Tag Archives: writing workshops

Foraging for Inspiration at the Flash Fiction Festival

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Owl carving and baby shoe by Judy Darley
The Flash Fiction Festival takes place from Friday 8th until Sunday 10th July, with real world events happening at Trinity College, Bristol, and six hybrid workshops (online as well as face-to-face) workshops occurring over the weekend.

There are some amazing flash fiction writers teaching over the weekend, including Kathy Fish, Nancy Stohlman, Vanessa Gebbie, Eltra Rhodes, K.M. Elkes and Susmita Bhattacharya.

I’m delighted to be leading a workshop on ‘Foraging for Inspiration’ at 8.45am on Sunday 10th July. Expect random word prompts and other stimuli to get your imagination whirring!

One of the questions I’m asked most is where I get ideas from. The truth is that inspiration can come from anywhere, if you’re open and ready to gather the ideas as they come.

As someone who is, in all honesty, easily bored, I’m constantly on the lookout for entertaining distractions that can convert into story fuel, from overheard conversations to momentarily misunderstood glimpses (the weirder the better), to objects that could be important to a character in a tale.

I publish weekly writing prompts on my SkyLightRain blog,and collect small found objects and images that lead to piece of narrative prose. In this workshop you will be provided with a variety of writing prompts and investigate ways you can combine different sources with your own unique experiences to build up an original story.

Suitable for beginners and up. I intend to take participants on a short stroll of the grounds to forage for inspiration, returning to the workshop room for half an hour or so for the writing exercises.

I’ll also be reading my story ‘How to Hook a Heart’ from the Freedom-themed National Flash Fiction Day Anthology 2022 on the Friday evening. Find the full festival programme here.

I hope to see you there!

Got an event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw my attention to? Send me an email at judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Time to rev up for the I AM Writing Festival

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Red ladybird on a red rosebud. Photo by Judy DarleyFormerly known as the Writers’ Weekend, (and before that Winchester Writers’ Festival), the I AM Writing Festival is a hybrid literary event with 65+ talks and workshops, some online and some in-person at the University of Winchester.

Aimed at budding writers keen to improve writing and editing skills, find inspiration, pitch to an agent or better understand the world of publishing, there are nine package prices available ranging from £37 for a single workshop to £597 for an Access All Areas pass.

The 11 live virtual talks take place 4th-8th June, with access to recordings available until midnight on 8th July 2022.

The in-person chapter of the festival is at the University of Winchester from 10th-12th June.

Speakers, workshop leaders and industry experts you can expect to encounter include:.

Keynote speakers: Philip Ardagh, Joanna Cannon, Lucy Diamond, Juliet Mushens and Adele Parks;

Workshop leaders: Rhoda Baxter, Helen Dennis, Karen Hamilton, Debbie Howells, Lauren James, David Litchfield, L.V Matthews, Nicola May, Jenny McLachlan, James Nicol, Neema Shah, Amy Sparkes, Bookouture, HarperCollins, Tracy Corderoy, Adrienne Dines, Simon Hall, Scott Pack and many, more.

Don’t miss the famous Agent121s!

The festival’s new organisers Elane and Sarah exclaim (presumably in unison):”Of course, we couldn’t have a festival without bringing #Agent121 to the fore – so we have a multitude of in-person literary agents/editors for you to seek feedback from and 20 to choose from online!”

Find full details here.

Got an event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw attention to? Send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Litro literary courses

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Pendine Sands, brittle star. Photo by Judy DarleyDid you know the marvellous folks at Litro Magazine have launched an assortment of online writing classes designed to boost your confidence and ensure it’s backed up by core writing skills?

From weekly one-hour online flash fiction workshops with Litro’s Flash Friday Editor Catherine McNamara to a ‘work in progress’ course for those who have a first draft of a novel or story, are stuck halfway through, or are beginners looking to shape or develop their next piece with Gabriel Gbadamosi, there are plenty of topics and writing disciplines to choose between.

The array of writing tutors is pretty impressive – look out for courses from Inés Gregori Labarta, Sarah Moore Fitzgerald and Maria Thomas, among others.

Find full details on the Litro Masterclasses website. You can also sign up for free writing tips.

Got an event, challenge, competition, new venture or call for submissions you’d like to draw my attention to? Send me an email at judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

A day of flash fiction

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Bristol Unicorn cr Judy DarleyLast Saturday, writers, readers and interested passersby got involved into the celebrations for National Flash Fiction Day 2016. I was part of the team organising events (led by Kevlin Henney and along with Freya Morris and Tino Prinzi) in my home city of Bristol, and had a blast!

The day kicked off at 10.30am outside Bristol Central Library for the first ever Bristol #FlashWalk. Writers from across the UK had submitted tales inspired by our harbour area, and some wonderful stories had been selected for actors Jo Butler and Tom Parker to perform.

