Swanwick 70

Once again, that wonderful time of year has passed. No, not Christmas, but my annual visit to the Swanwick Writers' Summer School, held every August at the Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire since 1948. Once again, I was able to indulge in a week of camaraderie, writing, sharing ideas, and wine. A lot of wine.

Anyway, I'll give you the breakdown of the courses and events I attended.

The A to Z of Novel Writing

Out of this year's selection of four-part specialist courses, I was torn between Simon Hall's "The A-Z of Novel Writing" and Della Galton's "Scribe a Short Story". Now, I normally write short stories, but I intend to do a series, so I figured that the novel writing course would suit me better. I wish I had Hermione Granger's time-turner so I could attend both.

The course structure was exactly what it says in the program; We went through the alphabet, fitting in something relating to writing with each later, from Adversity (faced by characters) to Zeroes and Zeniths (faced by authors). This included a few tasks to plan out a crime or romance story set at Swanwick. I was assigned to do a romance, if you're asking.

The Secrets of Sitcom

A new art movement

Sunday's short course was "The Secrets of Sitcom", hosted by Daniel Page. Now, I've mentioned previously on this blog that I've been making rough notes on a fantasy sitcom. It was an idea so bizarre I had no choice but to consider it. Well, this course was about how to structure a sitcom, what makes them work, and how to make a "monster" who always gets the short end of the stick. I even managed to pitch my project, and it seems to have a lot of potential.

Although it does mean having to compete with that Disenchantment series which has just debuted on Netflix.

Creating Believable Characters

On Monday, I attended Veronica Bright's course in which she talked about the Enneagram. This is a study of nine basic personality types, with the positive and negative aspects of each type, their primary motivators or passions, and where certain traits overlap. The Enneagram's model is a lot easier to visualise that the Myers-Briggs model, and I drew parallels to the Theory of Basic Human Values devised by Shalom Schwartz. I wouldn't be surprised if Schwartz drew influences from the Enneagram.

Veronica has actually written a book on this topic, and her course intrigued me enough to buy a copy at the Book Room. I've just started reading it, and look forward to making use of it in my future projects.

Wild Words

I didn't go to any of the workshops on the Tuesday, which is known as the 'Procrastination Free Day', but on Wednesday I attended Bridget Holding's "Wild Words" course. I've attended Bridget's courses each time I've been to Swanwick, looking at the philosophical and psychological sides of writing. The first session looked at comparing creativity and writing to tracking a wild tiger, using the distance between you and the tiger as a metaphor for the amount of emotion put into a story. This involved a task in which attendees were put into pairs and told to discuss something from their past, while the other person tries to gauge what emotions the speaker conveys and when.

In the second session, a caged tiger was used as a metaphor for times when the writer is unable to be creative, and how it can bloom. Considering the events of the past years, I actually related to this a lot. I struggled to fit my writing around a full-time job and vented in all the wrong places, which brought with it some consequences in the form of a dismissal for gross misconduct. Nonetheless, I've managed to make the best out of a bad situation and gain some direction from it. Anyway, there was another exercise in which people were asked to read out stories they'd written, and people were once again asked to gauge the emotions.

World Building

Rounding out the short courses was Paul Beatty's look at world building. This was certainly the most scientific of the courses, looking at the aspects of world building in four tiers: Physical aspects, plant life, animal life, and intelligent life. There were also debates about each of the aspects, and which genres benefit the most from world building.

Other Events

Swanwick isn't just about the courses. There is an array of evening events, along with some special events this time around to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the School, including a massive group photo on the lawn. There are after-dinner speakers every night, but I tend not to go to those, preferring to use the time to write. There's something very tranquil about sitting in the quiet bar with a glass of wine and letting the words flow.

Monday night had a fancy dress disco, with a 1940s theme this time around. That's great, because I can pass off as a 1940s-style pulp writer with my regular work clothes. Hey, dress for the job you want, not the job you have. On top of that, there was a less wild Tea Dance on the Tuesday afternoon. I think my minimal dance repertoire has improved this week, and I was only drunk for one of those. Although I still haven't perfected the Macarena yet.

Other evening events included poetry and prose open mic nights (which I didn't take part in), a busker's night (ditto), and a general knowledge quiz which I did take part in and managed to get my team into second place. My folks and I enjoy Mastermind and try and get more than fifty points every night, so I guess that paid off. I was also marginally involved in the Page to Stage performances as a back-up cameraman.

The final night featured a dregs party in which I once again suited up, a formal dinner, and a farewell event in the main hall with raffle prize draws, Page to Stage awards (Swannies), and a sing-song. Including John Lamont's famed "Swanwick Anthem" based on a Proclaimers classic.

Well, I've rattled on for a bit and will wrap things up. Once again, it was great to see everybody again, and meet new people. I look forward to coming back next year.

Happy writing.