The Writing Squad

A Viaduct and Two Rivers with Steve Dearden
2024-09-28 11:00 - 17:00 UTC
Helen Clapcott paints Stockport past, present, future and imagined, all in the same frame, focussing on a square mile in the town centre.
This workshop takes place in Stockport Art Gallery on the opening day of her first major retrospective.
Led by Steve Dearden, we’ll go for a walk before returning to the gallery to use Helen’s paintings and drawings as starting points to write through the prism of place, crunching perspectives and time in our writing, whatever form you are using.
Signup details in Squad newsletter – or email libby@writingsquad.com.

Writing Audio Drama with Georgia Affonso
2024-10-12 11:00 - 16:00 | Hilton York
In this workshop we will be exploring what the format of audio-drama offers us as storytellers. We will focus on the sound worlds of ourselves and our characters. How does sound operate in our lives? How do we control, react, create or avoid it? We will also explore the voice, and how we can create distinctive characters through their dialogue. Lorna Newman (Producer, BBC Studios Audio Drama North) will also share her expertise on pitching and the commissioning process so bring your questions!This workshop is for anyone who is curious about audio-drama – whether you’ve already got a polished script or are looking for where to start.
Signup details in Squad newsletter – or email libby@writingsquad.com.

Squad Maxi Goals
2024-10-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
A chance to set big (but achievable!) longer-term goals for your creative work with fellow Squaddies.
We have had minigoals for some time, and we have definitely kept those goals mini! But in feedback you’ve told us that you’d like an opportunity to set some big goals – something you want to achieve over the next six months or a year!
So this is it! Same format as minis – everyone gets a chance to talk about where they’re at and tell us what their goal is. We’ll have another meeting in six months time to check in and see how we’re all doing.
Signup details in Squad newsletter – or email libby@writingsquad.com.

Writing from Dreams with Sarah Fletcher
2024-10-19 11:00 - 16:00
A session with poet Sarah Fletcher delving into the obscured world of dreams. Are you out like a light? Dead to the world? More like a rock, a log, or a baby? The language we use around sleep, dreams, and bedtime is rich with creative possibilities. Let’s delve together into this obscured world, drawing inspiration from a range of poets, from Williams Wordsworth to Sharon Olds to Lucille Clifton.
Signup details in Squad newsletter – or email libby@writingsquad.com.

Neurodivergent Writers Online Open Discussion
2024-11-07 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom
This online discussion is a chance for Neurodivergent Squad members to connect with each other and share their experience.
Signup details in Squad newsletter – or email libby@writingsquad.com.

Keeping it Short with David Gaffney
2024-11-09 11:00 - 16:00 | Manchester, Manchester
Learn how to reduce ideas to an ultra-short format; how to condense, yet keep your story effective, powerful and easy to understand.
Can you tell a story in fewer than 500 words? David Gaffney thinks you can, and in this workshop you will learn how to reduce ideas to an ultra-short format, how to condense, yet keep your story effective, powerful and easy to understand, how to manage character, description, point of view and dialogue in the ultra short story, and how to reduce a thousand words to 150 without losing a thing. Full of practical, fun exercises, this session will leave you wondering why anything has to be longer than a side of A4.
Sign up from the Squad newsletter, or email Libby: libby@writingsquad.com.

Squad 11 Minigoals
2024-11-11 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom
Minigoals is an informal space to discuss your writing with your peers, set achievable goals and motivate each other. This is exclusively for Squad 11. For the Zoom link, email libby@writingsquad.com.

Genre Minigoals
2024-11-13 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-12-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-01-08 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom
Minigoals is an informal space to discuss your writing with your peers, set achievable goals and motivate each other. Genre minigoals is for Squad members writing in any genre (e.g. sci-fi, fantasy, romance…). For the link, email libby@writingsquad.com.

Squad 11 Minigoals
2024-12-09 19:30 - 21:00
