Birmingham Writers’ Group

In association with Birmingham Museums Trust, Pow-Wow is offering a series of writing workshops during 2013,
combining practical, constructive advice, discussion and exercises on various aspects of the art of writing, with opportunities to discover and be inspired
by Birmingham’s treasures: the city’s historic buildings, beautiful artworks and fascinating artefacts.

To ensure that participants get individual attention and support, places for each workshop are strictly limited.

Book early to avoid disappointment! (click on the title of the workshop to book tickets)

Getting your novel off the ground

Museum Collections Centre

25th May, 10-4pm, £30

If you have always wanted to write a novel, but can’t get started, or have tried but ground
to a halt, then this is the workshop for you. We will be startled and stimulated by the extraordinary Aladdin’s Cave which is the Museum Collections
Centre. Then we will study the process of novel writing: its different stages, how to find the time, how to keep going when it gets difficult, how to avoid
the traps where novels sink and die. You will leave with a personalised project plan for writing your own novel, and a head full of ideas and enthusiasm.

Plot and Structure

Weoley Castle

22nd June, 12.30-4pm, £20

Do you have great story ideas, but struggle to pull them together into a coherent narrative?

See how archaeologists use imagination and observation to transform the ruins of Weoley Castle into a lively mediaeval home, then learn how to
build on your own foundations, and create a sturdy, watertight narrativestructure.

Writing historical fiction

Blakesley Hall

6th July, 12.30-4pm, £20

Historical fiction has never been more popular, but writing it well brings unique challenges.

A Tudor family home will be our time machine as we look at characterisation across eras and cultures, the pleasures and perils of research, and the
sometimes conflicting demands of authenticity and narrative.

Revision and editing

Aston Hall
Date 20th July, 12.30-4pm, £20

“Books aren’t written, they’re rewritten.” For writers who have finished, or are close to
finishing, a first draft, and want to learn the critical skills that will raise
their work to the next level. We will look at how Aston Hall has been built and
rebuilt over the years, and discuss the principles, challenges and rewards of perfecting your work.

Getting Published

Soho House

Date 3rd August, 12.30-4pm, £20

How do you submit your work for publication? What mistakes will earn instant rejection?
What are publishers and agents looking for? Do you need an agent, or even a
publisher? In the home of an entrepreneur who changed the world, we will
consider how writers engage with the business of publishing in the 21st
century, and what they can do for themselves to reach readers.

Writing Fantasy Fiction (guest speaker: Stan
Nicholls)

Sarehole Mill

17th August, 12.30-4pm, £25

In the setting which inspired Tolkien, we will look at the importance of world building, the fine
line between genre expectation and cliche, and how fantasy fiction relates to
and comments on the real world. With guest speaker Stan Nicholls, award winning,
million selling author of the Orcs series.

Here are some details about the Winchester Writers’ Conference Competitions:

The competitions include Writing for Children, the Short Story, the Shorter Short Story, Poetry,
Haiku, Feature Articles, Slim Volume, Small Edition, Crime Fiction,
Lifewriting, Retirement, The First Three Pages of the Novel, Sustainability of
the Environment and the Young Writers Poetry Competition. Something for Everyone!

The entries must be original and unpublished work, written by one author, submitted using a
pseudonym and must not have won an award in any previous competition.
Self-published work is acceptable. Copyright remains with the author. The
deadline is 24 May, 2013 for all competitions, except the Young Writers’ Poetry
Competition, which has a deadline of 19 July. Sixty-three prizes and five
trophies will be awarded at the Writers’ Awards Ceremony on June 22^nd,
during the 33^rd Winchester Writers’ Conference. In addition, the
winner of each competition will be published in the Winchester Writers’
Conference anthology,The Best of 2013, published in the autumn. For the
competition booklet, please follow this link: http://www.writersconference.co.uk/ or
contact us for a printed copy.

