In this interactive workshop we’ll bring the powers of the Four Elements to the drafting and editing of your writing. In the inspirational setting of the Phoenix Garden, we’ll investigate how:

• Fire energises your voice and illuminates your intention

• Water adds depth and feeling to the lives of your characters

• Earth brings substance and texture to the worlds you’re creating

• Air lends focus and structure to your writing

We’ll use the Four Elements to explore our own work, and to give and get feedback in collaboration with other writers. We’ll also discuss the business of writing: understanding readers and the marketplace, submitting to agents, working with publishers.

A Four Elements Workshop

In this workshop we’ll seek out inspiration, form and purpose in the natural world. We’ll observe nature, read works of Eco Lit, and do some nature writing of our own. Wear layers! If weather permits we’ll write outdoors in the green oasis of the Phoenix Garden in the heart of London’s West End.

What's been sleeping, and what’s now stirring? And what can we spring into action in our writing?

The past few years have been marked by great changes for all of us: fears of plague and war and climate disaster, moral panics about woke culture, political upheaval, social isolation, personal loss. But nightmares are followed by the possibility for facing down our fears, and seeing and doing things anew. How might writing play a role in our lives?

Drawing on the powers of the four elements, in this workshop we'll look for fresh inspirations in the ideas of sleeping and waking. As we gather again to write together, let's sharpen our awareness and reawaken our imaginative purpose.

Writing about real lives and experiences - your own, or someone else’s - is rewarding but also daunting. How do you make your story compelling, convincing and accurate? How do you fill the gaps? What if there’s too much information? How do you keep the reader reading, without the other real people in your story getting upset? Or does it matter if they are? What if the life you’re writing is longer ago? Or should you - as others might suggest - be writing it as a novel? The day also includes a Q&A session with publisher and editor, Richard Beswick, MD of Little, Brown & Abacus.

The element of Earth, identified with our experiences of the material world, brings characters and settings to life through an effective balance of description and action. This is one of a series of practical workshops designed for beginners as well as experienced writers looking for inspirations for their writing and fresh insights for their process. Earth Works follows Everyday Magic, Finding Your Fire and Water Ways, and we shall continue with Writing On Air (16 May), and The Four Elements of Editing (tbc June). Each workshop can be taken on its own.

Water is the element associated with emotions and the mysterious world of the unconscious. In this workshop we shall tap into memories, dreams, and the workings of our inner lives to bring greater feeling into our writing. This is one of a series of practical workshops designed for beginners as well as experienced writers looking for inspirations for their writing and fresh insights for their process. Water Ways follows Everyday Magic and Finding Your Fire, and we shall continue with Earth Works (21 March), Writing On Air (16 May), and The Four Elements of Editing (tbc June). Each workshop can be taken on its own.

Join us at Words Away for a masterclass led by the award-winning writer and teacher Alice Jolly. We’ll spend the day learning new skills and sampling different approaches to creating a dynamic scene. Discover how to give your scene purpose and structure through character and dialogue. Come along ready to experiment - the scene is the basic building block for so many projects and this practical masterclass should appeal to fiction writers as well as those writing for theatre and film. For experienced writers as well as beginners. We’ll end the day with a Q&A with Amy Winchester, Head of Publicity at Unbound.

This is one of four new workshops expanding upon the successful workshop Everyday Magic: The Four Elements of Creativity. Fire will be followed by Water (January), Earth (March), and Air (May). Each workshop can be taken alone, and will be of use to beginning or experienced writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Each day will also include a session with a special guest who will demonstrate how the craft and practices of different creative disciplines can bring new perspectives to the processes of writing. Joining us for Finding Your Fire is storyteller and theatre-maker Kate Beales, who will show us how techniques from the world of drama can invigorate our writing.

Would you like to add a spark of magic to your writing?

In this day-long workshop, we’ll energise our instincts as writers by working holistically with the four elements:

• Fire – to power our voices and strengthen our intention

• Water – to evoke feeling and connect with readers

• Earth – to embody all the senses with detail and action

• Air – to bring focus and structure to our stories

This workshop is designed for beginners in search of inspiration as well as experienced writers looking for fresh perspectives and new energy for their writing.

