Writing Creative Non-Fiction

Workshop at Collected Books Durham

I feel a bit like a broken record in saying that this week has been particularly busy, so much so that my own writing has taken a back seat. Why is it I’m always telling everyone else to find time for their work - to pencil it in their diaries - and yet not manage to the do the same myself?!

One of things that’s pre-occupied me this week is thinking about, and to some extent planning, the Writing Creative Non Fiction, workshop I’ll be running at the wonderful Collected Books Durham on July 17th 6.30 - 8.00 pm. So why concern myself now with something so far ahead, you might ask?

Firstly, it’s been important to meet with Emma from Collected, to decide what the evening will entail and how to advertise it. Creative non-fiction is a huge remit, the scope is enormous and so I’ve been reassuring myself that I can deliver the goods by re-reading around the subject and honing in on the essentials.

Defined simply, creative non-fiction is a, ‘true story well told.’ Lee Gutkind (often described as the godfather of the genre) So whether we’re writing memoir - that part of our life we need to tell, personal essays, Substack newsletters, whether we’re writing about the natural world or our travels, the lyric essay, immersive journalism etc. or, as is often the case now, a combination of the many sub-genres, we are still, essentially writing stories, and they need to be well told.

My focus will be on story telling and using the techniques widely used in fiction to tell the story well. There will be lots of writing together, as much as possible in an hour and a half and hopefully lots of ideas generated.

I’m excited to share thoughts about how these sub-genres overlap and what forms we might use to tell our stories be it: poetry, verse, vignette, essay, diary, recipe…the possibilities are enormous. I will be drawing up reading lists to share and I hope people will go away with a new project in mind to take forward, or new ideas about existing work.

If you live locally and are interested the details of the event are here. The workshop cost is £25.00. Places are limited.

Next week I’m planning on working on my memoir - wish me luck!

Thanks for reading

Avril x