Writing Holidays Greece. Creative Writing Courses, Writing Retreats, and Writing workshops. Space for meditatation on a Greek island.
Creating your Character, Finding their Story
This Writing Holiday and Retreat in Greece will take place from 26th June-2nd July 2016, on a small picturesque island in the Saronic Gulf, forty minutes from Athens. Sometimes we all need a haven, a safe place to think, and to write. Go to our Writing Retreats and Holidays page for more information and photos, here:
http://writersretreat.org
Harking back to last year... and in anticipation of this year's cohort. Just four weeks until we'll be back on Agistri, which a whole new bunch of writers, with their own stories to tell : )
Guest Blog! We asked one of our lovely writers about her experience with us at writer's retreat - we thought it better you heard it from the horse's mouth... He...
Oh the romance of an old typewriter... However you write, write this weekend. In pencil, in green ink (a recent favourite), while on a tube, on a bus, on the back of a receipt.... jot some words down. You never know where they will lead.
Happy writers yesterday at Brixton Writers' Group. A great space to celebrate these many varied voices.
Write. Fill that blank page. With notes, thoughts, ideas. It's all part of the process. This is how I figure out what I'm thinking..
🕊Our Early Bird offer ends on 1st April! So a few more days to grab a bargain and book your retreat with us in Greece this June 🐠🐬
Grabbing some writing time before work - every moment counts. Especially in such a pretty place as this
Soaking up some sun by Brockwell Lido earlier today ... In anticipation of our upcoming Writing retreat in Greece this June. Early Bird offer available now!
Bookings now open! We can't wait for our retreat on Agistri island this summer.
Wrestling with an old idea today - and it's taken on a whole new form. Now the trick is not to over complicate. What to let go, what to keep hold of. How to be brutal. Sometimes the hardest part is letting go... And yet, perhaps the strongest ideas fight to survive - and if that's the case you've got to listen to that too... Dilemma.
I love London towards Christmas time. Mulled wine may not be on this menu but it is definitely bubbling away behind the counter at Seven in Brixton. I met up with one of the writers from the retreat last year to sample a glass (or several) and it was so good to catch up with her - she's been on quite a journey. Pick up a book this Christmas and take some time, you never know what ideas might arise
It starts to rain. It pours, harder and harder. The End. I love typing those last two words, it's so very satisfying... Even if it is only a draft, each draft of my stage play is getting closer to some kind of real ending (and is anything ever really finished?)
Is it just me or is there a Phoenix rising from the ashes in my coffee today?
Prepare to get cosy this Autumn. Rooms like this on grey day are an invitation to curl up with a book.
A new project for Autumn, and the story cards are out - just lucid dreaming at the amazing new Stir coffee in Brixton
Inspired by Stephen King's 'On Writing' - I was relieved/vindicated to read that I'm not the only one who doesn't plot out the whole story before I start... You need tools yes, you need to know your trade, but if I know everything that's going to happen before I start writing, I get bored in the telling, and if I'm bored, God help the reader. I want to explore while I'm writing. I want surprises. I'm all for Stevie King's view that the first draft is for finding out what the story is - a 'closed door' draft. Then when that's done and the words are on paper, the work on shaping (and I mean some serious rehashing) can start. I've just finished the first draft of a complex, meandering, multi-character play. I only had the vaguest sense of the narrative when I started. Now I know who it's about, what it's about, and how the characters' narratives combine. I think we should trust our inherent instinct for story structure as far as it takes us. Having said that, there's no way I'm opening that door and inviting my select group of critics in until at least another draft is done.
It's so important to get the process right - and every writer has their own way of working. What works for you?
Reasons to be back in London...
Retreat Bali anyone? There's something magic in the air
A brief moment from today - a boy returning to shore after bathing his horse - has got me thinking. How can we use moments like this as writing prompts? And how can we do them (the real people within these moments) justice, even if they will never know the character they inspire? How to write truthfully and to really challenge ourselves to live up to the task? It's about integrity. It's not easy. How can we move away from stereotype and tired assumptions? And I think it's something about venturing into the new, being brave, being brutally honest with ourselves, recognising the limits of our own experience and somehow pushing beyond them. And research, and watching, and listening to people. Every human heart.
Related to this - I've just finished Sarah Waters' novel The Night Watch. The meticulous research into female ambulance drivers in WWII, among other things, and the intricacy of her storytelling (the observation of character, the specific detail of lives and loves laid bare) is at once hauntingly familiar and intriguing in the forgotten world it conjures up. And that bringing us close to a world that no longer exists, I find incredibly moving, because we too are here, now, and like the characters in Waters' novel, we feel our lives vividly - and just as the time Waters conjures so convincingly, so too will our time become history, and we will become a story, variously told. I'd like to think I can trust the storytellers to do me justice too.
The office today... It's surprising how much writing I can get done with a view like this. There must be something inspiring about being in places new. Today it's the beautiful island Gili Air. And perhaps there's something about relaxing the mind and the senses that helps creative flow.
If there is a more perfect place to write, I can't think of one right now. This peaceful spot overlooking a paddy field in Ubud, Bali has to be up there. And there's plenty of yoga on offer too. Who knows, maybe Bali is an ideal place for us Brits to get away for a winter Writer's Retreat? And all you Aussie writers out there are a mere hop skip and a jump away....
Write anywhere. Bingin Beach, Bali. Okay, so maybe It's an excuse, but I'm pretty sure moving and travelling broadens the mind - your experiences wherever you are inevitably impact on your writing, the trick is to stay open and receptive (even a bit naive) to what's around you...Sometimes it's easier to see the idiosyncrasies of both new and familiar cultures when taking yourself out of your comfort zone. I like this picture because for me it foregrounds my characters over the actual people on the beach. It juxtaposes two worlds, the imaginary and 'real' (whatever that is - don't we always see the world through the lens of our own story?) l
Appreciating this space to write at 'etre in Highbury and Islington this morning. Natural light, great coffee, wooden tables, what more could I want? Hoping it'll get me inspired as I've just made a decision that means I'll have to restructure my entire pilot...
If in doubt, lay the story cards out. Here the different colours represent different characters as I track their journey through the piece, and figure out the points at which they connect. A great way of untangling complex plots.
The cafe area at in Edinburgh. It's rainy here today, so this is a nice place to duck into (no pun intended) and there's lots of exciting work from emerging artists to be caught - just read some of the reviews on their review wall...
The writing on the wall in the loos of in Edinburgh, where JK Rowling used to write. I'm up here for the fringe theatre festival, but this scrawl seems apt for all you writers out there... And other creative types...
Thanks so much to Zoe for capturing the experience of our Greek getaway so vividly... Read her guest blog post here.
We asked one of our lovely writers about her experience with us at writer's retreat - we thought it better you heard it from the horse's mouth... Here is what Z...
Oh what I would give for this blue blue sea to dive into today. London looks great in the sunshine but we need some water around... Writing was slow today - it's just too damn hot! (Yes, I will be eating my words in a few days time, I'm sure...)
Back in Brixton I'm treating myself to an iced coffee and some Sunday writing time. So glad I've brought some of the Greek sun home with me ☀️
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