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Develop your Novel with Rebecca Horsfall – four night workshop and writing retreat
26 -30 November 2024
About Retreats For You
Full board, wine included at supper, mini gym, summer house, roaring fire in cooler months. Own room with an amazingly comfortable bed, crisp white sheets, writing table, tea and coffee making. £729 for four nights. (Two ensuite rooms are available at a supplement, please enquire – first come first served.)
Added bonus – fifth night low cost option but self catering (just go to pub opp to buy your lunch and supper). Stay a fifth night without paying full price. Please ask!
£125 deposit is required to secure your booking. (There will be a waiting list if over-subscribed). Balance payable when we invoice you about 6-8 weeks beforehand. In case of postponement, you can transfer your deposit to the next retreat no problem.
Develop your novel-writing skills
In-depth exploration and practice of key skills that mark out novelists as professionals, as well as detailed individual coaching, and oodles of quiet writing time.
The week will include daily 2-hour sessions of teaching and exercises, followed by private writing time. There will be in-depth one-to-one sessions, with follow-up meetings as the week progresses, and opportunities for evening gatherings to share our work through informal readings and supportive group discussions.
Days below are for illustrative purposes and may change depending on confirmed date, but the retreat will run for four nights.
Tuesday Arrive 2 pm, afternoon tea, settling in and Welcome. “Getting to know,” around the fire after supper.
Wednesday morning 10 – 12: Starting to look at the overall shape of your novel; making sure the structure and story work as a whole. Working on the ending of the novel to bring it to a satisfying and meaningful conclusion. Developing the synopsis, not only as a marketing tool but as a way of identifying any gaps or structural problems with your novel.
Thursday morning 10 – 12: Writing a great opening for your novel. This is the trickiest thing to get right for every novelist, whether it’s our first novel or our twentieth. We’ll explore the many aspects to consider to make sure our opening paragraphs, pages and chapters really work. We’ll also explore the idea for your novel. Often overlooked, having a strong core idea for your novel is the key to making it work wonderfully and to ensuring publishers and readers will want to buy it. We’ll establish whether idea for your novel is strong enough and improve it if necessary, and look at how to perfect what is known in the publishing world as “The elevator pitch”.
Friday morning 10 – 12: Continuing the work of the first two sessions. We will also look at techniques in fiction-writing, focusing on areas that are of most relevance and interest to group members, including “showing not telling,” techniques for writing dialogue, keeping the narrative pace strong, and keeping the momentum through the middle section of the novel.
Saturday Depart late morning, followed by follow-up with Rebecca as appropriate.
From your tutor:
When I’ve run this retreat before it usually includes both people who are half way through a first novel and some who have written one or more novels already and are developing a project or expanding their skills. What’s great about the retreat format is we can start from wherever you are with your writing and build from there. It’s definitely suitable for working on advanced aspects of novel-writing. The content of the group sessions is formed by the level and interests of the group.
As for me, I’ve worked with more than 200 authors over the years, some already published and others just starting out and, of course, some who were just starting out when I began working with them now have careers as published authors. I often continue to work with authors who have been on my retreats and courses as it’s obviously good to be able to have that continuity.
Any questions about the retreat before you book, please ask and Debbie will put you in touch. Hope to see you at the retreat!
More about Rebecca
Rebecca Horsfall is a best-selling novelist as well as an experienced creative-writing coach and book doctor. Her first novel, the 740-page bestselling epic Dancing on Thorns was published in the UK and USA to critical acclaim in 2005. Over the past fifteen years she has worked as a developmental editor with more than 200 different authors, a number of whom have gone on to achieve critical and commercial success as novelists. She runs courses and workshops for the literary consultancy Jericho Writers at the Festival of Writing in York, as well as teaching masterclasses at the University of Westminster and Regent’s University in London, and is a creative-writing tutor at West Dean College of Arts in Sussex.
Twitter: @HorsfallAuthor