Comments on previous courses

Stella Whitelaw: 'Writing short stories that sell'

"Inspirational"

"Excellent. Well organized and packed with useful information"

"Loved all the courses, especially Stella's"

"Brilliant!"

"The best course leader I have ever been to."

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previous courses

Louise Jordan:

'Writing for children's publishers'
"Excellent, knew her stuff, up-to-date info, warm and encouraging"

"Well structured, informative and up to the minute.
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previous courses

Peter Lyons:
'"All the world's a stage"

"I appreciated the Drama course - Peter Lyons is always helpful."

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previous courses

Kenneth Steven: 'Catching dragons - writing, crafting and publishing poetry'

"I thoroughly enjoyed Kenneth's course"

"Excellent"

"Loved Kenneth Steven's poetry evening - more please!"

"Very good indeed"

"Outstanding as a poet and course leader. His input was worth the cost of the week alone!"

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previous courses

Roy Devereux: 'Make money from magazines'

"Excellent, Roy put a great deal of work into his course and has inspired me to succeed"

2008 courses
Drama here
Crime here
Get that novel written here
Poetry here
Professional development for writers here
Take Time In....Let your Creative Genius out here
Technology for writers here
Writing and selling articles here
Writing and selling short stories made easy here

Frances Coombes
Writing and selling articles

For published writers and enthusiastic beginners.

The course looks at selling your article writing; finding magazine focus to increase your sales; brainstorming for feature ideas; writing irresistible query letters and pitching ideas to editors.

Frances Coombes wrote freelance articles for the London Evening Standard ‘Just the Job’ pages for 6 years. Through interviewing people who excelled in their fields she became interested in what motivates people, qualifying as an NLP Master Practitioner and Performance Enhancement Coach.

Her book, Teach Yourself Self-Motivation, in the Hodder Arnold Teach Yourself range, is due in bookstores this summer.
Frances tutors writing courses and NLP and Manifesting Abundance at the City Lit in Central London.

more courses here

Alison Chisholm
The Art and Craft of Poetry

This course will look at the art and craft of poetry, from inspiration to perspiration.

Thousands of people are writing poetry and aiming to get it published. Few succeed. This course is designed to improve your chances of success.

We shall look at the essential idea that fuels the poem, and how it may be enhanced; poetry writing techniques, including skills and structure; exercises to prompt new work; and traditional and new outlets for your poems.

Alison has written eight collections of poetry and three books on the craft for Allison and Busby/N.A.W.G. She teaches creative writing, poetry writing and speech and drama, and gives talks and readings all over Britain. She is a poetry columnist for Writing Magazine, and adjudicates poetry competitions.

more courses here

Roy Devereux
Technology for writers

Writers will have more success if they embrace modern technology
• Agents, editors and publishers expect writers to submit text and pictures online
• There is a world of reference material available on the internet at the click of a mouse
• There are lots of people who are willing and able to answer questions or express opinions via "newsgroups"
• Writers can promote themselves and their work with a personal website or a 'blog' or on social networking sites
• Programmes like Final Draft are specifically designed for writing film, TV and stage scripts
• and so on ...

... so you need to know how to do all those things.
We will go live on the internet on a big screen in the lecture room, and course members will be able to try out some of these techniques after the lectures.

Roy Devereux has been writing feature articles for national magazines for over 20 years. He ‘cut his teeth’ on titles about boats and boating and later moved on to travel, nostalgia and, most recently, Family History. Roy is an award-winning photographer and illustrates his own articles. He has been coming to Swanwick for many years and has been a Course Leader on three occasions.

more courses here

Patricia Kitchin
(Patricia Burns)
Get That Novel Written

Don’t wait for inspiration – get your novel started at this Swanwick and finished by Swanwick ‘09.

Aim – to provide a framework for the beginner to start writing a novel, while offering some new directions and inspiration for established writers.

The four sessions will cover :

People – creating rounded, believable characters – heroes and heroines- memorable baddies - names - dialogue.

Plotting – shaping a story – crises and high points – that page turning quality – keeping control

The Long Haul – that vital first page - drafts and editing – style - managing your time – keeping motivated

Selling and marketing – which genres are publishers looking for? - agents and editors – self publishing – publicity

The sessions will be a mix of lectures and workshops, and members will be invited to contribute their own ideas and experience as we go along.

Patricia is the author of thirteen novels, including sagas, historical romances and contemporary fiction. She has also used her experience performing in Swanwick pantos to write and produce village extravaganzas. In the past she used to teach full time while bringing up a family and writing, so she knows all about the problems of squeezing time out of a busy day.

more courses here

Zana Lamont
Take Time In.....
And let your creative genius out!

To be creative is one of our basic human needs and one of the most powerful ways of expressing it is through the written word.

Liberate yourself from any limiting beliefs, thought patterns and emotional responses which may be blocking the flow of your writing and experience the joy of your creative genius.

The Oracle at Delphi said, ‘Know Thyself’ and when we do, we come to understand that the answers are ‘in here’ and not ‘out there’. They have been there all the time!

How well do you know yourself? Learn some innercises which will guide you to make up (i.e. construct) your mind and use it in ways most likely to help you achieve what you want in both your personal and professional lives.

PS. We’ll also have some fun!

Zana is a lecturer, bodywork therapist, counsellor and workshop presenter. She has written numerous courses on a variety of topics and is in the process of turning them into a book.

more courses here

Brendan Nolan
Professional development for writers

This four-part course shows how to develop a writing career as a professional practice and how to determine what you really, really, want to do.

