Sarah Dobbs's Blog, page 9
October 18, 2013
Hotcourses offer, new Red Room review and competition
The collection itself includes some great stories by the following:
Elizabeth Baines Bill Broady David Constantine Carys Davies Sarah Dobbs Vanessa Gebbie Tania Hershman Zoë King Rowena Macdonald Alison Moore David Rose Felicity Skelton and a poem by Simon Armitage Edited by A. J. Ashworth
It's available for pre-order now and is out on 1 November.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Room-Stor...
Here's the lovely review:
http://ourbookreviewsonline.blogspot....
Our courses are also doing well and there's a half-price hotcourses special offer for anyone interested - just though I'd mention it here too. £30 for a 4 week online beginners course. You can also buy now as a voucher and book within 12 months.
To book:
http://www.hotcourses.com/uk-courses/...
You can find out more about all our courses via the website too:
http://cwartistsway.wordpress.com
Also, wrote a story this week and submitted to the London Magazine competition. It has a polishing motif and the main character is called Harold. Much tamer than my novel. It definitely helps to take a break from novels every once in a while, write something short and I think allows for some refocussing?
Here's the competition link, if anyone's interested in having a go. Deadline is 31 October.
http://thelondonmagazine.org/tlm-comp...
September 24, 2013
Creative Writing workshops for the terrified...or rusty, Manchester
A friendly space to practice your writing and gain valuable feedback. All levels welcome!
http://www.meetup.com/WritingManchest...
September 18, 2013
Blacks, Brontes and I ran out of alliteration
Busy week. Nearly died in spare bedroom – No. Lie. – but have also been out and about. Proof below.
Read with some lovely gents at gentleman’s / private club (donno?) Blacks in Soho. Many thanks to the Writer’s Guild for inviting us to their latest Off the Shelf and treating us to a gorgeous meal.
Next up is such a positive review from Sabotage. It’s of the forthcoming Red Room (Unthank), a collection inspired by the Brontes. My story, Behind all the Closed Doors, gets a nice mention too. Feels weird, but still.
Here is Red Room – ain’t it pretty (even if it is sideways)? I hear one of the stories is making it into Salt’s annual Best British Short Stories. This is good.
Also went to the Loose Muse anthology launch after our weekly writing class. We do loads of things, especially with the MLF coming up. Book gluttons heaven. So have a look and come along if interested!
September 17, 2013
‘Red Room: New Short Stories Inspired by the Brontës’ (ed. A. J. Ashworth)
Originally posted on Sabotage:
-Reviewed by Rebecca Burns-
A.J.Ashworth, the editor of Red Room – a collection of short stories (and a poem) ‘all inspired by the Brontës, their lives, their work’ – writes in her introduction to the collection that ‘[t]he Brontës fascinate us’. There is no doubt this is the case, despite the passage of over a hundred and fifty years since the death of Charlotte, the last Brontë sister. Such continued adoration was recently evidenced by a story in the Telegraph, concerning the sale of a Charlotte Brontë letter, written to an admirer of Jane Eyre, which fetched around £24,000. It was with interest, then, and a shared love of some Brontë texts, that I approached Red Room, a collection of stories ‘written by some of the best short story writers in Britain today’.
A percentage of the sales of the anthology will raise funds for The Brontë Birthplace
View original 692 more words
'Red Room: New Short Stories Inspired by the Brontës' (ed. A. J. Ashworth)
-Reviewed by Rebecca Burns-
A.J.Ashworth, the editor of Red Room - a collection of short stories (and a poem) 'all inspired by the Brontës, their lives, their work' – writes in her introduction to the collection that '[t]he Brontës fascinate us'. There is no doubt this is the case, despite the passage of over a hundred and fifty years since the death of Charlotte, the last Brontë sister.
September 6, 2013
When Competitions Hinder You
This is really, really odd.
The Richard & Judy bookclub, that well known bastion of literary knowledge and talent, has teamed up with a person favourite publisher of mine, Quercus to bring you: Richard & Judy’s Search for a Bestseller.
