Here are all the latest newsletters:
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Saturday 1st April
10.30-12.30 GMT
£10
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Join
Amanda for this 2-hour workshop where you'll dive deep into your main characters to really
get to know who they are, where they come from, what makes them tick,
and what their hopes, dreams, fears and shames are. Knowing this will
help you to write characters that leap off the page and really come
alive for you and for the reader.
Workshop Leader: Amanda
started Retreat West in 2012 and launched Retreat West Books in 2017
(Winner: Most Innovative Publisher 2020 Saboteur Awards). She's been
designing and teaching online courses, and live workshops, for many
years and has worked as an editor on hundreds of
manuscripts. She's the author of two novels, As If I
Were A River (2016) and Remember
Tomorrow (2019) and is now working on a
novella-in-flash and a flash fiction collection.
Amanda's
stories have been widely published; long/shortlisted in the Mslexia
Flash Fiction Competition, Fish Flash Fiction Prize, Ink Tears Short
Story Prize, Cranked Anvil Short Story Competition, Flash 500 and V300;
nominated for Best Small Fictions 2023; and won the Editor’s Choice
Prize at 101 Words.
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NEW
WORKSHOPS ADDED TO THE EVENTS CALENDAR
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Join Martha for this 2-hour generative workshop to
discover how bringing animals into your stories can add new depth and
layers.
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Join Amanda to discover tools and resources to help
you keep a positive mindset when your stories get declined by editors.
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We have many more workshops scheduled right up until
late June at the moment that can help you develop your craft to
write and edit your flash fictions, short stories and novels.
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Hi
all, it's Gaynor here with your monthly newsletter.
Three
months into the new year and I can't decide if it's gone quick or slow.
My life is ruled by school holidays and it does seem like we're
whizzing toward the summer faster than ever before. I used to meditate
every day - I even had a little space in the spare room for it and I
think that helped slow down time. Now I struggle to find the time to
meditate on top of everything else. I am always juggling freelance
work, my zero hours contract, school runs and of course my writing.
In
the past, I'll admit, writing has been the first thing to go in times
of overwhelm. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but now
that I am trying to treat it in a more 'business like' manner I try and
cling on to my writing time wherever I can, even if it means I'm
writing at 9pm on a Friday night when I'd much rather be watching
something awful on the TV (please don't judge my love of awful reality
shows!)
Still,
the evenings will soon be getting lighter, the sun will soon be shining
more often into the garden, and I know time will seem to stretch out
again. I'll just have to cram as much writing in, as and when I can
(and then have a lovely long break while I await feedback!).
Happy
writing, whatever you are up to this month
Gaynor
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Flash
Fiction: This month I am sharing Evacuate by Valerie O'Riordan. Be
warned before you read that it's a visceral and violent
piece. I've always been interested in 'end of the
world' narratives, mostly from my love of zombie movies to
be honest. What I like about this take on the theme is the huge sense
of character that O'Riordan develops, culminating in that stinging
final line - "I look at Ma who's wailing and I shout happy
now?" It feels pretty realistic within such a genre story to have
an unhappy child shout this and I like the mesh and clash of the very
serious subject matter, with the tone and voice in this flash.
Short
Story: This month I am sharing the classic chiller Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
By Joyce Carol Oates, which honestly I could talk about for hours, so
I'll keep it short here. It's fair to say that my favourite genre of
... well, anything really, could be classed as 'well, this is a nice
normal day, oh no it absolutely is NOT' and here we have a shining
example. There is some true life background to the story which deepens
it for me, there's the symbols on the car, there's the question of
whether Arnold is human or not ... and of course, the ultimate
question? Why does she agree to go with him at the end? I
would love know your thoughts!
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Write
a story that is centred around a protest
Write
a story that features the taste of overripe fruit
Write
a story that takes place at a puppet show
Write
a story about someone who is trying to work while a pet constantly
pesters them (can you guess how I came up with this one?)
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Welcome to the March
monthly writing news about all that's been happening and is coming up
at Retreat West!
We hope you're finding
time and inspiration for your writing! There's lots of
opportunities to get writing with our latest workshops, courses
and competitions.
The last ever
Quarterly Flash winners have been announced
- congratulations to the winners! We loved running this
comp over the past 7 years but are excited to have replaced
it with our new online journal, WestWord.
The first edition from open submissions is coming next month and we
can't wait to bring you the following brilliant stories!
Submissions for the next
edition will be open for the month of May and there's no
theme this time around. Send us your best
micros, flashes and short stories.
There
are just a few spaces left on Amanda's latest Fantastic Flashing course starting on 20th
March and only 2 on her brand new Short Story Summer course.
We've launched a
brand new competition to win mentoring to develop your flash
fiction writing; we've decided to run the Christmas Advent comp again
as it was so much fun last year (opens next month); and we've decided
on the longlist
for the First Chapter competition. The shortlist decision is
proving very hard indeed to make and we have been debating for a while
now! We are so impressed by the amazing novels being written.
With
love,
Amanda
and Gaynor x
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2023
WRITING & SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES
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There
are only 2 spaces left on this course!
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In this 6 week Zoom
course we'll be looking in depth at a short story each week and you'll
be writing one story for detailed feedback from Amanda and the
group, as well as getting 5 other prompts to develop new stories from.
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Each week this drop-in
group looks at different aspects of craft to get
you flexing your writerly muscles. Pay what you can afford
and no commitment to sign up for a certain amount of sessions.
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There
are only 5 spaces left on this course!
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This 6-week course will
get you writing more mindfully to bring new depths to your characters
and stories.
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Our fourth Online Flash
Fest! Just 1 day of flashy fun this time and we have brilliant sessions
lined up with Tim Craig, Farhana Kalique, Stephanie Carty and Dan
Crawley. It's gonna be fab!
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Get published in the
online anthology edition of our new journal and win great cash
prizes! Deadline for submissions: 25th June 2023
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Huge congratulations to
the winners of the last ever Quarterly Flash competition!
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Upcoming Submission
Deadlines
The March Monthly Micro Competition has
gone live today! You have until Sunday to write your 100-word
masterpiece on the theme: SEASON. Info
here.
The
Opening Lines competition has a deadline of 26th March.
Send the first 300 words of your novel to win editorial feedback on the
full MS. Info
here.
The
Flash Mentoring Contest has a deadline of 30th April.
Send your best flash up to 1000 words to win up to 4 months of
mentoring. Info
here.
The
Pitch to Win Contest has a deadline of 8th May. Pitch us
the novel you'll write to win a fully-funded place on the Novel Creator
Course starting in September 2023. Info
here.
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Lots of great stuff
coming up this year and we have workshops scheduled up until June at
the moment. With more to be added! They are just £5 or £10 and some are
included with our Community Membership. We now also have
a multi-pass where you can get 5 classes for the price of 4.
Coming up in March
and April we have:
Sat 18th March - 10.00-12.00 GMT
Characters in Conflict with Amanda Saint
Sat 01st April - 10.30-12.30 BST
Creating Characters that Come Alive with Amanda Saint
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We have some great
courses to help you develop your craft, meet writing pals and get new
words on the page.
We now have five email
courses available on our Pay What You Can Afford model, all of them
starting at just £15.
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If you value what we
provide for the writing community at Retreat West and can afford to
make a donation, please support us so that we can keep on bringing you
great writing opportunities. Thank you!
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Retreat West | Apt 3735 Chynoweth House
Trevissome Park Truro
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