Led by an experienced editor, this day-long masterclass is designed to help writers develop the editorial intuition that will help them improve their works-in-progress. Using discussion, exercises and practical advice, it should be of interest to writers of fiction and narrative nonfiction who have either complete drafts or manuscripts in development. You’ll leave with fresh insights as well as plenty of resources and recommendations for new things to try out in your writing. The day will also include a Q&A on the working life of an editor with Faiza S Khan of Bloomsbury Publishing.

This day-long masterclass is designed for writers of fiction or narrative nonfiction who want to go deeper in their exploration of practical skills, with a particular emphasis on intuitive techniques for creating evocative writing and telling well-paced stories. Drawing on contemplative approaches to creativity (e.g., don’t grasp; be patient), we’ll use exercises, readings and discussion to experiment with new ways to energise and focus our writing. The day will also include a Q&A on book publicity with PR Alison Menzies.

***SOLD OUT***
This masterclass, led by a veteran editor, will look at ways to adapt your voice in writing for different purposes and different styles. In the morning we’ll cover a writer-friendly overview of grammar and syntax, and in the afternoon we’ll discuss specific close readings from a variety of genres, including contributions from your own reading and writing. Throughout the day there will be writing experiments and editing exercises to put some of these ideas into practice. We’ll end the day with an informal Q&A with Sarah Shrubb, Head of Hachette Audio.

In this masterclass we’ll look at intuitive ways to bring characters and settings to life in our stories. We’ll use selections of readings from a variety of genres, and put some of our ideas into practice with writing exercises. We’ll end the day with an informal Q&A with industry speaker Christina Macphail, International Business Development Manager at Agatha Christie Limited, who has extensive experience in sales and rights for both adult and children's books.

A Masterclass On Voice and Narrative Style: Finding your voice is one of the great myths of creative writing: you have a voice already! In this one-day masterclass we’ll use readings, discussion and practical exercises to harness the instinctive power of our natural speaking voices. By listening to your voice in this way you’ll create a strong and adaptable foundation for narrative style in your writing. During the masterclass you’ll also be given various tools and resources on voice and narrative style to take home with you. We'll end the day with an informal Q&A with literary agent Jenny Savill, who can answer your questions about agents and getting published.

A Masterclass On Plotting and Story For Writers: Plot is a verb, as well as a noun. In this masterclass we’ll think about plotting as an active practice of shaping the changes and conflicts in our stories. Through discussion and exercises, we’ll approach plot and story in relation to other aspects of craft, such as character, structure, and genre conventions. We'll also consider outlining and drafting as intuitive ways of digging deep into the symbolic forces that bring life and energy to our work. During the masterclass you’ll also be given various tools and resources on plotting to take home. We’ll end the day with an informal Q&A with Nick Ross, production director at Little, Brown, who’ll tell us about life behind the scenes at a publisher.

Led by Andrew Wille, an experienced editor, this workshop is designed to help writers improve their work-in-progress. Through discussion, exercises and practical advice, it will cover the following matters:

• Clarifying your intention and reading work as an editor 
• Craft and technique: focusing your content; choosing your narrative style; refining your voice
• Genre, theme, and writing for your readers
• Seeking and processing feedback
• Submitting your work for publication and thinking about self-publishing

This workshop should be of interest to writers of fiction and narrative non-fiction who have completed drafts or manuscripts in development.

Would you like to add a spark of magic to your writing? In this day-long workshop, we’ll energise our instincts as writers by working holistically with the four elements:

• Fire - to give our voices strength and purpose
• Water – to evoke feeling
• Earth – to embody all the senses with action and detail
• Air – to bring focus and structure to our stories

We’ll discuss a variety of inspirations and departure points, including fairy tales, poems, and memories, and in doing so summon new powers to free our intuition, and bring depth, texture, and balance to our writing.

For beginners in search of ideas as well as experienced writers looking for fresh perspectives. 

Words Away invites you to join Andrew Wille, book doctor and writing teacher, on a workshop at the London Bridge Hive.

In the workshop, we’ll use the four elements to free our intuition and bring depth, texture, and balance to our work. Memories, fairy tales, poetry, and the news: we’ll read, write, talk and listen, summoning up powers that will energise our writing:

• Fire - to give your voice strength and purpose
• Water – to evoke the right feeling
• Earth – to embody all the senses in action and detail
• Air – to bring focus and structure to your stories

Led by an experienced teacher and editor, should be helpful for beginners in search of inspiration as well as experienced writers looking for fresh perspectives.

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