It shows how a mid-list writer can be noticed above the crowd, how a beginner can choose the right path for them and how a successful writer can give their career a marketing boost to be noticed all over again.

This course is suitable for all writers, including novelists, non-fiction writers, playwrights, scriptwriters, story writers, or anybody who puts pen to paper and expects to see a return for their endeavour.

Brendan Nolan has been writing professionally for more than 25 years.
On each of two recent years he had a non-fiction book in the shops for Christmas sale, both of which arose from his general non-fiction writing.
Brendan contributes a monthly column to Writing Magazine on the business of writing.
He is the webmaster, or editor, of the Swanwick website.
His personal website is www.neteireann.com

more courses here

Michael O'Byrne
Everything you wanted to know about crime
but didn’t know who to ask

The workshops will focus on those issues which seem to be at the heart of most crime fiction and will relate reality with the work of successful authors in the genre.

The main topics will be:-

• Forensics - low copy DNA explained!
• Profiling and serial killers;
• Blood and gore;
• Fingerprints – still important, still being developed;
• Police use of force – from the baton to the Taser and use of firearms;
• Organised and international crime;
• Who else is involved in crime investigation

A key component will be the ability of participants to raise their questions and the workshops will be designed so that, hopefully, no question will go unanswered.

Michael's book Everything You Wanted to Know about Crime - But didn’t know who to ask will be published in the year.

A police officer from the age of 19 serving in The Royal Hong Kong Police, The Met, Surrey, Thames Valley and Bedfordshire, retiring as chief constable. Since retiring, Michael has concentrated on writing.

more courses here

Iain Pattison
Writing and selling short stories made easy.
Simple Swift Steps to Short Story Success

Join Iain Pattison, one of the country’s leading short story judges and author of the best-selling Cracking The Short Story Market in a fun, fast-moving, tip-packed course revealing the secrets of how you can beat the slush pile and grab competition glory.

Topics covered include finding plots from thin air, eye-catching openings, edifying endings, writing the perfect sting-in-the tail yarn, how to impress a fiction editor, what makes a competition judge go "yuck!", dazzling dialogue, avoiding hackneyed storylines, handling humour and much more.

Iain promises that it doesn't matter if you're a complete novice or a narrative know-it-all, you'll never look at short stories in quite the same way again!

Glaswegian Iain Pattison is an author, creative writing teacher, journalist, competition judge and the author of several correspondence courses for the world's largest writing school. His humorous short stories have been broadcast on Radio 4 and appeared in a number of top literary publications and women’s magazines. He has had more than 15,000 published articles.

As well as running workshops on the secrets of selling sizzling short fiction, Iain "script doctors" novels, plays and short stories for a national appraisal service. He is a popular speaker on the writers’ group circuit, and is a regular course leader at The National Association of Writers Groups' Festival of Writing in Durham, Caerleon Writers' Holiday and, of course, Swanwick Writers’ Summer School.

When he grows up he wants to be a stand-up comic.

more courses here

Roger Stennet
Drama

Exploring all the enticing choices for drama writers today, Roger will take you through all the options.

'Subject should suggest Form'. Some 'ideas' proclaim that they are stage plays. Others broadcast that they are radio dramas, while some project the fact that they are movie screenplays.

As well as looking at what unites all forms of writing for performance, Roger will look at the particular strengths, and weaknesses, of each of the dramatic 'delivery systems', with practical exercises aplenty.

Roger Stennett is a writer, university writing tutor, psychotherapist and Aikido sensei/teacher.
For more than 30 years he has written for theatre, film, TV, radio and animation, everything from Sooty to The Royal Shakespeare Company.

Further details on the website:

more courses here

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Daily ‘Freestyle ’ Themed Workshops 2008 here
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Swanwick 2008 August 09 to August 15
Diamond Anniversary Year
email: swanwick here

For comment on 2007 courses see here

Courses are offered in four parts of an hour by experts.
Two blocks of courses are offered, one at the beginning of the week, the other from mid-week on. Members chose a course from each block.
Advance booking of a particular course is not necessary. No prior knowledge of the subject matter is required to enjoy the courses.

booking form
here

booking notes
here

accommodation notes here

printable flyer
here

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Comments on previous courses

John Lamont: 'Reaching our goals in life and writing'

"Outstanding"

"Excellent"

"Extremely helpful - even life enhancing"

"Exceptional"

" John has inspired me to succeed"

"Inspiring and motivational"

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previous courses

Steve Whetton: "Scriptwriting for TV"

"Excellent, so enthusiastic and motivating"

"Very interesting and helpful"

"A witty and interesting teacher"

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previous courses
Ann Palmer: 'Sensibility and censor'

"Absolutely invaluable. Ann's course last year (my first Topwrite year) inspired me and has been a huge help"

"Ann Palmer is always excellent"

"Challenging and creative - very helpful with focus and development"

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previous courses

Catherine King: 'Tackle that novel'

"A different perspective, making you think in other directions. Excellent!"

"I especially enjoyed Catherine King who gave innovative (to me!) insight into the craft of novel writing"

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previous courses
Della Galton:
'Writing fiction - how to get started'

"Excellent, very encouraging"

"From good, very good to excellent - Della for example"

"Very good, clear and concise"

"Very good indeed, provided a useful and transferable tool for all writers"