A Week at Swanwick

Well, tomorrow morning I'm due back in work after a wonderful week at the Swanwick Writers' Summer School, so I might as well try and write about my experiences. After a promotional email was shared by someone in my writers' group, I decided to attend.

First impressions were great. Upon arriving at the beautiful venue on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I was able to interact and socialise with ease. After settling in, there was a Chairman's welcome followed by an informal reception for new students; the so-called 'White Badgers'. Later that evening I was able to discuss my current projects at an icebreaker event.

The next couple of days were taken up by some very engaging courses, most notably a four-part course on Character Psychology conducted by Steve Hartley. This course discussed things like the types of personalities, the concept of status, the three lives of a person (public, private, and secret), and a look at psychopaths and their behaviours.

There was also a selection of two-part short courses which were run each day. These included: a guide to punctuation and grammar titled 'Eats, Shoots, and Leaves' hosted by Fiona Samuels; a course on the Trickier Parts of Fiction run by Sue Moorcroft, which looked at dialogue, viewpoint, and the process of showing rather than telling; and a look at the drafting process by Bridget Holding, known as 'How to Eat an Elephant'.

In-between courses, there were plenty of opportunities to sit back and write, whether solo or in groups. This is in addition to some of the evening entertainment they have, including a disco, an poetry open mic night, a busker's night, and even a pantomime on the last night.

While I didn't have the energy to try out everything (it is quite tiresome), I picked some interesting pointers, and made a lot of new friends.

I'll certainly be coming back next year.