
(various leaders)

"I especially appreciated the new 'In your own write' sessions"

"Very useful in stimulating writing"

"Thoroughly enjoyed these - informative and inspiring"

"A welcome chance to put pen to paper. The two I went to were thoughtfully planned"

"Produced some great ideas and good writing. Please repeat next year!"

"I thought the 'In your own write' workshops were brilliant, do hope they are back again in 2008"

"Really enjoyed the varied approaches"

"Great for building confidence and getting the creative rhythm going"


======================================

One-Hours

Mary Wibberley
Love is a many layered thing

"First class"

Marion Hough
Storytelling in Schools

"Interesting and informative"




Roz Southey
Settings/locations as an extra character in Historical Fiction

"Very good"

"Brilliant! Good speaker and good ideas"




Fiona McFadzean
Faith in your writing

"It was a lovely, encouraging experience to hear Fiona McFadzean"




Chris Robinson
Poetry readaround

"The poetry readaround was well managed and well received"



Eileen West
Humorous articles

"I particularly enjoyed Eileen's session on writing humorous articles"

"Really enjoyed and appreciated Eileen West's talk"

"Very well prepared talk on humour (a subject I've been asking for, thank you!)"



Rosemary Robb
Ghost Stories

"We had a wonderful evening of ghost stories from Rosemary. Pleeease let us hear her again next year!"

"Rosemary's performance of her Ghost Stories was truly creeply - may she make a return visit."
======================================

General comments

pic Fiona McFadzean 2007

"Have really enjoyed my time at Swanwick. Besides meeting and making new friends of like mind, I have found the workshops, courses etc a great help. Many thanks for the experience, to everyone who has contributed to making this week special - committee members, course leaders and the many helpers who have given up their time."

"A wonderful week. Lots of learning, entertainment and fun events."

"Very interesting. A lot packed in to a short time. Stimulating, good atmosphere and social feel. Congratulations to the committee in producing such a varied, quality programme."

"I liked having more free time for writing (without missing anything!). Better than previous years"

"Very enjoyable and relaxing week"

"Very good. I felt especially that the balance between the various ingredients (speakers, courses etc) was just right."

"As always very enjoyable, friendly and well organised. Standing out particularly were the number of young people attending"

"I thoroughly enjoyed my stay. An extremely broad programme covering every aspect of writing. I loved the workshops which encouraged creativity and the 'right' attitude and mindset - the holistic approach to writing. It all seemed to flow and run like clockwork."

"I have enjoyed my first visit to Swanwick enormously and have learnt a lot both from the programme and my fellow visitors."

pic Fiona McFadzean 2007

"A really enjoyable, memorable visit, everyone so friendly. Inspiring. So cut off from the real world. Hope I can come again. 'Laughter Lines' was the perfect ending."

"Being a new girl I was impressed with the friendliness of everybody and the way we were all felt to be welcome. I have never before been in the company of so many witty women! The programme itself was varied and interesting, catering for all levels of experiences. I am returning home buzzing with ideas not only for my own writing but also how to liven up my own Creating Writing group!"

"Swanwick has once again waved its magic wand. What a great six days I've had - hectic of course, with such a large number of courses, workshops, talks etc. to choose from. Thanks to everyone involved for their encouragement and help. Roll on August 2008"

"An enriching experience socially and intellectually. Valuable practical content plus relaxation and physical comfort. A genuinely welcoming atmosphere."

"Very enjoyable and informative. Learned a lot on how to relax and be the real me"

"Wonderful - as always! Thanks to a super Chairperson and committee"

"My first time! Excellent! Very stimulating. Great company. I'm coming back!"

"Well, I've had a ball! I find this a happy, loving place to be (and the writing's not badly represented either!) Thank you for all the tremendous work you all do on our behalf. Please continue! You are my second family. Now I embark on nearly 12 months of anticipation."

"Amazing value and amazingly well organised"

"This has been an excellent experience. I came to learn something and have done so - straightforward useful things delivered by some inspiring tutors. I hope to put them into practice and have something published on the fiction side before this time next year."
pic Fiona McFadzean 2007

"Thank you for a fantastic week. This was my first Swanwick, and I will be back, of course!"