“FACETS OF FICTION” Workshopping the nuts and bolts of Creative Writing with Mike Smith aka Brindley Hallam Dennis

The workshops are for writers interested in getting to grips with the theory and practice of narrative fiction, from the origins of stories, to the purposes for which they are used. There are sessions on the Narrator, Audience, and Author, and on the way context affects the writing and the reading. We examine the hooks and baits that tempt us to bite on a story, but which may be hard to swallow. Sessions focus on specific areas, such as locating your stories, character and dialogue, and ambience. We look at options for promoting and publishing your work. We consider the metaphors that we unconsciously use to describe what we think stories are, and what writers and readers are doing. We look at The Rules, and where they come from, and how and why we should break them.

Mike Smith is a teacher and writer. His work has been broadcast, filmed, anthologised, published, and performed, winning literary prizes & awards. He has published poems, plays and critical essays. He is a regular contributor to the online Thresholds Postgraduate Short Story forum. As Brindley Hallam Dennis around one hundred of his own short stories have been published, along with That’s What Ya Get! Kowalski’s Assertions (Unbound Press) and A Penny Spitfire (Pewter Rose). He has led workshops for Cumbria Institute of the Arts, The National Trust, and for writers groups around Cumbria. He teaches Creative Writing at Cumbria University’s Brampton Road Campus, Carlisle. He holds the M Litt Creative Writing from Glasgow University.

The workshops run fortnightly in sets of five two-hour sessions, 7.00pm-9.00pm at Mike’s home in north Cumbria. Cost £40. Groups are kept small and stable where possible. Please ring or e-mail to secure a place on the next available course. (01228 711 388 or BrindleyHD@aol.com).