Aspiring authors, emerging writers, send your first 10,000 words to them along with a biography and a synopsis and you could win a publishing deal worth £50,000.
Win a free creative writing course
When they reach 150 followers on Twitter, everyone who liked or followed or shared isin with achance of winning!
The prize is your choice of beginners, intermediate or advanced and you can even gift it to a friend!
Here's our courses if you want to have a look
http://www.hotcourses.com/uk-courses/...
Good luck!
September 1, 2013
F@£&!?g Bad Language and Writer’s Guild event
Had a tremendous time reading at Bad Language. Here’s a picture to prove it. This time, I’m not lurking behind the microphone in an attempt to hide. I enjoyed it, must be getting better…
Lovely line up of own mic readings and they’re doing it all again on 25th September. Get down to one if you’ve never been before. The organisers, Dan and Nicki, are lovely.
So what’s next?
Well, finish the second novel which will actually be more like my fourth, but who’s counting.
Also this, which looks brilliant basically:
Unthank Books – Off the Shelf at Black’s
30 AUGUST 2013
POSTED IN BOOKS AND POETRY
Next Guild literary event – 16 September in London
The next Writers’ Guild Off the Shelf event at Black’s in Soho is a special day with Unthank Books and its writers. Guild members and othersd are invited to hear readings by the chosen authors, followed by a delicious two-course lunch at Blacks members’ club in London’s Soho. The featured writers are: lecturer in creative writing at the Open University Ashley Stokes (Touching the starfish, Unthank’s launch publication, and The Syllabus of Errors); musician, editor and writer Nick Sweeney (Laikonik Express), and writer and lecturer in creative writing in the North West of England Sarah Dobbs (Killing Daniel).
Unthank Books was launched in early 2010 in response to what it saw as a “particularly egregious spell of awful or no literary fiction being published by the mainstream houses and its concomitant deleterious effect on aspiring literary authors”. Since then, it has published 15 books, including its annual Unthology of shorter prose, twice-staged UnLit, The Unthank Literary Festival, and delivered numerous courses in poetry, prose and screenwriting through the Unthank School of Writing.
Details
11am-2.30pm, 16 September
Blacks, 67 Dean Street, Soho, London
Price: £25 (includes two-course lunch, tea/coffee)
Bookings/more information: Jan Woolf janwoolf@hotmail.com
August 20, 2013
Creative Writing Meetup, Manchester
But we need members - join us!
Have a look if you're in the area, or nearby.
http://meetup.com/WritingManchester
Sarah
August 13, 2013
How to: Write a Novel
Everyone's got a novel in them... have you? So what's the difference between novels that languish in dusty drawers and those in the Waterstones display window? For most, the answer is study, perseverance and a helping hand.
This 3 month course aims to equip you with the things every novelist needs: The idea, the ability and the guidance.
You will take part in weekly peer to peer writing workshops and gain first-rate tuition from Guardian Not the Booker nominee, Dr Sarah Dobbs, author of Killing Daniel.
We have links with publishers, editors and agents and will recommend selected students.
Week 1 – Introduction - inspiration and ideas.
Week 2 - The First Page.
Week 3 – Character as plot.
Week 4 – Throughlines and timelining: how to plan
Week 5 – Subplot and minor characters
Week 6 – When and how to research. Mid-course review.
Week 7 – Dynamic dialogue
Week 8 – Voice, tone and POV
Week 9 – Genre and description: the senses
Week 10 – Drawing the strands to a close; endings
Week 11 – Editing: redrafting with different lenses
Week 12 – Review and where to go from here: the Agent, the covering letter & synopsis.
Price: £325
Online booking : http://www.hotcourses.com/uk-courses/...
For info email sarahjanedobbs@gmail.com or visit our website: http://cwartistsway.wordpress.com
We also offer a variety of other courses, manuscript feedback and face to face classes in Manchester.Killing Daniel
