The Writing Squad

Precision Journalism
2022-03-10 19:30 - 21:00 UTC | Online
With Gabriel Evans
This workshop will examine how the media uses sensationalism to garner interest and give alternative ways to make newswriting engaging.
What is sensationalism, and why does the media (still) love it?
How does sensationalism affect our lives?
How can we write news articles and other non-fiction without sensationalism?
By the end of the workshop, you’ll not only have a more acute awareness of sensationalism in the media, but also be able to recognise it in your own writing and replace it with more accurate alternatives that are just as engaging (and clickable.)

Poets Mini Goals
2022-03-10 17:30 - 19:00, 2022-02-24 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Mini goals session for poets. Email billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Squad 10 Minigoals
2022-03-07 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
Mini goals session for squad 10 – email billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Lunch Poems with Andrew McMillan and Lizzie Coombs
2022-03-05 11:00 - 16:00 | Leeds
Exploring the poetry of the street on the page and through the lens.

This workshop will explore the poetry of the street on the page and through the lens. We will spend some time in the morning looking at poets and photographers who catch the incidental movement and life of the streets as well as going through the techniques, does and don’ts of street photography. Then we will go out into Leeds over lunch time with notebooks and phones/cameras coming back together in the afternoon to write, edit, photoshop and put together an impromptu edition of PUSH.
You wont need a posh camera to take part, if you have a phone with a decent camera that will do, let us know if you don’t and we will sort something.

Awesome Poetry: Shine, Darling
2022-03-03 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
Writers reading led by Stevie and Malika.
One of the very best ways to become a better writer is to read widely and thoughtfully. Building on Emma and Matt’s great work in establishing the Awesome Play Text / Screenplay Reading Club, and Francesca’s prose club, Malika and Stevie are hosting the Awesome Poetry Reading Club to focus on how we can read as writers.

Script Mini Goals
2022-02-28 17:30 - 19:00, 2022-02-14 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Mini goals session for script writers. Email billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

SFF Mini Goals
2022-02-21 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Mini goals session for sci-fi and fantasy writers. Email billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Finding the Semantic Field
2022-02-19 11:00 - 16:00 | Manchester, Manchester
With Keisha Thompson
This workshop will focus on using poetic form and semantic field to create performance and theatre material.
We will be thinking about the cross over from page to stage, extended metaphor and using writing devices to inform performance ideas.

Going Freelance, In Company
2022-02-17 19:30 - 21:00 | Online
If you have an idea you want to realise and it involves pulling together a bunch of people and resources, this conversation and Q+A is for you.
Steve D will talk to three freelance Squad writers who have set up companies either to deliver specific projects or as a vehicle for their work, asking questions like … Do you really need to set up a company or can you just do the thing? Where did you go to for advice? What do all these terms mean; CIC, Sole Trader, Limited by Guarantee? What were the costs? Who is in control and who makes the decisions? How do you manage people? What didn’t you know you wished you had? Are the legal responsibilities onerous? What’s all that stuff about tax?
You’ll get the chance to ask your questions too.

Prose Mini Goals
2022-02-17 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Mini goals session for prose writers. Email billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Squad Wide Transitional Conversation
2022-02-16 19:00 - 21:00
Over the past few months, we’ve held four conversations exploring each of the Arts Council’s new Investment Principles. These principles define both their strategy for the arts in England, and the way they make decisions about who they fund. We’re using them to inform The Writing Squad’s plan for 2022/23, and our application for the next round of funding.
The principles are: Ambition and Quality, Dynamism, Environmental Responsibility and Inclusivity and Relevance.
Our conversations involved members of the board, our core team and the Squad at large. We talked about how each principle relates to the Squad – we thought about what we do well, what we could do better and came up with new ideas to shape the Squad’s future.
Stuff like: new commission opportunities, new ways of doing feedback, a new Squad origin story. It was all dead exciting, to be honest.
Since then, we’ve been collating the thinking from these meetings and started to draw up our new plan. It’s go time!
HERE’S WHERE YOU COME IN!
We’re now ready to put the Stuff What We Talked About at these meetings to the Squad At Large. We’re holding a sort of informal Zoom Squad Town Hall, in which we’ll share the outcomes of these meetings and our plans going forward, and you can tell us what you think about them. Simple as that.
TLDR: A space to talk about what the Squad could be, what you want the Squad to be, how we talk about who we are and what we do. You don’t need to know anything about the Arts Council’s principles or funding, but we will send you some light reading about our thoughts and plans before the meeting!

