In this series of six online workshops, we’re going to read some gorgeous poetry chapbooks and learn how to assemble them. Week by week, we’ll experiment with imagery, cadence, form, rhyme, free verse, space on the page and prose poetry, considering how poems resonate and connect. This course takes place over six sessions on Zoom on Thursday evenings. By the end, you’ll have completed a chapbook which will automatically be in the running for publication by Inkfish Press. Each workshop session will consist of in-class exercises, periods of discussion and analysis, and time for sharing the work we’re writing. Simple homework assignments along the way will help you develop your chapbook.

During this course, you will learn how to:

• Embrace different approaches to composition.
• Grow confident writing in a range of forms.
• Draw from the poetry you love in your writing.
• Structure a compelling poetry chapbook.
• Make your work tight and taut by editing.

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• What makes a good chapbook?
• Different themes, structures and approaches.
• Finding narratives and resonances.

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• Read poems in a range of verse forms.
• Redraft free verse to sonnet to prose poem.
• Whose book is this? Find the voice of your poems.

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• How do poems in published chapbooks connect?
• Using verbal and thematic repetition to structure.
• Locating connecting narrative strands.

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• Finding the resonances between your poems.
• Creating ‘stepping stones’ through imagery.
• Building a series or sequence.

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• Use space on the page with each poem.
• Use the space between poems to create subtext.
• Using negative space visually and imaginatively.

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• How to choose the best poems for your chapbook.
• What to look for when editing your poems.
• Questions for current and future projects.

In this series of six online workshops, we’re going to learn to write memoir, autofiction, travel writing and creative nonfiction flash pieces. Week by week, we’ll draw on personal experiences in a friendly and relaxed webinar atmosphere and complete two great pieces.

• Read great examples of memoir and creative nonfiction
• Learn to draw on the events and emotions of your life
• Use form creatively to stitch together pieces of life writing

Sunday 4 May 2025, 10-12am BST

Whether you’re starting from scratch, picking a project back up that you began some time ago or just interested in life writing in general, this is an event for you in which we will explore how to:

• • Use memory to build story and emotion.

  • Craft a creative nonfiction flash piece.

  • Build up your writing confidence and portfolio.

Sunday 11 May 2025, 10-12am BST

Turn your memories and observations of real people into three-dimensional characters and locate the heart of your nonfiction pieces. In this reflective, productive workshop, you’ll learn to:

• • • Write from real life ethically.

    • Create psychological depth.

    • Make readers care about your characters.

Sunday 18 May 2025, 10-12am BST

Learn to recapture vivid details of your travel experiences, using specific and dynamic details to launch readers on an exciting journey of discovery by:

• • Using photographs to worldbuild.

  • Freewriting remembered journeys.

  • Writing people, place and language.

Sunday 25 May 2025, 10-12am BST

Plotting can be a challenge in life writing, where the linear drive of remembered events often dominates. We will work our way through this problem by embracing innovative structures and exploring:

• The potential of short form fiction.

• The compelling structure of memoir-in-flash.

• Creative interweaving of timelines.

Sunday 1 June 2025, 10-12am BST

The world is full of amazing stories, long past and up-to-the-minute. In this workshop, we will learn to write the lives of others carefully and responsibly. Whether we’re writing historical nonfiction pieces or true crime, we will:

• Find great ways to research our writing.

• Use interviews to ethically capture true stories.

• Developing sparse factual details immersively.

Sunday 8 June 2025, 10-12am BST

Getting your work out there can feel intimidating, even for a practiced writer. In this final workshop, you will gain confidence and skill in submitting your work to magazines and competitions, agents and publishers, learning how to:

• • Polish your work for publication.

  • Find the right audience for your writing.

  • Draft letters to editors and agents.

Do you love to write flash? Do you write flash pieces that interconnect to form a larger story? The Novella-in-Flash is a magical thing, merging the speed and intensity of flash pieces with the depth and complexity a novella allows. In this online course, we’ll meet fortnightly to talk about how flash functions as a standalone form, and how juxtaposition and ‘stepping stones’ weave your flash pieces together to form a larger narrative. This course takes place over six sessions on Zoom on Friday evenings: by the end, you’ll have crafted a polished Novella-in-Flash which will automatically enter the running to be published as an Inkfish Press chapbook. Each workshop session will consist of in-class exercises, periods of discussion and analysis, and time for sharing the work we’re writing. Simple homework assignments along the way will help you develop your story.

During this course, you will discover:

• How flash functions as a standalone form.
• How to craft subtle links between flash pieces.
• Great examples of novellas and memoirs-in-flash.
• Techniques for strengthening your short work.
• The exciting market for this magical form.

Friday 5 September 2025, 6-8pm BST

• How do we define a Novella-in-Flash?
• Fiction and creative non-fiction examples.
• Choosing the right story for your novella.

Friday 9th September 2025, 6-8pm BST

• How to convey character in under-800 words.
• Creating ‘link characters’ for your novella.
• Whose story is this? Find your POV & voice.

Friday 3rd October 2025, 6-8pm BST

• Creating intense emotional effects.
• Making your turns impact the reader.
• Using emotion as a structuring device.

Friday 17 October 2025, 6-8pm BST

• How space on the page enhances flash.
• Making the most of spaces between ‘chapters’.
• Working turns into the larger story arc.

Friday 31 October 2025, 6-8pm GMT

• Creating distinctive voice for flash.
• Good dialogue strategies for very short fiction.
• Dialogue, conflict and character.

Friday 14 November 2025, 6-8pm GMT

• How to shape your novella for publication.
• What to look for when editing your work.
• The publishing market for Novella-in-Flash.

