The Short Story

“I liked the tricks the instructor gave us to just start writing, and the idea that cleaning it up is a long process. Usually I think things over too much, or when I am not happy with what I writing I get irritated with myself and stop. I learned that good writing doesn’t necessarily happen with the first draft, that it is not inspiration falling from the sky onto the page. And I appreciated all the info on what rewriting / editing actually is, because I always tinker with the details; you need to pay attention to what info is missing in the story.”

Ann, November 17, 2013

“Great instructor, very sharp but constructive and with a love for literature that is contagious.”

Dominique, November 17, 2013

“My personal objective—to kick-start me writing—was fully achieved.

The workshop was easy to follow, even though English is not my native language.”

David, October 14, 2012

“For me it was an epiphany that I can generate short-story material on a specific subject.”

Mariken, October 14, 2012

“I learned…to tap into the unconscious mind and the creative self. It’s immensely liberating to write without any conscious effort, and without the tendency to self-edit or self-criticise.

I had a truly powerful revelation during the class: I discovered that writing in the third person liberated me enormously from the (self-imposed) constraints of writing in first person. I have always written in first person, perhaps because I’ve been writing journals most of my life. As such, my writing always felt too personal, and admittedly too uninteresting, to share with others. Writing in the third person allowed me to address personal subjects with some distance, making them somehow safer to explore. (more…)

Rosanne, October 14, 2012

“Making time for this weekend’s workshop is the best thing I have done for myself in a long time. I need to do it more often. Regularly, in fact.

I learnt that I can allow myself to start writing and then come back later to organize everything-that it doesn’t all have to make sense first time round.”

Karen, October 14, 2012

“I started the class with lots of doubts about how it was going to go for me, given that I never managed to go beyond starting stories. But even before the second day of the workshop began, I found out that I could write a short story in Italian, translate it into English, revise it and meet the word count!”

Virginia, October 14, 2012

“What did I learn from this particular workshop? More literary language. How to decipher the literary aspects of a text.

I felt inspired… by the overall quality of the workshop; the professional guidance; the safe and comfortable environment; the humorous and relaxing—but sharp—methodology, which made it easy to stay focused.”

Gisele, October 14, 2012