Novel Writing for First Timers
2022-02-12 11:00 - 16:00 | Manchester, Manchester
Are you interested in writing a novel, but don’t know where to start? Have you started a novel or two but fizzled out? Are you intimidated by the idea of committing to such a substantial task? Does the thought of completing c.80,000 words seem unachievable? Do you have a lot of ideas but not know which ones might be the makings of a novel?
This workshop is designed to make the process of writing your first novel a lot less scary. We’ll talk about ways to make the whole process both manageable and exciting.

Poets Mini Goals
2022-02-10 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-12-30 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-12-09 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Mini Goals session for Poets. Email Billie on billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Awesome Prose: The Summer Book
2022-02-08 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
One of the squad’s 3 Awesome Reading groups – designed to think about how we can read as writers.

Squad 10 Mini Goals
2022-02-07 18:00 - 19:30
Mini Goals session for Squad 10. Email Billie on billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Script Mini Goals
2021-12-20 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-12-06 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Mini Goals session for Script Writers. Email Billie on billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Prose Mini Goals
2021-12-14 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Mini Goals session for Prose writers. Email Billie on billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Squad 10 Mini Goals
2021-12-13 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
Squad 10 mini goals session.
Email billie@writingsquad.com to get the link.

What if we didn't start with words?
2021-12-11 11:00 - 16:00 | Manchester, Manchester
LEEDS – VENUE TBC
WHAT IF WE DIDN’T START WITH WORDS? – EMMA ADAMS
I’ve been thinking about staging and the power of set design. Why is it that writers don’t often get to work with set designers early in a development process? What does thinking about image rather than words unlock for storytellers / writers? Then I saw a video about Taika Waititi’s (awesome writer/director, check him out) creative process. There he talked about how he starts his film scripts. He thinks about cool images / events for the beginning and start of a story, and then he writes to link them up. Do you do this? I don’t do this. I never do this. I think it could be interesting to try doing this. It could be so fun to try this! To play with the graphic and the look of things and see what that inspires. To think about a set/costumes and then imagine a story that comes from there? So, I thought, why not experiment with all of that?

Trauma and the Creative Writing Classroom
2021-12-04 14:00 - 16:00 | Manchester, Manchester
A session exploring what trauma is, its relationship to creativity and strategies to develop a trauma-informed workshop practice.
NB: This workshop will be from 2-4pm in MMU’s Arts and Humanities Building, Manchester.
What is trauma? What is PTSD? Why does it matter for workshop/arts facilitators? When difficult memories or subjects arise, what practical approaches or tips can facilitators employ in the moment, or bear in mind for the future?
This workshop will use relaxed group conversations to explore these questions. You will gain an understanding of some of the definitions of what trauma is, its signs and symptoms, practical strategies for building trauma awareness into workshops and some tools for tackling traumatising or challenging subject matter in a workshop setting. Written, practical and creative exercises will demonstrate some ideas and approaches discussed during the session.

What We Owe: Bad Art Friend Discussion
2021-12-02 19:30 - 21:00 | Online
It is easy enough to trigger a storm on Twitter, but some stories create a hurricane. ‘Who Is The Bad Art Friend?’, a New York Times Article by Robert Kolker, was one such story and has whipped up a slew of newspaper articles, Twitter threads, and memes ever since.
Centred around the court case of Dawn Dorland vs Sonya Larson, the story covers ground from kidney donations to Facebook etiquette, subpoenaed group chats and insular writing community drama. We don’t want to spoil the story for you, but suffice it say it’s a wild one.
This session will comprise of a discussion focused on the relevant writing aspects of the story. Both sides field a series of key disputes, surrounding the plagiarism of ideas and Facebook posts, the etiquette of writing communities, and above all the kindnesses we do (or do not) owe to our fellow writers. Is using someone else’s kidney donation for a story acceptable? What if said story turns them into an ugly caricature? We can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

SFF Mini Goals
2021-11-29 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
Mini goals session for science fiction and fantasy writers.
Email billie@writingsquad.com to get the link.

The Butterfly in the Corner: Revitalising Old Myths
2021-11-27 11:00 - 16:00 | Leeds
SQUAD 10, LEEDS – VENUE TBC
Now it is a well-known fact that literature is constantly in conversation with other literary text in some shape or form. This workshop will exploit this tradition as the starting point for writing our own poems. We will turn up to the blank notebook page armed with material, that our imagination can translate, update, transform and in some cases give voice to silenced characters or even fill in gaps left out of the original text.

The Texture of Place: Writing Landscapes and Building Settings
2021-11-25 19:30 - 21:00 | Online
ZOOM, OPEN ALL SQUADS
How can we make the places and locations in our writing feel three-dimensional and “real”? How do we avoid falling into clichés when writing about landscape and place? How can we capture a real/imagined place through senses, description, speech and muddled language? Can settings ever be as important as characters?

Poets Mini Goals
2021-11-25 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Mini goals for poets.
Email billie@writingsquad.com to receive the link.