Have you been struggling to start (or finish) a novel? This fun, engaging and supportive online course might be for you! In each of the six course modules, we’ll build your novel through workshops on plot and structure, three-dimensional character, dialogue, description and tension. The course takes place over six sessions on Zoom on Wednesday evenings. By the end, you’ll have a solid structure and a polished draft of the novel’s opening chapters. Each workshop session will consist of in-class exercises, periods of discussion and analysis, and time for sharing the work we’re writing. Simple homework assignments along the way will help you develop your novel.

During this course, you will learn how to:

• Use a range of engaging strategies to plot your novel.
• Locate your novel’s inciting incident and learn where to begin.
• Craft memorable characters that leap off the page.
• Build atmospheric and immersive settings.
• Create compelling dialogue and character conflict.
• Make your work tight and taut by editing.

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• What is an inciting incident?
• Asking ‘what if’ makes the ordinary exciting.
• How to create a compelling hook chapter.

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• Invent memorable & compelling characters.
• Whose story is this? Find your POV & voice.
• How to craft character in three dimensions.

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• 3 ways to research your locations.
• Worldbuilding with dynamic and specific detail.
• Let narrators observe in their own words.

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• Finding the best pacing for your novel.
• Heighten tension using story beats.
• Working twists and turns into a plot arc.

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• Building dialogue ‘icebergs’ with subtext.
• Conversations that propel your novel forward.
• Dialogue, conflict and character.

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• How to choose your best work for queries.
• What to look for when editing your work.
• How to query; novel competitions; agents.

In this series of six online workshops, we’re going to read some fantastic short fiction; we’ll analyse and learn from it, helping to improve our own writing. Week by week, we’ll play around with character, atmosphere, dialogue, description and tension, thinking about all the elements required of a great short story. By the end of the course, you’ll have written a brand-new short story which will be edited and published in an Inkfish Press anthology (available to purchase as an eBook). Each workshop session will consist of in-class exercises, periods of discussion and analysis, and time for sharing the work we’re writing. Simple homework assignments along the way will help you develop your story. This course runs online on Wednesday evenings, beginning July 9th 2025.

During this course, you will learn how to:

• Craft memorable characters that leap off the page.
• Build atmospheric and immersive settings for your stories.
• Create compelling dialogue and character conflict.
• Structure short fiction using tension and turns.
• Make your work tight and taut by editing.

Weds 9 July 2025, 6-8pm BST

• What makes a good story?
• Different genres, tropes and devices.
• Asking ‘what if’ makes the ordinary exciting.

Weds 16 July 2025, 6-8pm BST

• Invent memorable & compelling characters.
• Good and bad, main and peripheral characters.
• Whose story is this? Find your POV & voice.

Weds 23 July 2025, 6-8pm BST

• Dynamic and specific detail.
• Using observation to create atmosphere.
• Researching your world.

Weds 30 July 2025, 6-8pm BST

• Finding the best pacing for your story.
• Heighten tension using story beats.
• Working twists and turns into a plot arc.

Weds 6 August 2025, 6-8pm BST

• Building dialogue ‘icebergs’ with subtext.
• Conversations that propel your story forward.
• Dialogue, conflict and character.

Weds 13 August 2025, 6-8pm BST

• How to choose your best story for the anthology.
• What to look for when editing your work.
• Questions for current and future projects.

A series of five online Creative Writing Workshops plus additional support in the form of 1-2-1 coaching sessions and a professional edit of your work. See below for further details.

• One in-person 30 minute 1-2-1 coaching session (following a workshop)
• Two 30 minute online 1-2-1- coaching sessions (at a time of your choosing)
• An edit of 3,000 words of your writing.

Saturday 12 April 2025, 10-12am BST

Whether you’re starting from scratch, picking a project back up that you began some time ago or just interested in writing in general, this is an event for you in which we will explore how to:

• • Get going on a new writing project or continue an existing one.

  • Come up with ideas for what to write.

  • Build up your writing confidence and portfolio.

Saturday 19 April 2025, 10-12am BST

Three-dimensional characters form the heart of any piece of fiction, and here you will practice making characters leap off the page and resonate with readers. In this fun, productive workshop, you’ll learn how to:

• • • Discover what characters you need.

    • Create psychological depth.

    • Make readers care about your characters.

Saturday 26 April 2025, 10-12am BST

Keep readers glued to your pages by mastering the essential elements of plot and structure. In this workshop you’ll learn how to write compelling prose and poetry that keeps readers on an exciting journey of discovery by exploring:

• • What plot and structure are.

  • Brainstorming of new ideas.

  • Structuring your project effectively.

Saturday 3 May 2025, 10-12am BST

Unbelievable dialogue can pull readers out of your story. In this workshop, whether a seasoned writer or complete beginner, you’ll learn how to write more believable dialogue – dialogue that serves a purpose in your story by exploring:

• What makes dialogue believable.

• How to motivate dialogue with conflict.

• How to add subtext to your dialogue.

Saturday 10 May 2025, 10-12am BST

The best stories sweep readers into an imaginative literary world, enabling them to immerse themselves fully in the struggles and dreams of characters they’ve never met. In this workshop, you’ll explore how to do just this by:

• Using vivid sensory description.

• Choosing words that keep your writing fresh.

• Developing the details of your setting.

Saturday 17 May 2025, 10-12am BST

Getting your work out there can feel intimidating, even for a practiced writer. In this final workshop, you will gain confidence and skill in submitting your work to magazines and competitions, agents and publishers, learning how to:

• • Polish your work for publication.

  • Find the right audience for your writing.

  • Draft letters to editors and agents.