On the website, please see the programme for the 33^rd Winchester Writers’ Conference, 21 –
23 June, followed by In-Depth Workshops on 24 and 25 June. Seventy three
authors, literary agents, commissioning editors, poets, screenwriters and
industry specialists will be giving 15 workshops, 14 Masters’ Courses, 55 Talks
and over 700 one-to-one appointments. Plenary speakers are Julian and Emma
Fellowes, of Downton Abbey fame. Their niece, Jessica Fellowes, will present
the after-dinner talk Saturday evening,Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey.
This year, groups of eight or more registering together receive a 20% discount!
To view both the full conference programme and competition booklet, please
follow this link: http://www.writersconference.co.uk/

Looking forward to welcoming you!

Write Time Retreats are one-day events for writers who just can’t seem to find the time to
write. On a monthly basis they can bring their ideas and their laptops to The
Moseley Exchange where they’ll be provided with a
desk, a power socket, hot drinks, lunch and most importantly peace and quiet!
There are no writing lessons and participants aren’t required to share their
work but with no distractions writers should leave at the end of the day
finding that they have written – a lot! Write Time Retreats cost £30.00 for the
day with lunch and hot drinks provided. The next two events are happening on Saturday
23rd March and Sunday 21st April 2013.

To find out more and to book your place visit http://writetimebham.wordpress.com/ or contact Karen at writetimebham@gmail.com

Hello. My name is Tim Wright and I am involved with Big
Script; a group of stage and screen writers. We have a new show called
‘Awakening’ which will be performed at Blue Orange Theatre at the end of March,
and here is the webpage:

http://www.blueorangetheatre.co.uk/whatsonawakening.htm

If you have an interest in playwriting, this would be a
great opportunity for you to meet a wide variety of playwrights and gain a good
insight into the craft of playwriting, and also the nuts and bolts of putting
on a show. The show itself contains humour, monologue, existential inquiry, and
(in all seriousness) extremely challenging adult themes. In short, something
for everyone. A warm welcome is guaranteed.

Meet Cath Staincliffe, creator of ITV’s hit series, Blue Murder, starring
Caroline Quentin as DCI Janine Lewis. Cath will talk about a life writing
crime, the differences between writing novels and writing for television and
radio and read from her latest work. Cath’s talk will be followed by a Q&A
session and book signing.

Cath is an established novelist
and radio playwright, she was short listed for the Crime Writers
Association’s best first novel award and the Dagger in the Library and in 2012
won the CWA short story dagger. Her newest novel due out in April, Blink of An Eye, looks at a story of ordinary
people caught up in the criminal justice system. Cath has also been commissioned
to write a trio of books based on the popular ITV cop-show Scott & Bailey. The first of these Dead
to Me is a prequel to the TV series.
www.cathstaincliffe.co.uk

Follow Cath on Twitter @CathStaincliffe

Venue:
Spondon Library

Cost: £4 including light refreshments. Booking essential.

Please book at any Derby city library, for more information telephone 01332 662708 or email spondon.library@derby.gov.uk

One day creative writing workshop
Writing competitions are a fabulous outlet for short stories,
potentially leading to prizes, contracts and an enhanced CV. But what do judges
look for? How can you tailor your work for a chance of success? Where can you
find information on upcoming competitions? Sue Moorcroft, head judge for the
Writers’ Forum Fiction Competition, has put together this lively workshop to
help you find your way of writing to win. The day will include an explanation
of short story structure and how to use it, getting your point across, theme,
characterisation, eye-catching openings and satisfying endings. Sue will
explain what a hook is and why you need one and the other ingredients for a
first page to encourage the judges to read on. The short story form is a gem -
why not learn to polish yours?

As well as being an award winning novelist, Sue Moorcroft writes short stories, serials, articles, courses,
writing ‘how to’, is the head judge for Writers’ Forum fiction competition and a creative writing tutor. Her novel Love & Freedom won the Best Romantic Read Award 2011
and she’s a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner.

Website www.suemoorcroft.com,
blog http://suemoorcroft.wordpress.com/. Follow sue
on Facebook sue.moorcroft.3 and Twitter @suemoorcroft.

Venue: Mackworth Library, Prince
Charles Avenue, Mackworth, Derby DE22 4BG.

