30 Days of Writing, An Online Course

30 days course30 Days of Writing is an interactive online course that encourages and supports writers in the process of writing a book in a month. For the thirty days of the course, the focus will be on your writing, on finding the right voice to tell your stories in, and on exploring ways to expand and layer a collection of short stories.

The course is led by the writer and tutor, Shaun Levin, editor of The A3 Review and author of Seven Sweet Things, A Year of Two Summers, and the writing guides, The Writing Notebooks.

30 Days of Writing is right for you if:

  • you want to create a substantial amount of writing in a short period of time
  • you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the collection you want to write and would appreciate some guidance and detailed feedback
  • you have an idea for a book but are not sure how to go about writing it
  • you like working in the company of others, but also enjoy the comfort of writing in your own space and at a time that suits you
  • you have notes and fragments towards a book, and would like some input on how to organise everything and keep going
  • you’d like to experiment with different ways of putting together a book, whether using text on its own, or combining text with photographs and illustrations

Tutor: Shaun Levin
Dates: 1-30 November 2019
Fee: £380

For just over £12 a day, you’ll receive:

  • detailed feedback
  • daily writing prompts
  • customised prompts and suggestions
  • 2 x one-to-one consultations
  • the company of other writers from around the world
  • 2 x the 12 Doable Writing Projects Writing Map
  • and the support to figure out what it takes to write your next book.

For more details about 30 Days of Writing, click here. Please email maps@writingmaps.com for any questions about the course.

Write a Book in June. It’s doable!

30 days

30 Days of Writing is a practical online course for writers who’d enjoy the challenge of putting together a book in a month.

The course is especially suited to anyone who’d like to take on a short story project not necessarily linked to a book project you’re working on. It’s an opportunity to create that passion project you’ve been mulling over for years, and to explore different concepts of what consitutes a book.

The course is run by the writer Shaun Levin, who is also the editor of The A3 Press, a new chapbook press, and the creator of Writing Maps.

The online course is devised so that you can start a project from scratch and complete a first draft by the end of June. The course is a month-long commitment, and will benefit anyone who’d like the inspiration and support to write daily for 30 days alongside other writers from around the world.

To find out more about the course, please click here.

Whether you’re writing fiction, non-fiction, hybrid writing, creating comics or illustrations, we’ll look at how to create a layered and dynamic work. Some of the elements we’ll focus on will include: movement in time and place, conflict and tension, chronology and tone, as well as ways to enhance your text through research and the inspiration of genre companions.

The primary focus throughout the course will be your daily practice of writing and the creation of your book.

Dates: 1 June – 1 July 2019

Fee: £260 (£200 early-bird rate before 30 April)

limited to 15 participants

About the tutor: Shaun Levin is the author of Snapshots of The Boy, A Year of Two Summers and Seven Sweet Things, amongst other books. He has been teaching creative writing for over twenty years and has worked closely with writers at all stages of their journey towards publication.

 

Online: Advanced Short Story Clinic

Receive direct feedback from your tutor and fellow course participants with this online correspondence course for advanced short story writers.

Develop your stories over four months. Whether you’re an experienced writer working towards the completion of a manuscript or looking to maintain momentum and sharpen your writing skills, this clinic provides specific feedback for the refinement of your own voice and style.

Participants must have had a short story published OR have already participated in a Writers Victoria Advanced Short Story Clinic to enrol in this course.

Stories of up to 1,500 words due Wednesdays 1 August, 5 September, 10 October and 7 November

About Paul McVeigh

Paul McVeigh’s short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies and been commissioned by BBC Radio 3, 4 & 5, Faber & Faber and Sky Arts. Paul is Director of the London Short Story Festival and Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s national organisation for excellence in the short story. He is also a judge for international short story competitions and prizes including, this year, The Dylan Thomas Prize, The Edge Hill Short Story Prize and The Sean O’Faolain International Short Story Prize. His award-winning debut novel ‘The Good Son’ was published by Salt Publishing in 2015 and his work has been translated into seven languages.

PaulMcVeigh short story

Silver, Gold, and Some Hard Cash

gold thingsWe’ve got a silver-themed contest with a looming deadline; six new themes for Issue 8: The Gold Issue; and an increase in our cash prizes.

There’s still one last chance to be part of The A3 Review‘s Issue 7, The Silver Issue. This month’s theme is SILVER THINGS, so make sure to get your sparkly work in by Saturday the 26th August. Click here for glittery inspiration and to submit. The issue will also include a story by guest flash-fiction writer Kathy Fish alongside the winners of the last 5 months of contests, and this month’s winners, too.

In other news… The A3 Review‘s founding editor, Shaun Levin, is launching a new online writing course, How to Map Your Book. The course is suitable for writers at all stages of a book project, so if you’re putting together a collection of short stories, you might want to check out the details here.  There’s an early-bird rate for bookings up until the 20th August.

