Writers' Summer Schools - what I loved and what I learned

The Hayes Conference Centre. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

10-16 August 2019

What I loved
BADGES
The badges were great, yellow with our names printed on both sides.

The pale turquoise co-ordinated with everything, pink, orange, red, purples, blues and other shades of green as well as brightening up the outfits of anybody in plain white, grey, black or brown.
I attached my bedroom key to the lanyard to be sure I was not locked out.

On Saturday we started with a rendez-vous for writers in the same genre. Poetry, novels, historical.

Paul Dodgson
Our evening speaker Paul Dodgson was relaxing and entertaining, describing the ups and downs of his career, conversational. He had lots of audience interaction, using his guitar to sing to the audience and get us to join in.

Character By Steve Hartley
On Sunday morning we started out two part Specialist coursees. Steve Hartley talked about character psychology. He asked us to think about, and write down, our bad choices, our good choices, people we trusted, people we should not have trusted, people we did not trust.

These all lead to stories of characters with regret, going back to turn their lives around, seeking revenge. Events make our characters.

"Bad choices make good stories."

Characters are influenced by memories of bad incidents from their childhood which make them more cautious, or active. Naive. Suspicious. Judgemental. Angry.

Another useful tip is to make a list of your characters' names, so that you don't have two characters with the same initial, which confuses the reader, and sometimes you the author.

A Taste Of Teaching by Simon Hall
After morning coffee I started my second short course (1 session of 2), a Taste of Teaching, by Simon Hall. He covered breaking the ice, involving the audience in workshops, and ending on a high.

After lunch I started my second short course (1 of 2)
The book room displays your books and takes a commission which goes towards Swanwick funds.

Lift Up Your Pens
I grabbed a croisant and a chocolatine from the dining room which opened for breakfast at eight.
Every morning at eight we were in the Tissington room.Outside the side glass door a pheasant nicknamed Percy was waiting patiently.

Poetry Reading
This event was over-subscribed.

Prose Reading
I was able to read my story about learning to write which is in another blog.

Contest Winners

Plays
Half a dozen five minute plays selected from those which had been sent in earlier in the year and judged by another group outside Swanwick. One was set in a prison cell, another in an old people's home. All had comic moments and a twist.

My favourite moments? Spoiler alert. The nervous bride-to-be with female relatives trying to be encouraging but failing. She was told by her granny that her grandfather had had several affairs - one with a man.

Bettina on Crime
Amusing moments. Bettina pointed a plastic gun at somebody in the front row and pretended to shoot, shouting bang! The older woman in the front row dutifully fell sideways on her chair and played dead.



Which Accommodation
Main House
Lakeside

What could improve? Gaps or mould around the shower tray.

Food
I loved the potatoes.
I loved the chocolate cake. I wish I could have stayed all year.

More Information
The Hayes
Swanwick
Derbyshire

Directions.
Very easy to drive there from London. Drive to the MI, going north. you can join it from the Brent Cross or Watford area. Turn off at Junction 28. Look for signs to Swanwick. When you are in Swanwick, at the traffic lights by the church turn left. go slowly and just past the school there's a minor side road leading up to the Hayes which is a big house on a hilltop above a field of cows.

One advantage of driving: you can load up copies of your book or books to sell in the book room.
Also have space for books you buy to take home.

If you prefer to take the train you can pay in advance for a seat on the coach from Derby station to the Hayes for arrival and return.

If you have friends travelling to and from Swanwick, try to be on the same train. Your reserved seats won't necessarily be in the same carriage.

Useful Websites
www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk

www.jerichowriters.com
Conference 6-8 September 2019.
Membership 30 pounds a month or 195 a year.

Exhibition Centre, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD Get directions

Prices:

• Full Weekend (Inc Mini-course)  £595
• Full Weekend (Exc Mini-course)  £545
• Sat/Sun  £495
• Sat only  £275
• Sun only  £165

writers holiday
http://www.writersholiday.net
21-23 Feb 2019. 249

arvon
https://www.arvon.org/
several centres. One night you cook with a few of the other writers. Supposed to help you bond.
Other courses take place in other countries.

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https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/08/diary-note-writers-summer-school-in.html

NEXT Writers' Summer School
August 8-14 2020.
Priority bookings open 1st January 2020.
Who gets priority bookings? Those Friends of Swanwick who donated money for the scholarships for the new young members needed to replace old timers who died or are too old or ill travel. The school has been going 71 years.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, no relation to the actress, nor the other dozen people with the same name on LinkedIn, is a speaker and author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts; Etiquette For Every Occasion; Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.

Books set in your destination

Pick the plot's landmarks by choosing your destination. Benjamin Disraeli (The British Prime Minister in the Victorian era, not his father Isaac Disraeli) said, when I want to read a book I write one. If you want the illusion of creating your own book, here's the solution.

Travellers often pick up guidebooks about the destination from the airport or on the ferry, but what about fiction? Some destinations are obvious places to buy books set there. For example, in the UK, a book by the Brontes when visiting the Bronte museum in Haworth, Yorkshire in the north of England. I bought Withering Heights by Emily Bronte, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and the novel by Anne Bronte. Many homes in the area are places featuring in the novels or were homes of the Brontes or their friends. Dickens features many landmarks. You can do walking tours of London and see sites connected with famous authors, then read the books.

I often visit homes of famous authors. Or pick up the children's or adult's book set in the local area. In Australia I bought Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by their best selling author May Gibbs after visiting a museum about the author and the illustrations of Australian plants.

In the USA I bought books by Arthur Miller, Hemingway, Edgar Allen Poe, and Jack London.

But now here's a new concept. The book which you change by slipping in your location.

The idea of audience interaction dates back a long time. At the Canadian Expo in the sixties you could watch a performance of a play in which the audience voted. So if there were four times when you could vote there were - was it sixteen variations? I'll have to get a mathematics expert to help me on this one. Yes, my tame statistician confirms there are sixteen variations.

Now there's a pioneering story which changes the plot to include local landmarks in major cities. I'd like to change all my books to happy endings. Surprise endings and happy endings. I may not be with the majority on this. Women's magazines require short stories to have happy endings. But films and novels are different.

I think it was one of the great American novels by Hemingway, later made into a film, where studio audiences were shown two variation and asked to vote. To the surprise of the film producers the audiences chose the sad ending. More realistic? The Chinese like classic works to show grim reality. Not me. But I do like local landmarks on my literature.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3172264/Is-ultimate-holiday-read-New-travel-book-uses-GPS-adapt-plot-include-nearby-landmarks.html