About 'a chapter away'

As a writer you know what a joy and excitement it is when the words finally start to flow.

Whether you aim to leave a private MEMOIR for your family, bring together an anthology of POETRY, or publish a NOVEL for millions of readers the world over, our courses offer you 'time out' and the expertise to set you on the right path, with help from writers, poets, publishers, editors and literary agents.

Let us bring an unforgettable chapter into your life. Our aim is to offer writers time and space in which to connect with their imaginative selves, without outside interruptions, filling blank pages with new words and new worlds.

A chapter away also acts as a scout for a major UK literary agency.

A lot! But it depends what you are prepared to put in. Students arrive with different levels of expectation. Some come with a full volume of work hoping that one of our agents will sign them up or point them in the right direction. Others may have started a novel and lost their way, needing help from our editors or course tutors. Others arrive knowing they want to write more than anything in the world, but unsure where to start. It is important to come with an open mind. Sometimes a course can take you in unexpected directions. Perhaps you will leave without having written a sentence because a day into the course you realised it was more important at this stage of your journey to listen and absorb information than write.

Often students produce vast quantities of work in the weeks and months that follow a retreat. Sometimes it becomes a more important use of time to ask questions, to voice concerns, and to leave empowered with a new set of ideas and writing tools. But then again you may use the week to produce writing that you can try out on yourself, the instructors and fellow students. Each course and each group of students is different. The more the group gives as a whole, the more everyone will benefit; even our published authors who are published several times over can leave a retreat inspired. Many students become close friends and form their own writing groups and continuing to share their work in the months and years that follow. Others may decide to come back for further courses. Each course is different and each course tutor and speaker will lead the group in a different direction. No one can give you all the answers, but each student can learn from the group as a whole and as a consequence a retreat can be nothing short of magical.

Our courses seek to encourage the highest level of imaginative writing: Literary Fiction, Memoir, Poetry or the Short Story. They emphasis on Creative Writing as Art and on the production of work which aims to be of a publishable standard.

As new speakers come on board we continue to develop the range of courses we offer, each course designed to reflect individual and collective aims and incorporating the skills of the particular tutors, speakers and agents. Students attending more than once will find something new each time.