masterclasses
Every year we hold several one-day or two-day masterclasses to support our students’ writing practice.
Each student on the two-year programme has two masterclasses included in their course fee every year. The workshops are also available to writers outside the programme for a fee. Further details are below and booking is available on our Eventbrite page.
Managing Pace
10-4pm 4th April 2025 (Jubilee Library, Brighton)
Pace is a fundamental element of writing. When you read something well-paced, you just somehow know, because you’re pulled into the story and time passes quickly. On the other hand, you can feel the drag of it when something isn’t well-paced.
But pace is rather elusive. What actually is it, and how can you improve it in your own story?
Pace operates at every level of a piece of writing, from individual sentences to the whole book. As writers we need to be aware of when something we’ve written needs slowing down and lingering over, and when it needs speeding up. We often use pace instinctively, which is great when it works; when it doesn’t, we need to figure out why, and what to do about it.
This practical workshop will break pace down and explore techniques for using it more effectively in our writing: from sentence to paragraph to scene, and beyond.
The workshop tutor is Beth Miller.
If you’re a student one our programme and want to book a place, email Cathy Hayward
If you’re not on one of our courses, but want to attend, then book your place here.
Boosting Your Creativity
10-4pm 5th April (Jubilee Library, Brighton)
We often freeze at the vast space or the volume of the blank notebook or computer screen and doubt ourselves. In this workshop, we will look at ways to boost our creativity. We'll start by listening to how other writers and poets encounter the white page and look at ways to get the pen to release your stories, and get the keyboard tapping away. Then we'll discuss the Power Hour – getting the writing muscle working so that it becomes a habit, before moving on to explore how and what to write.
The workshop will be led by Roy McFarlane.
If you’re a student one our programme and want to book a place, email Cathy Hayward
If you’re not on one of our courses, but want to attend, then book your place here.
Creating Memorable Characters
11-5pm 6th April (Jubilee Library, Brighton)
When we think of great works of fiction – and our favourite books – it tends to be the characters that linger long after the intricacies of plot have faded: Nazneen Ahmed, Scrooge, Elizabeth Bennet, Eleanor Oliphant, Marx Watanabe, Baby Kochamma and so on.
What is it that makes these characters so unforgettable? They’re not all good, or likeable. How do we build characters readers care about? In this workshop we will be looking at some of the different ways to find our characters, how to make them credible and complex, and the tools we have to show them to our readers.
The workshop will be led by Laura Wilkinson.
If you’re a student one our programme and want to book a place, email Cathy Hayward
If you’re not on one of our courses, but want to attend, then book your place here.
Placemaking – creating great settings
10-4pm 12th April (online)
This workshop aims to develop the way you look at the nature of landscape and setting and help you understand how they can contribute to your writing as elements of narrative. We shall start by looking at how artists, filmmakers, photographers and landscape architects create settings that are charged, layered, dynamic and enigmatic. We’ll follow this with practical work on how real places can suggest ideas for a story. Then, with reference to selected texts and through writing exercises we’ll explore how settings and landscape influence both character and action. Finally, I’d like you to bring in a photograph of a place that resonates deeply with you, either positively or negatively and we shall use them as a tool for writing in response to the emotional content of a space.
The workshop will be led by Rosie Chard.
If you’re a student one our programme and want to book a place, email Cathy Hayward
If you’re not on one of our courses, but want to attend, then book your place here
Imagery, Symbolism and Metaphor in Prose
10-4pm 13th April (online)
How do you know when to put a waterfall in your short story or novel? This masterclass aims to improve your use of symbolism in fiction as well as exploring when to use and restrict imagery. We'll contrast stylistically rich writing with that which is relatively economical but still uses symbolism. In addition, we'll explore linking metaphors to themes and using photographs as tools for writing. No preparatory reading is necessary.
The workshop will be led by John McCullough.
If you’re a student one our programme and want to book a place, email Cathy Hayward
If you’re not on one of our courses, but want to attend, then book your place here.
Life Writing and Imagination – Hannah Vincent
10-4pm 13th June Kemptown Bookshop, Brighton
What role does the imagination play when we are writing about lived experience? If we agree that the life-writer’s task isn’t simply to record events but to write about them in a way that will engage our reader in character, setting and story, then we need to bring our imagination to the work.
Evoking remembered people or conversations or happenings in a vivid way in our writing can feel conflicting for life-writers so during this masterclass (mistressclass!) we’ll discuss ethical considerations and through a combination of in-class writing exercises and the study of extracts from published texts, we’ll explore techniques to enable us to tell our stories creatively and with integrity.
The session will be run by Hannah Vincent. Click here to book your place.
Timeless Tales : making meaning of myths and writing new ones.
10-4pm 14th June Jubilee Library, Brighton
Tales – folk, fairy and epic – have a timeless quality. They are islands of memory and insight if we give them time to talk to us. The first half of this masterclass will let us look at how memory works and the place of imagination; making meaning of myths. We will work with myths from selected cultures, about women and seasons. While myths are universal, what makes them distinctive and can we recall local ones?
The second half of this masterclass is to engage in writing. We will work with metaphor and its power in creative writing with our unique imagination and signature. Please bring, wear or carry an object that is precious to you to the masterclass.
The session will be run by Vayu Naidu. Click here to book your place.
Writing Crime
11-5pm 15th June Jubilee Library, Brighton
This masterclass will set you firmly on your way to being a crime writer. Your tutor – a former police chief superintendent and now crime writer – will guide you through the nature of the genre and its sub genre, understanding the world of crime, villainy and policing, then we will get on to the actual writing. We will work through how to develop gripping characters, settings, how to plot, write authentic dialogue, and craft twists, arcs and endings. Come prepared for a blistering day and armed with all the questions you’ve always wanted to ask someone who’s done it for real and now makes it up for fiction.
The session will be run by Graham Bartlett. Click here to book your place.
Exploring Experimental Fiction
10-4pm 28th June online
Moving away from tried-and-tested approaches to structure and technique - pushing and blurring the boundaries of your prose - can make you a better writer. This workshop uses examples from innovators Robert Walser, Virginia Woolf, Ann Quin, Diane Williams and David Rose to look at devices such as stream of consciousness, abstraction, and the erasure of text. Running through the workshop will be a real-time exercise designed to help you invigorate your prose and produce fresh and vital work.
The workshop will be run by Charlie Hill. Click here to book your place.
Writing Short Stories
10-4pm 29th June online
This workshop will focus specifically on the short story form. We will look in detail at works by masters of the short story and cover the essential dramatic stages within this particular genre of fiction writing. We’ll discuss the work of German novelist Gustav Freytag and his popular ‘Pyramid’ theory of narrative structure. Students will plan their own short stories based on our discussions of this structural framework, and then share their work with the rest of the group. We’ll discuss each of these in turn, and work on honing that crucial and too often neglected skill in short story writing, planning. Once we are happy with our plans, we’ll turn to short, precise writing activities. We’ll look analytically at the sentences of those short story masters in order to determine what exactly it is about them that propels us, the reader, through the narrative… Then we’ll work on crafting dynamic, magical sentences of our own!
The masterclass will be run by Henry Tydeman. Click here to book your place.