As pretty as it was to see London under a blanket of snow last week, I was pleased that the Beast From The East made a timely exit for our recent salon: Process and Practice: Exploring Poetry and Prose with Blake Morrison.
Read moreWriting Literary Thrillers and Creating Compulsive Plots with Louise Doughty
Last Monday’s salon with best-selling author, Louise Doughty, fell on a bitterly cold evening. I’d been lucky enough to do a masterclass with Louise last year and was looking forward to meeting her again, especially in light of our topic: How To Write Literary Thrillers and Create Compulsive Plots.
Read moreHow Writers And Agents Work Together
It might have been ‘Blue Monday', but we had a fantastic start to the Words Away year earlier this week with a sold-out salon, How Writers and Agents Work Together, with our guest, literary agent, Jo Unwin. It was our most popular salon to date and it began with a lovely sense of anticipation and excitement amongst the audience.
Read moreNew Year, New Pup, New Salons
I hope you had a lovely festive season or at least manage to survive it! There’s been no time for New Year resolutions here at Words Away Central as life has been turned upside down by the arrival of our new golden retriever puppy, Alfie. I’m going to be hunkering down for the next few weeks while Alfie settles in.
Read morePoetry for Prose Writers with Maura Dooley
What can a prose writer learn from thinking like a poet? The poet employs metaphor, simile, sound, rhythm and precision of language to create intensity, mood and tone. In our salon with the poet Maura Dooley we discussed how these elements can be of service to the prose writer too...
Read moreEveryday Magic: The Four Elements of Creativity Workshop & Other Adventures
I’m really looking forward to Monday 4th December, and our salon at the Tea House Theatre, Poetry for Prose Writers with Maura Dooley - it’s going to be a lovely way to finish the year as we gallop toward Christmas and 2018. Before we part ways for the festive season, I wanted to cast a glance back over the last month with a mini-roundup of what’s been happening - if only to figure out where on earth the last few weeks have gone.
Read moreShort Or Long? Form In Fiction with Tessa Hadley
‘Short or Long? That is the question,’ tweeted a member of the audience as we gathered at the Tea House last Monday night for a salon with the acclaimed novelist and short story writer, Tessa Hadley. Outside, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens was shrouded in the autumn dark but inside the cafe there was a seasonal sparkle and cosy atmosphere as the last of the audience arrived.
Read moreWriting Fiction Using Real Characters With Jill Dawson
Jill Dawson's takeaway message for writers: What does fiction know or do that other art forms don’t know or offer? Fiction has it’s own magic. It’s an invitation between two imaginations - the writer and the reader. We turn to fiction for something that can’t be answered in other ways, to ‘feel something’.
Read moreWords From A Sunburnt Country
I found myself recently exploring the drought-ridden and all but deserted gold rush towns of western NSW. Chasing ghosts and imagining days gone by felt like a timely adventure ahead of next week’s salon, Writing Fiction Using Real Characters with the award-winning writer Jill Dawson.
Read moreImagining and Developing Characters with Monica Ali
Words Away has been up and running for a year now and so I was delighted to begin our new autumn season on Monday night with a sell-out salon: Imagining and Developing Characters with guest writer, Monica Ali.
Read moreEveryday Magic: The Four Elements of Creativity
I am really excited to be embarking on a new collaboration with book doctor and writing teacher, Andrew Wille. On the 18th November we have a workshop planned: Everyday Magic: The Four Elements of Creativity, We've found a great venue too, London Bridge Hive, right in the heart of SE1, two minutes walk from London Bridge Station. With a date and a venue arranged, I decided to interview Andrew about the workshop and how to add a spark of magic to your writing.
Read moreNew Salons: Autumn 2017
I'm writing this in Devon. The sun is shining, today anyhow, and the sea is a glittering backdrop. Sailing boats are arriving for a regatta and we are surrounded by friends. I'm the last person to wish away August but I'm very excited about our new Autumn salons, now live on the website and taking bookings. Over the next few months Emma and I will be chatting about a variety of writing topics with Monica Ali, Jill Dawson, Tessa Hadley and Maura Dooley.
Read moreA Word Factory Masterclass with Louise Doughty
How do you work out if your idea is a short story or a novel? You begin writing in one form only to discover that your work has mutated into something else entirely. I attended an excellent masterclass recently, Where The Narrative Leads, with Louise Doughty, run by the Word Factory. Who better to help you work out if your idea can go the distance or is destined to crystallise into a short story than with an award-winning novelist, screenwriter and short story writer?
Read moreBe Your Own Writing Coach With Jacqui Lofthouse
What a lovely evening for the last of our first year of salons. I'd been thinking about the languid days looming and how there might be some time at last to do lots of writing. I arrived at the Tea House keen to meet our guest, novelist and professional life coach, Jaqui Lofthouse, and to hear what she might say about how to get going and keep going!
Read moreWorld Building: Bringing Characters and Places Alive with Claire Scobie
Last Monday was one of those days...Worried about being on time for our salon with Claire Scobie, I'd barrelled home after a drawn out appointment, gathered up my stuff and slapped on some lipstick without the aid of a mirror (always a mistake). Rain coat on, I cantered to the bus stop and flagged down a bus just as the heavens cracked open. Half way to Vauxhall I realised I'd left behind my laptop, brolly and current read...
Read moreExploring Creative Non-Fiction with Francis Spufford
Summer finally arrived in London last Monday evening, just in time for our salon with Francis Spufford. My inner Australian felt quite at home, stewing alongside fellow travellers in the tropical micro-climate of the 176 upper deck, bound for Vauxhall. Everyone seemed to be smiling for a change. I felt very smiley too. The night ahead bulged with writerly promise...
Read moreWriting For Children and Young Adults with Sara Grant
I always feel a little nervous and excited before a Words Away salon. Striding through Vauxhall Gardens the other night, en route to our recent event with Sara Grant, I saw a group of men with big muscles engaged in a tug-o-war. They even had a coach shouting instructions on the sidelines. I stopped to watch for a minute and wondered if I could wrangle a useful metaphor out of the encounter for the blog. A few minutes later I arrived at our venue, the Tea House Cafe, to find a Cornish Crabber beached beside the outdoor furniture. Metaphors were popping up all over the place! Or perhaps they were omens. Would tonight be a struggle or smooth sailing?
Read moreBy Hook Or By Crook, Or Audio Book
Thinking ahead to our Writing for Children and Young Adults salon with Sara Grant, I had a chat this morning with my eighteen year old daughter. She’s child number three, the baby of the family - still in the nest but only just. Knee deep in revision for A2 exams later this summer, she was only too glad to take a break and talk about the books she loved at various stages of her life and why.
Read moreWriting Historical Fiction with Essie Fox
I had a moment of confusion last Monday night, wondering if it’s too soon to ditch my heavy winter jacket and scarf. So what a pleasure it was, to step out in the early evening with the sun shining. I cut through Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to find Tea House customers once again enjoying afternoon tea outside. What difference a month makes! Maybe I imagined it, but I’m sure everyone arrived smiling for our Writing Historical Fiction salon. Then again, maybe that was all down to our guest writer, Essie Fox.
Read moreUnder A Different Sun
I followed the ghost of myself all around town, pointing out places and telling stories about the long last past to my increasingly disinterested family. There was something elemental and poignant about revisiting the haunts of my childhood - swimming in the same ocean, listening to the boom of the surf from bed at night.
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