How do you create atmosphere and make your readers feel as though they are “really there”? How do you inspire a strong sense of time and place without holding up the narrative? This session will explore the ways in which you can evoke environment, from the intimate and domestic to the epic landscape, and make context work for your story.
You will observe the treatment of time and place in storytelling, paying attention to both landscapes and interiors. Working in a supportive and relaxed environment, you will participate in practical exercises and be able to receive feedback and ask any questions you may have during the sessions.
You will leave the day with an understanding of how time operates in fiction and how you can create a sense of place through concrete cues and sensory stimuli in your writing.
This masterclass is suitable for all aspiring fiction writers, from beginners seeking guidance to more experienced writers wanting to sharpen and energise their practice. It is the final course in our workshop series with Professor Jem Poster and Dr Sarah Burton, founders and former leaders of the master’s degree course in creative writing at the University of Cambridge.
Book the series ticket here – and save £120!
From the same masterclass series...
Memory and imagination: A masterclass with Cambridge University’s creative writing tutors
Character and plot: A masterclass with Cambridge University’s creative writing tutors
Point of view and narrative voice: A masterclass with Cambridge University’s creative writing tutors
Tutor profiles
Jem Poster is the author of two novels – Courting Shadows and Rifling Paradise – as well as a collection of poetry, Brought to Light. He has also recently completed Volume 3 of the six-volume series, Edward Thomas: Prose Writings. He has won major prizes in the Cardiff International Poetry and the Peterloo Poets Open Poetry competitions. He is emeritus professor of creative writing at Aberystwyth University and has been chair of the editorial board of New Welsh Review and programme advisor to the Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education’s MSt in creative writing. He is currently director of the institute’s international summer programme in creative writing and is an affliated lecturer of the institute. He is director of academic programmes for the Financial Times Oxford Literary Festival and in 2014 was writer in residence at Arizona State University.
Sarah Burton was founder of the creative writing MSt at Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education and was its director from 2013 to 2017. Her publications include two critically acclaimed biographies, Impostors: Six Kinds of Liar and A Double Life: A Biography of Charles and Mary Lamb, which was shortlisted for the Mind Book of the Year award; a children’s book, The Miracle in Bethlehem: A Storyteller’s Tale; a page-to-stage guide, How to Put on a Community Play, and the humorous Complete and Utter History of the World By Samuel Stewart, Aged 9.
Details
Date: Saturday 18 April 2020
Times: Full-day course, 10am-4pm
Location: The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU
Price: £129 plus £6.48 booking fee
Event capacity: 32
Complimentary lunch and refreshments included.
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