Polish Your Piece - Retreat 15th-19th March 2012

This Spring, come and join us on a tutored WritingSpace retreat to clean up and a polish a piece of your writing.  Perhaps you have a short story that has run out of steam or a problem chapter you need some objective and expert advice on. This tutored retreat will help you in bringing a piece of writing to completion, and ready for submission to a competition, magazine or publisher. 

Over a long weekend, we’ll be offering six writers the opportunity to get structured feedback in one-to-one tutorials and group workshop sessions, along with dedicated writing time, on the beautiful island of Anglesey. 

The retreat will be tutored by Richard Skinner. Richard is the author of four novels. His first, 'The Red Dancer', was published in 2001 by Faber and has been translated into seven languages. A translation of his second, 'The Velvet Gentleman', was published in France in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Prix Livres & Musiques. For his third novel, 'The Darks', he was awarded an ACE Writers’ Award. He has written a writer’s handbook entitled Fiction Writing, which was published in 2009. His poetry collection, 'the light user scheme', will be published in 2013 by Smokestack. For many years, Richard has been an Associate Tutor at Goldsmiths College, London, where he teaches on the MA in Creative & Life Writing. He is Director of the Fiction Programme at the Faber Academy and a tutor on its six-month 'Writing a Novel' course.  Check out Richard's website here. 

Before the retreat:  you will need to send a sample of up to 5,000 words which Richard will read before you meet. 

On the retreat

On Thursday evening Richard will meet your for an initial mini tutorial. 

On Friday Richard will run a group workshop from 10am until 4pm, with an hour for lunch. The workshop will seek to cover key topics that can help you polish your prose, such as point of view, narrative structure, dialogue, character, editing and re-writing.

On Saturday you have free time to write and polish up your work.

On Sunday Richard will hold an hour long one to one meeting with you to discuss your writing in detail, your progress and the future development of your piece. In the evening you will have the opportunity to read out an excerpt from your piece and discuss it with the rest of the group.

 

The house is set among inspiring surroundings of fields and forests, with beach and coastal walks and amazing panoramic views across to Snowdonia.

If you want to make progress with a writing project this is the perfect place to escape distractions in an informal atmosphere for a few days.

Unplug the internet, put your e-mails on hold and hang up your mobile phone. 

The retreat is open to writers in all genres of fiction and at all levels of experience.  

All food will be provided – we ask you to help yourself to lunch and breakfast and prepare one evening meal with others.  (We will give you recipes to follow and also send you a booking form in advance so you can let us know if you have special dietary requirements).

The property is wheelchair accessible.

You will be expected to arrive between 5-6 pm on Thursday 15^th March and there will be initial tutorial meetings that evening. Check out is on Monday 19^th March by 10am.

Cost: £325 full board (excluding alcohol) – PLEASE NOTE THAT ROOMS ARE SHARED (twin rooms, single sex).  Nearest train station is BODORGAN – we recommend that you book your train tickets early to keep costs down.

To book, email: writingspaceuk@gmail.com