I'm lucky, me. I have a study.
I also have a writing hut.
But I still find that some of the best ideas happen when I’m
away.
When I started writing, over 20 years ago now, I went on a
week-long course at Ty Newydd. It’s on the Lleyn Peninsula in Wales - and it’s
a wonderful place to write.
The tutors were Kevin Crossley-Holland and Valerie Bloom and
they were both fantastically encouraging. ‘You’ve got it, Malachy,’ they said. ‘Now go home and do
it!’
So I did. And two of the stories I was working on that week
became books (The Football Ghosts, 11
years later, and The Snuggle Sandwich, 14 years later!)
A year after that I got a bursary from the Arts Council of
Northern Ireland and spent it on a week at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in
Annaghmakerrig, County Monaghan.
Another superb place to write.
Three of the stories I was working on that week became
books - Una and the Sea-Cloak, The King of the Birds and Moya, The Luck Child.
These days, when I go away, it’s generally to help other
people write. I’ve been back to Ty Newydd many times, running courses,
including with both Kevin and Valerie.
I’ve also led residential courses at Annaghmakerrig and
at all three of the Arvon centres across England – courses for schoolchildren
and for adults. It’s great to give back, to encourage, to inspire, to help people find their voice… And it’s wonderful to discover the occasional just-about-fully-formed-but-didn't-yet-know-it writer to whom you
can say, ‘You’ve got it! Now go home and do it!’
At the Totleigh Barton Arvon centre in Devon I was teaching a new writer for children, Anthea Simmons. She wrote her
first picture book story ‘Share!’ there. It’s gone on to be published in many
languages, and already has two sequels.
In the same place, on a course I taught with Vivian French,
we helped a new and very exciting
young writer by the name of Michelle Robinson find her picture-book voice. (She's been known to lurk hereabouts.)
And just the other day I heard from the illustrator Guy
Parker-Rees that a character he developed on an Arvon course I was
teaching a while back has not only become a book, but has sold to Brown Bag films
for development as an animation series.
Running courses helps my own writing too. I generally sit in on
the sessions of my co-tutors, often finding myself inspired to write things I’d never
have written at home. I was recently teaching an Arvon schools course with
Sheena Wilkinson, a fellow Northern Irish writer, and wrote a story in one of
her sessions (in fifteen minutes flat, as you do!) that, fingers crossed, will soon be a picture
book.
So, yes, I’m a big fan of writing courses and of the idea of
going away to write. It's a excellent way to shift gear, to see things differently, to try a new approach or a whole new genre and to find the confidence to follow where it leads...
And if anyone’s tempted, I’m leading one at The Hurst (the
newly-refurbished and delightful Arvon centre in Shropshire) at
the end of May.
It’s a Tutored Retreat, so rather than running workshops, I’ll
be available all week, with my co-tutor, the very excellent Narinder Dhami, to
help you with your writing. Whatever you’re working on – from picture books to
young adult, it’ll be a great place to find inspiration, to write and to develop as a writer. And maybe, hopefully, like me, you’ll get a book or two out
of it. Arvon tell me there are still some places left, and that there's a possibility of bursaries for those who can’t afford the full fee. Oh, and our special guest on the Wednesday night is the
superb Geraldine McCaughrean – not to be missed.
So has anyone else any suggestions as to other good places to go away and write. What works for you, and why?
'The Greatest Stories' (Oxford Reading Tree: Treetops), May 2016
And if anyone would like to find out more about the tutored retreat at The Hurst, go to the Arvon website:
http://www.arvon.org/course/childrens-and-young-adult-fiction-tutored-retreat/
or ring The Hurst 01588640658 (from UK), email thehurst@arvon.org