We began with the spine-tingling The Harbour Festival by AA Abbott, read by Jo Butler under an ornate archway leading down to the waterfront. Tom followed this with Diane Tatlock’s Harbouring Friendship, and then we made our way to Millennium Square, where Jo performed Juliet Hagan’s Johnny Pencloud, a thought-provoking tale of the women left behind in the days of press-ganging.

Jo Butler reading Johnny Pencloud by Juliet Hagan pic cr Judy Darley

Jo Butler reading Johnny Pencloud by Juliet Hagan

My story Altitude followed, with both Tom and Jo taking a role to share the dizzying story of a lad encouraged to climb a crane by an adventurous and reckless lass, and then regretting his lust-driven choice!

Jo Butler and Tom Parker reading Altitude by Judy Darley

Jo Butler and Tom Parker reading Altitude by Judy Darley

On Pero’s Bridge by Holly Atkinson could take place nowhere other than actually on Pero’s Bridge, followed aptly by Ingrid Jendrzejewski’s emotive Your Name is Pero, telling the tale of the little slave boy the bridge is named for.

On the corner by the statue of John Cabot, Dolphins by Lucho Payne gave us a moment of light and hope.

Jo Butler reading A Thousand Words by Gemma Govier

Jo Butler reading A Thousand Words by Gemma Govier

Then came Gemma Govier’s intriguing A Thousand Words, followed by Lynn Love’s gorgeous Will There Be Pirates.

Tom Parker reading Will There Be Pirates by Lynn Love

Tom Parker reading Will There Be Pirates by Lynn Love

The morning wrapped up outside St Nick’s Market, with Mark Rutterford’s Singing Out Loud, leaving us with the satisfaction of a potential happy ending.

The sun shone throughout, the actors and writers were wonderful, and the audience well behaved – we even picked up a few more folks along the way!

Next came a free flash fiction writing workshop back at Bristol Central Library, where KM Elkes made us regard strawberries in a whole new light, and Alison Powell armed us to create extraordinary similes.

A Box of Stars Beneath the BedAt 7pm, events moved to At The Well for an evening of flash tales with the father of NFFD, Callum Kerr, and the launch of this year’s beautiful NFFD anthology, A Box of Stars Beneath The Bed.

Thirteen readers, masses of stories, and countless emotions! The orangutan story by KM Elkes still haunts me. A fabulously inspiring night to finish a truly splendid day.

Ooh, and throughout the day there was the #FlashFlood to enjoy. You can still drop by to read the tales at flashfloodjournal.blogspot.co.uk.

 

Capture the Scene – a writing workshop

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Sunday 21st October – 1pm-3pm

Find your inner author with this two-hour creative writing workshop at the end of Bristol Literature Festival.

Arnos Vale book tombEver been moved unexpectedly by the briefest of descriptions? From poetry to journalism, short stories to novels, less is almost always more. But this makes choosing the right words all the more important.

Whether you want to improve your fiction writing, produce copy that sells or simply learn to transform sights, sounds and impressions into evocative writing, Capture the Scene is for you!

Poet Joanna Butler and travel and fiction writer Judy Darley lead this two-hour writing workshop in the inspirational Arnos Vale to learn how to make your writing resonate.

Use all your senses to create a piece of writing inspired by the setting of the cemetery, drawing on the sense of timelessness as well as specific details in the landscape and on the tombstones. The workshop includes a short walk among the graves, so please bring sensible footwear and warm waterproof clothing.

The workshop will culminate in each writer producing a short piece of writing for possible inclusion in a future exhibition of work.

Places are limited, so book yours now. Tickets cost £5, with the full amount donated to registered charity Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust.

About the Tutors

Judy DarleyJudy Darley is a fiction writer and travel journalist. Previously her short stories have been published by literary magazines and anthologies including Riptide, Litro Magazine, The View From Here, ‘The Love of Looking’ and ‘Crab Lines from the Pier’. Two of her stories appear on the Arnos Vale Cemetery website. Her travel writing has appeared in magazines, on websites and in ‘1001 Retreats to Make Before You Die’, published by Penguin. Recent journeys include visits to Borneo, Italy, Iona, Slavonia, and Tunisia. Judy tweets at http://twitter.com/EssentialWriter

Joanna ButlerJoanna Butler is a writer and poet. She has a special interest in finding inspiration in different sites and has created and exhibited writing at The Bed Workshop, Bedminster, The Tobacco Factory, Bristol South Pool, Tate Modern and the archaelogical site of Contrebia Leucade in Spain. Her first poetry collection ‘This is our archaeology’ is out soon.

HOW TO BOOK

Buy your ticket online via Paypal at the Arnos Vale Cemetery website.  Alternatively visit the Gift Shop in the East Lodge building (to the left as you enter Arnos Vale through the main gates just off the Bath Road entrance) .  The Gift Shop is open daily from 10:00am-4:00pm or, if you want to purchase your tickets by phone please ring: 0117 971 9117.

For more information on this event please telephone 0117 9719711 or email bookings@arnosvale.org.uk