Story, characterisation, a sense of place and strongly-voiced narrative are the drivers of effective and memorable non-fiction. But how do you manage these elements while juggling your research? How do you rise above a welter of facts? And what happens when your research doesn’t ‘fit’?
This course, taught by acclaimed non-fiction writers Marina Benjamin and Helena Attlee, will give you tools, mentoring, community and inspiration, wherever you are in the writing process, helping you to shape your narrative and make it sing from the page.
We’ll help you to make ‘Arvon at Home’, turning your own place into a writing cocoon, capturing the transformative power of our acclaimed Arvon residential courses: two brilliant author-tutors at your service, a caring and sharing group, the time and space to devote to your writing, invaluable feedback, new writing pals, and the unique creative progress that happens in a dedicated week.
You will be offered the best of a classic Arvon residential week, with a few virtual tweaks. Spot the difference: a carefully balanced combination of tips to help you focus, daily morning workshops, one-to-one tutorials with both tutors, three evening get-togethers to chat about the day’s work, a mid-week guest reading offer, the celebratory Friday-evening collective reading, and lots of time and encouragement for you to write every day.
All gatherings, one-to-one or group, will be delivered via our own Arvon Zoom, so you’ll need to have a reliable internet connection. Your Arvon host will be on call to offer support as you need it, including any help you may need with your computer set-up.
To participate, and to get the most out of the week, you’ll need to turn up online for all planned morning sessions, Monday to Friday. You should also set aside your afternoons for tutorials and independent writing time. Last but not least, we urge you to read your tutors’ published work before the week starts.
Cost: £400 / £200 Concessions*
*As part of our effort to increase participation in the arts, a limited number of half-price concessions are available for this course at checkout.
Accessibility Statement: We are committed to making our Arvon at Home programme accessible to as many people as possible.
Across all of Arvon at Home: All sessions will have auto-generated captioning. During sessions we will have a text version available via screen share. There is a Chat facility to ask any questions.
Online Writing Weeks / Weekends: Courses have much smaller groups than Masterclasses and How I Write events, and are also more interactive with your fellow course participants and tutors, so cameras and audio are usually on (though both are completely optional). If you would prefer your camera and audio to be off, it would be helpful to let your course host know this in advance.
Subject to funding/permissions (please contact us for more details):
Recording of Writing Weeks and Weekends.
Downloadable transcripts.
BSL interpretation.
Live captioning.
If you have any access issues that we have not covered here, please contact us on access@arvon.org