Retreat West newsletters

 With details of this weekend's Fix Your First Chapter workshop and more:

Spend an hour this Saturday discovering ways to make your first chapter compelling and ensure that readers won't be putting it down. Just £5 and if you can't make it live we'll send you the recording afterwards.      Sign up for Fix Your First Chapter     SUMMER SATURDAY WORKSHOPS       Sign up for Plotting for Pantsers             Sign up for Keeping Your Reader Hooked     Community Events We've also got great masterclasses for our community members coming up this summer, which are included with all levels of membership.       Join our community here - annual membership starts at just £25     Copyright © 2022 Retreat West, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apartment 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Cornwall TR4 8UN United Kingdom

Send us your micros!  The first and second prize winners share 50% of the entry fees and the People's Prize winner gets a mystery prize (previously they've won Community Membership, feedback reports, flash festival tickets, books, notepads, and lots of lovely writerly things!). Plus everyone shortlisted gets published and wins a prize too and all will be entered into our new annual Retreat West Awards. We can't wait to read your stories inspired by this month's prompt - SHRINK     See all the info and enter here     Copyright © 2022 Retreat West, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apartment 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Cornwall TR4 8UN United Kingdom Book now for the Short Story Festival! We are really excited to be holding our first Short Story Festival this year on the 25th June. We've got workshops to get you writing featuring: Anna Vaught, The Intense Snapshot Sam Jordison, The Art of The Short Story Sarah Schofield, Fresh Approaches to the Short Story Joanna Campbell, Unsettling Your Reader Plus, readings from the winning writers in the 2021 Retreat West Short Story Prize  If you can't make the live sessions, we're selling a recordings only ticket so that you don't have to miss out We can't wait! Hope to see you there!   Get all the info and book your tickets here   Copyright © 2022 Retreat West, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apartment 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Cornwall TR4 8UN United Kingdom SUMMER WRITING CLASSES This summer we've got 3 Saturday online workshops (in June, July and August all taking place at 11am UK time) to help you create compelling narratives that keep your reader's gripped. Just £5 each for a 1-hour session with Amanda Saint on Zoom that will help you: ensure your first chapter does what it should to lure your reader in, connect them emotionally to your character, and compel them to read on; plot a novel even when you think you can't plot; and create compelling narratives in stories of all lengths.  If you're out and about on these dates, or in a different time zone, sign up anyway and you'll get sent the links to the recordings after the event has taken place.       Sign up for Fix Your First Chapter         Sign up for Plotting for Pantsers             Sign up for Keeping Your Reader Hooked     Community Events We've also got great masterclasses for our community members coming up this summer, which are included with all levels of membership.       Join our community here - annual membership starts at just £25       Copyright © 2022 Retreat West, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apartment 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Cornwall TR4 8UN United Kingdom

Seductive, rich, satisfying, layered and full of texture.  - Mary-Jane Holmes, author of Don't Tell the Bees Three novelettes-in-flash in one!     Novellas (or indeed novelettes!) in flash are all the rage in the flash fiction world at the moment and we are DELIGHTED to present our new prize-winning book to you, from as little as £1 per story! Pre-ordering can really help independent presses like Retreat West Books and, as always, we hugely appreciate your support ❤️ If you're a writer, see how each of our prize winners has used a totally different setting, era, voice and tone to create a unique piece of work.  If you're a reader, then sit back and enjoy being transported to the past, the present and the future. ••• … a brave young woman embarks on a different life through adopting a dangerous disguise.   … some families come together, others fall apart, all while adolescent longings and losses burn bright.   … on a climate-ravaged planet connections between the past, present and future unfold in a world caught between holding on and letting go.   *** These spellbinding narratives weave their way through historical stories and imagined futures, fractured families and burgeoning relationships, all with the ever-present power of the sea at their fore.     ORDER DIRECT FROM US! Paperback £10 includes UK p&p / Ebook £3   Amazon Kindle £3   Copyright © 2022 Retreat West, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apartment 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Cornwall TR4 8UN United Kingdom

Focus on ... ONE SCHEME OF HAPPINESS by ALI THURM  Published in 2020 and subsequently longlisted for the Guardian 'Not the Booker Prize", One Scheme of Happiness is a searing debut novel that explores regrets, desires and jealousy. With a striking coastal setting, fully-fleshed characters and tangled emotions, you won't want to miss this book.    Reviews say ... 'A deeply complex and compelling story'   'If you enjoy reading about relationships, marriage and loyalty, and appreciate beautiful writing, you WILL enjoy reading this book.'   'A truly enjoyable read; a page-turner that also lingers in the mind afterwards. Engaging and complex characters, and some interesting plot twists'   'If you read only one book this year make it this one...you won't be disappointed.' Buy Here   Copyright © 2022 Retreat West, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apartment 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Cornwall TR4 8UN United Kingdom