Cost: £25, booking essential, includes tea and coffee throughout the day

To book a place or for more information telephone 01332 642410 or email mackworth.library@derby.gov.uk

One day creative writing workshop

A novel is a complex undertaking and sometimes it can be hard to
see the wood for the trees. This workshop will help those who are planning,
writing or revising a novel to take a constructive overview. By examining the
elements that all stories have in common, we will look at narrative as a
journey and strengthen structure. We will explore character archetypes, such as
heroes, mentors, gatekeepers and shape-shifters, and identify how they apply in
your own work. A range of approaches to developing work will be discussed,
including outlines, synopses and diagrams.

Judith Allnatt is an acclaimed short story writer and novelist. Her latest
novel, The Poet’s Wife, was shortlisted for the East Midlands Book Award
and her first novel, A Mile of River, was selected as Simon Mayo’s Book
of the Month on Radio 5 Live and was shortlisted for the Portico Prize for
Literature. Short stories have featured in the Bridport
Prize Anthology, the Commonwealth Short Story Awards, and on BBC Radio 4. Judith lectures on creative writing at various universities
and freelance and is currently working on her third novel, to be published by
Harper Collins in 2014.

Venue: Mickleover Library, Holly End Road,
Mickleover, Derby DE3 0EA

Cost: £25, booking essential, includes tea and coffee throughout the day

To book a place or for more information telephone 01332 718926 or email mickleover.library@derby.gov.uk

James Brogden is a writer of Urban Fantasy/Horror novels. His first, “The Narrows”, was published in 2011 by Snow Books.

He will talk about his career so far, his new book and how he managed to get published.

PLACE: Briar Rose Hotel, Bennett’s Hill

TIME: Doors open at 7.30 pm for an 8pm start.

http://www.birminghamsfgroup.org.uk/

Admission : £4 non-members, £3 members

Saturday 11 May 2013, 10am to 3.45pm: Writing Fiction for Women’s
Magazines with Joanna Barnden

One day creative writing workshop

Looking to write short stories? Looking to SELL them? This
commercially focused one-day workshop will help you develop your writing style
to create sharp, entertaining and saleable stories for the women’s magazines.
Led by widely-published short story writer Joanna Barnden, this friendly but
purposeful course will take you through all the basics of honing your stories
and offer plenty of advice and tips on how to catch an editor’s attention and
see your work in print.
Newly turned 40, Joanna hopes she’s in the prime of her writing
life! With two children and two stepchildren all safely in education she is
free to write more or less full time. She has an M.A. in English Lit from
Cambridge University, lectures in creative writing for the Open University, and
has been writing commercially for 10 years.
Published regularly in Women’s Weekly, Take a Break, My Weekly,
People’s Friend and Yours, Joanna has had over 150 stories and
serials published. One of her historical serials, Running Against the Tide,
has been taken up as a novel and will be published by Robert Hale in January
2013. Although Joanna has moved towards longer fiction in recent years, short
stories are still her passion and a vital part of her writing income. Having
built her portfolio slowly, she firmly believes that she could have
dramatically shortened the time it has taken her to achieve her current success
with a bit more creative and commercial know-how. These are what she aims
to provide on this course.

Venue: Mickleover Library, Holly End Road, Mickleover, Derby DE3
0EA

Cost: £25, booking essential, includes tea and coffee throughout the day

To book a place or for more information telephone 01332 718926 or email mickleover.library@derby.gov.uk

The Nottingham Festival of Words is looking for volunteers who’d like to help, either during the Festival or in the run-up to it. Volunteering is a great way of getting involved in the literary scene in Nottingham, meeting other people, and developing skills in areas like event organisation, media, and marketing. You’ll also be playing an important role in bringing a new and much needed Festival to the city, one which we hope to establish as a key event in the region’s arts calendar.
If you’re interested, get in touch with Robin Vaughan-Williams, the Nottingham Writers’ Studio Develoment Director, who will send you further information about volunteering: admin@nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk, 0115 959 7947.

For more information on the festival, visit the website at nottwords.org.uk