The Module

Please note: this is not a student's course. We will not be learning punctuation, grammar, plot construction and dialogue, you can learn that anywhere. This is a workshop for English Language writers of any standard that will hopefully take a wide, varied and talented group of would-be authors who are full of ideas but have no real understanding (yet) of how to approach the professional world-wide market place.

By definition, as with any creative workshop, we are likely to find ourselves disappearing off in new creative and interesting directions and so, knowing this in advance, it is difficult to imagine what to expect from such a group, which is exactly how it should be with creative writing. But, as this workshop is geared to the more 'advanced' writer, we do at least need to have some structure if we are to make any meaningful progress. So, the Modules published below are only guidelines and the important areas we will need to cover. But we could end up anywhere and I look forward to that.

 


Module 1: So you think you want to be a writer?

What have you got to write about and who will want to read it? Even unpublished writers can call themselves a writer if they are actually writing. What are you doing, what interests you, do you want to spend more time agonising over something you are already working on or are you prepared to drop it and start looking for new, more commercial ideas. This module examines your comitment to being a writer and your discipline to write. Are you wasting your time or are you onto something?

None of you will be wasting your time if you have come this far. The character of a writer, the histories of other well-known writers, their work ethic and what motivates them. There will be short home assignment which will demonstrate the commitment, discipline and craft you will need to have to become a published writer. It is not a test!

Module 2: Where to begin.

The blank page syndrome is the one that every writer faces every time they sit at their tables. Feature writers and article writers suffer this every time they need to submit a new piece. What will it be about, who will publish it. Book writers suffer this agony not only on a daily basis but from hour to hour, minute to minute. After every chapter, paragraph and line, the blank page looms and stretches, in paper terms, from here to Waterfront. How to embrace your blank page, love her, nurture her, look forward to seeing her every morning, the bastard that she is - the lover she needs to become. There will be short home assignment which will demonstrate the blank page syndrome and how to overcome it every day.

Module 3: Non Fiction.

Whilst everybody wants to be J.K. Rowling, the world already has one. And there are only a few Dan Brown's going around. Fiction may be some writer's prime motivation, everybody feels they have a story to tell. But it is usually semi-autobiographical, or even fully autobiographical, and unless you are Nelson Mandela few will have a truly interesting tale to tell for an international market. However, one good, original, simple, easy to research non-fiction subject, that you don't have to be an expert on to begin with, can surprise everybody.

Just ask Lynne Truss, the sports journalist, whose gift book about punctuating the English Language has sold three million copies worldwide, and counting. Whilst everybody else was still labouring over their precious masterpiece, she was busy buying her own island. There will be a home assignment that will help you form several brand new book ideas.

Module 4: Fiction.

The seminal work. The debut book that is going to catapult us to the top of the best-seller lists in both the UK and America, if only we could get it finished and find an agent who will actually read it. Here we will be working on creative writing for the mass market, use of language, how to control your writing and an awareness of your audience. Believe it or not, it is at this time, when no-body has ever read or even heard of you that you need to be thinking about your audience.

So - you thought this book writing was easy hey? There will be a non-compulsory assignment for all the fiction writers and a compulsory assignment for the non-fiction writers with an honest professional assessment. Strangers do not lean over your new born and exclaim 'my god what an ugly baby.' Professional publishers and agents do!

Module 5: Commercial writing. Make money immediately.

There are many ways to make money as a freelance writer and so many places of submitting feature articles and news items that we will not have time to cover them all in this module. But we will be learning how to target our publications, narrow them down and increase our opportunities. Writing for business and trade magazines can earn vast amounts of income because no-body else really wants to do it and the central feature of business magazines is their lazy editors. They have column inches to fill, do it for them.

A well written, well researched one thousand word feature on a new crane gearbox will be snapped up by Crane Gearbox Monthly, if there is such a thing. Big business will always pay for a well written feature about their company or a case study on their latest build project. They can use that in their marketing and you can submit to the trade press. It works and we will be learning all of this in the Commercial Module. A short home assignment will be provided.

Module 6: Targeting your market

By now we should have a good idea of where this workshop is taking us. We will have developed new ideas, polished up old ones and will have learned how the publishing industry works, what it is looking for in an author, what sells, where we are wasting our time and who we should be alerting to our polished, well-presented existence as a writer. This is historically the hardest part for any writer, despite the blank page bitch, because creative people rarely fully understand the business end of the process.

And that's why we have those delightful agents. They should understand how to fully target your work. But, more importantly, so should we. There will be a home assignment which will not, for the first time, include any writing. But, it is not a week off.

Module 7: Preparing and presenting your work for sale.

Because that is exactly what it is. For Sale! Forget about the beautifully crafted piece of work you have laboured over and loved since the day you first sat in front of that blank page and gave birth to it. And forget too about those formative days when things started making sense in front of you for the first time and then the energy arrived in spades. None of that matters any more, we are not holding our masterpiece, we have a product to sell and, as a writer or artist, you are your own product.

If it is not sold then you are an amateur writer and, whilst there is nothing wrong with that, we all know what we would prefer to be. A paid professional. A take home assignment on how to present a manuscript will be given. By this time it should only take ten minutes.

Module 8: It's submission time.

This is where we all take a deep breath, believe in what we have done and start submitting our work for publication. By now it could be anything, a novel, non fiction, article for Gardener's World or Motorsport Monthly. It doesn't matter which, as long as we get our targets right. At this stage the best of the book manuscripts will be submitted to my own agents and publishers in both London and New York and they will be considered for publication.

By now we will have a professionally produced story synopsis and sample chapters ready to follow on. There are no guarantees here, except that they will be read by top of the industry professionals. And what an opportunity that is. After the submissions, we all go off down to the pub for the afternoon, like all good writers should.
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