In 2011 we are running two exclusive creative writing courses at the watermill, with Sharon Kendrick in the Spring, and Jessica Hart in the Autumn.
There are a few details about this year's courses and tutors below and to learn even more, visit our Tutor profiles & itineraries section or just click the hotlink in the boxes below.
You can find out more about the cost of these courses as well as the booking procedures, by visiting our Where you stay & what it costs section for details.
Saturday 7 May to Saturday 14 May 2011
Sharon Kendrick
"Writing romance"
This is Sharon’s fourth visit to the watermill: “One of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. The mountains nearby are tall and green, streaked with a pure white, which looks like snow, but which is really the Carrara marble from which Michelangelo chiselled his David. How neat is that?”
Sharon has written 75 books for Harlequin Mills & Boon and regularly tops the Waldenbooks list in North America as well as selling well all over Europe, Asia and South America. Sharon will pass on the benefits of her vast experience in writing romantic fiction and her intimate knowledge of what publishers like Harlequin Mills & Boon are looking for in a romantic novel.
To learn more about Sharon and her course at the watermill, visit her Tutor profile & itinerary page
Saturday 24 September to Saturday 1 October 2011
Jessica Hart
"From the slush pile to the shelves: writing fiction that sells"
Jessica is an award-winning author of 55 romances and her course is aimed squarely at those wanting to write mass market fiction, and more particularly at those with a work already in progress. (As well as romance, Jessica is currently working on a mainstream 'time slip' novel, which is part historical novel, part ghost story, part romance and part psychological thriller, so she is writing across the genres!")
Her course is less about writing creatively than about structuring a story to give it the emotional punch it needs to grab an editor’s attention and appeal to readers around the world. The focus will be on writing romance, but the techniques you’ll be examining – hooks, tension, character, dialogue, plot and so on – are common to all forms of popular fiction. You’ll also be looking at the process of writing, from a glimmer of an idea (“Where do you get your ideas from?”) to polishing a manuscript for submission and selling your story.
This is Jessica’s second visit to the mill. She says of her last course: I had such a good time, it honestly didn’t feel like working. The watermill is a lovely old building in a beautiful place, and the weather was perfect, but for me, the best bit was listening to people talk about their stories, and playing around with ideas about how to make them work in the group. I found that really exciting and it was amazing how characters and situations started to come alive as we sparked ideas off each other.
"Some great stories began to take shape over the week, and I was quite puffed up with pride in them all by the end, although I don’t actually think it was much to do with me. It was about being with like-minded people in beautiful surroundings, with nothing to distract you but the sound of the river and the clanging of the church bell, no deadline beyond the next fabulous meal, and no responsibility beyond wondering if it was time to move into the shade or not.”
To learn more about Jessica and her course at the watermill, visit her Tutor profile & itinerary page
