In this practical workshop, Sarah (who has written novels for both adults and children) will teach students techniques to get their writing flowing, as well as concrete, practical tools to create narrative tension and to deepen character. She explains how students can write ‘scene’ to create immediacy for the reader and to show rather then tell. Most students write in summary and find it a revelation to learn about writing in scene. She shows slides with examples from others’ writing, and illustrates with anecdotes from her own writing experience. She gets the students writing straight away, and they’ll do lots of writing throughout the workshop.

This workshop is targeted at stage 5 and 6 and also suitable for keen and focused stage 4 students.

Topics covered include: Free-writing as a brainstorming tool and fast, effective way to write a first draft; fleshing out character using free-written character histories; when to show and when to tell; using scene to ‘show’ and create immediacy; writing a sensory brainstorm to add effective detail to scene; student Q and A.