Do please spread the word about our new themes for Issue 8: The Gold Issue. Naked and Nude, Windows, and Betrayal are just some of the dramatic themes coming up! And, because our submission numbers are up, we’re able to increase the prize money from this issue. Click here for inspiration and more details.

The Woods, the Trees, and The A3

We’re busy as beavers here aTree Map SIDE B NEWt The A3 Review, assembling Issue #6 and choosing the overall cash-prize winners. The issue will be out in early April, and we’re wild about the fact that ShortStops’ own Tania Hershman will be our Guest Writer!

Meanwhile, talking about wildness, Issue #7 is already, ahem, logging up entries for our March contest on the theme of Forests and Woods (deadline is March 25th).

Woodlands have inspired writers and artists for hundreds of years – now it’s your turn. Submit stories, poems and art inspired by the arboreal! Whether it’s tropical, mystical, tundral (is that even a word?!), or your own backyard. So many folktales and fairytales happen in forests. Find a story you love and update it. Think “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Hansel and Gretel”, and Baba Yaga. Think: Robin Hood or Tarzan. Be outrageous. Be controversial. Surprise us with new takes on old stories.

For more inspiring prompts, check out the Writing with Fabulous Trees Writing Map (see pic).

And for even more ideas and inspiration, and details about prizes, visit The A3 Review’s Submittable page. You can also purchase all back issues on The A3 Review‘s site.

We welcome short stories, flash fiction, poetry, comics, graphic stories, a snippet of memoir, photographs, illustrations, and any combination of the above. The only restriction is a word-limit of 150 and images should fit well into an A6 panel.

Good luck and keep writing!

PS. The A3 Review‘s editor, Shaun Levin, is running an online writing course, starting on the 24th of April. Click here for all the details.

Try a FREE taster of the Writers’ HQ Short Story course!

The next round of Writers’ HQ’s 6-week online Writing Short Fiction course starts on the 20th of March but you can try out a FREE taster week HERE!

writing-short-fiction

Writing Short Fiction

6 Week Online Course from Writers’ HQ

Starts 20th March, £140 (Get 10% off when you use promo code SHORTSTOPS10 before the 12th of March!)

Short stories aren’t just easier versions of the novel. They’re a broad, complex and rewarding art form in their own right. Writers’ HQ’s new online writing short story course will help you see the bigger picture and compress it into short stories with real punch.

Short stories have been here since the dawn of time. Based in the oral tradition (stop sniggering at the back), they’re the apocryphal family legends our grandmas/weird uncle used to tell us over Christmas dinner; they’re the school-yard urban myths; the sleepover ghost stories; the soliloquies in our diaries; the wine-soaked rants to that random person you cornered in the kitchen at that party after so-and-so dumped you. Short stories are all around us. <cue X-Files theme>

But super short stories are not super easy for writers, natch. In fact, the shorter your story becomes, the harder it is to distil what really matters onto the page. I would have written a shorter letter, so the famous quote goes, but I didn’t have the time.

So what makes truly great short fiction? The kind that leaves you dribbling, slack-jawed, slap-faced when you finish it. The kind you remember forever, like some weird dream-memory. Well. We can’t write it for you, but we can give you a nudge, a shove, and a poke with a sharp stick (whatever floats your boat) to help you on your way. With the help of writing prompts, advice from award-winning short fiction writers, inspiring exercises, and our awesome little online community, you’ll come out the other side at least one fully formed short story to call your very own.

TRY OUT A FREEBIE WEEK HERE AND BOOK YOUR PLACE! (Don’t forget to use promo code SHORTSTOPS10 to get 10% off when you book before 12th March.)

rebecca-makkai-1

Early morning writing classes

Write & Shine morning creative writing workshops take place online and in peaceful London locations.

For our next online course…

…we’ll use the theme of ‘Colour’ to inspire new poems, stories and life writing. From the darkest cherry red to a soft pale blue, colour is everywhere! Join Write & Shine’s four-week self-study online course on the theme of ‘Colour’ to discover all kinds of ways to add brightness your morning. From 24 August to 14 September, you’ll receive a set of vivid writing prompts directly to your email inbox each Wednesday at 6am (BST), ready to complete that morning. Only £15 for the full four-week course.

Our face-to-face workshops…

… continue on Thursdays in central London, starting at 7.30am and 9.15am. In each session, you’ll be set writing tasks which might include discussing poems and short fiction, examining photographs, sniffing lavender, reading that morning’s Metro, or playing with vintage Cluedo cards! It’s £12 each time, with drinks & pastries included. Next workshop is on Thursday 11 August, at Waterstones Piccadilly.
All sessions are open to new and experienced poets, short story writers, novelists, artists and makers—or anyone wanting to incorporate creativity into their busy working lives. Write & Shine classes are facilitated by writer Gemma Seltzer, a morning enthusiast!

Find out more at: www.write-and-shine.com


Gemma Seltzer | Write & Shine | hello@write-and-shine.com
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