Image Credits:-
Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots and photos from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick were taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thank you to Julia Patterson for taking the image of me leading my editing workshop at the 2023 Swanwick.
I’m shortly off on my travels again to a major highlight of my writing year, The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in lovely Derbyshire. I meet up with friends I only see online for the rest of the year (though that is wonderful).
Indeed, one writer I plan to be catching up at Swanwick is Val Penny, author of the DI Hunter Wilson series, whom I’ll be interviewing here again next week. I hope to write more about Swanwick for a later post here but I am running a two part course called Editing as a Writer, Editing as a Competition Judge, which I’m looking forward to presenting.
I thought it might be useful to share some tips as to how to make the most of any writing event you might go to, whether it is a week long residential one like Swanwick, or a single day event. (I am hoping to get to another of those soon too run by the Association of Christian Writers).
Let’s start by dealing with the obvious question first.
Why Go To Writing Events At All?
You get so much from these. As well as what you learn from the workshops and courses, you meet people in the industry. You meet other writers and many a friendship develops at events. I always see writing events as part of an author’s continuing professional development.
I will always appreciate those who told me about the Society of Authors at events. I also met my now publisher at one. So I’m not unbiased but it is true you cannot know what will come out of conversations you have with fellow authors at these things.
Best reason to go? They’re fun and you will learn something useful to you (even if it’s not immediately useful).
Top Tips for Making the Most of A Writing Event
It pays to work out what it is you want to get from the writing event. Which workshop/course would be the most useful to you now and in the near future? At Swanwick, there are many courses to choose from so it pays to focus on those of immediate or near immediate use to you.
Once I’ve done this, if I find I still have time to fill (and for a week long event like Swanwick this is a possibility), then I fit in a course which isn’t immediately useful but which I would like to know more about just because… Again you never know what that might lead to. I also love discovering more about the general writing world which is an excellent reason on its own to do this.
Pace yourself. I come back from Swanwick refreshed, reinvigorated, encouraged, and shattered. This is a good thing! You are taking things in all the time, you are on a creative high all the time, whether you’re writing, learning, or networking with other writers. It is amazing how tiring that can be. So allow for this. At Swanwick, you can go to the courses you want. It’s equally fine to go to loads or to go to a few with time off in between to work on your own writing. Delegates form their own programme. I love the freedom of this.
Have plenty of notebooks and pens. You will get through loads. It also pays to have spares. Pens run out at awkward times. And even if you use a laptop for note taking, it still pays to have an old school back up option. Battery life on laptops can sometimes come as a nasty surprise to a writer when they find they go from 35% power to 0% power in seconds. That never happens at a convenient time.
If you have the chance to have handouts (or be able to download material from a course after the event has finished, as you can with Swanwick as long as you are a delegate there), do so. They will jog your memory and add wonderfully to your own notes.
If you have the chance to give feedback after the event, whether is to say Swanwick or an individual tutor or both, please do. It is helpful to all. I know I’ve appreciated the feedback I’ve had on my workshops. It’s helped me improve my material further.
If your tutor invites questions, do ask some! These can lead to interesting discussions with the group. I’ve found a lot of useful information has come out of things like this. As you know in advance which course you are likely to go to, why not jot a few notes as to things you might ask?
Oh and there is no such thing as a silly question. At Swanwick, the attendees range from complete beginners to professionally published writers with decades of experience and anything in between. So something that might be obvious to you wouldn’t be obvious to a beginner.
Issues which effect the more experienced end of the scale could be something for you to think about and reflect on because these might become relevant to you later. From a tutor’s viewpoint, questions can flag up what attendees feel they need to know which can in turn help you strengthen your workshop material further.
Get to a course early so a tutor can start on time. Also helps you get a good seat! But often there is time for conversation with writers around you ahead of the workshop. Sharing what you hope to get out of the workshop can be enlightening.
Often, exercises are set and delegates are invited to read out some of what they’ve come up with. Give it a go. Remember nobody is expecting perfection. We all know it’s a rough first draft, nothing more. But taking part in things like this gives you invaluable feedback. You can also see/hear how certain lines went down with those around you. That kind of feedback is like gold dust. It is so helpful to you when it comes to editing your work later.
Keep hydrated and I am thinking the non-alcoholic variety of drinks here! Hydration helps with concentration – you will be doing lots of that. Again, the lack of hydration can make you feel tired. I must admit at the end of a day at Swanwick, there is something so lovely about having a drink (including alcohol this time) with fellow writers as we discuss the courses we’ve attended.
Do chat with your fellow writers. We have an advantage here in that we have an instant topic of conversation which helps break the ice. Asking someone what they write is a sure fire way to get the conversation going. Also see it from your viewpoint as a great opportunity to practice that one or two line statement about your work you will naturally have ready (because you need this for approaching a publisher and/or agent, right, and of course you do have something ready to say here, don’t you?!).
I found it enormously helpful to have something ready to say to people here because it helped me overcome my nerves. I knew I’d have to talk about my writing at some point and writing events give you that chance with people who understand what it is to have that drive to write. I also continue to find writers are wonderfully generous people as they will hear you out but make sure you ask what they write.
It may lead you to fields of writing you might want to explore yourself later on. After all someone (CafeLit) flagged up flash fiction to me. I also find in conversations like this, you naturally lead on to things like are you published/who are you hoping to be published with and, from there, often on to the joys and challenges of getting work out there. You can learn so much from this.
Keep in contact with at least some fellow writers after an event. Social media makes this easier to do. As well as being a fabulous way to keep the friendship going, you can encourage one another outside of that event. When I read my Writing Magazine, one of the first things I do is flick through it and look for the names of those I recognise from things like Swanwick. It’s a bad month if there are less than four in there! Sometimes writers I know will flag up flash fiction competitions to me in case I’m interested. I can flag up items of interest to writers I know. This is always a good thing.
Conclusion
Writing is by its nature solitary but nobody says writers have to be that way all the time. Well run writing events can bring much joy, and useful knowledge, to a writer, no matter what stage of the writing journey they’ve reached. You’ll add to your reading list too but when has that ever been a bad thing?
Hope you have a fabulous time at any writing events you go to this year.
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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