I provide friendly workshop-style sessions within the supportive community of a writing group.  It’s a chance for you to meet others in a similar situation to yourself, learn new techniques and share work in progress. You’ll also be kept up to date with local literary events and competitions.

I have been studying creative writing on a formal basis for five years and have won competitions for short stories, travel writing and poetry with my work appearing in ‘Best’ Magazine, ‘Let’s Talk’, ‘Suffolk Magazine’ and ‘The Telegraph’. I also have a degree in English Literature and am a trained teacher.

Each session costs £10 for two hours (including refreshments) or you can pay £35 per month if you pay in advance by direct debit.

Sessions are held at my home in Ipswich which has a large enough dining table to comfortably seat up to twelve members per evening. Having a home setting also adds to the cosy, friendly environment. You can choose between:-

Tuesdays – 7.30pm to 9.30pm

Thursdays – 7.30 to 9.30pm (Damselfly Group).

For more information or to come along to a group session, please email me at suffolkwritersgroup@gmail.com

You can also phone me on 07943 068 033.

At the moment, Tuesday’s group are writing stories for children.

Thursday’s group are looking at different ways to present characters.

The subjects we look at change every few weeks depending on members’ interests and writing needs.

A typical evening’s format

• Ten minute discussion of what everyone has read or written in the week
• Free writing task
• Discussion of a piece of writing – either from a group member or a professional piece
• Input on a chosen subject e.g. characterisation, settings or similes
• A break for drinks and general chatting
• A time to write individually based on the input provided
• A time to share work and get feedback from myself and the group

(It’s lovely when people read their work aloud but it’s OK if you choose not to.)

If you’re into social media, you might want to join ‘Suffolk Writers Group’ on Facebook where you can chat to local writers and keep up to date with local events.

(Above: Ruth Dugdall, author of Humber Boy B, visits to talk about her new book and life as a professional writer)             

Examples of  member’s publications and other successes since joining the group:-

• Lesley won two hundred euros and had her travel piece published in The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-writing-competition/
• Adam and Kelly wrote ‘Highly Commended’ pieces of Flash Fiction for the weekly Microbookends Competition.
• Thursday’s Damselfly group launched a hugely successful reading blog The Book Eaters.
• Kelly achieved joint runner up in Felixstowe Short Story Competition
• Kelly won our concept competition and received very encouraging feedback from agent Meg Davis.
• Anna had an article about Montessori education published on www.familiesonline.co.uk
• Gem was a runner up in a competition for Dystopian World stories
• Aaron won our synopsis competition to receive feedback on his work from literary agent Meg Davis
• Teresa had a story published in Your Cat magazine.
• Elliot had his story published in Fiction Vortex Magazine
• Graham has written a variety of interviews and record and theatre reviews. He says there’s a lot more to come so watch this space.
• Megan has had a romantic novel published on Kindle at Amazon
• Tim has published two novels on Amazon: The Buried Man and Clockwork Hearts
• William won a competition to be one of Suffolk’s Young Poets of the year and read his work alongside Allan Ahlberg
• Ipswich Writing Group published ‘Four Word Stories’ on Amazon

 

Activity Examples

Sometimes we work together to discuss characterisation in successful books

Sometimes we try out the famous ‘cut up technique‘ as used by David Bowie and TS Eliot-