Writing the Novel - with Michael Langan | 8 Part Course | £160

Zoom Workshop dates

Every Two weeks.

Tue 6th Sept 7.30pm-9.30pm

Tue 20th Sept 7.30pm-9.30pm

Tue 4th Oct 7.30pm-9.30pm

Tue 18th Oct 7.30pm-9.30pm

Tue 1 Nov 7.30pm-9.30pm

Tue 15th Nov 7.30pm-9.30pm

Tue 29th Nov 7.30pm-9.30pm

Tue 13 Dec 7.30pm-9.30pm

Slack

Slack is a great online platform for keeping in touch between zoom sessions and a place to upload your work and share links. You will be invited to the Slack area at the start of the course.

About the Course - from Michael Langan

Writing a novel or novela is a real investment of your time and emotional energy. Find positive strategies to negotiate your way through this process with a combination of practical exercises to explore writing, inspirational queer-themed reading to draw energy from, and an interrogation of the specific issues LGBTQ+ writers often face in the process. We’ll do all this together to create a shared experience of the writing life.

I’ve long thought a novel is formed from the questions we ask of our writing. I’ve also come to the conclusion that those questions are also very often ones we ask of ourselves. For LGBTQ+ writers in particular, these questions are often deeply personal ones that deal with our histories and our experiences. This is even more the case when our queer experiences intersect with other, marginalized, identities such as class, race, and gender presentation/identification. But there is also an incredible joy and positivity in that process, something to be celebrated in life and in writing. So, how do we get there?

• Participants will undertake a series of guided writing exercises that explore some of the core aspects of prose fiction writing, such as characterization, dialogue, description, world-building, narrative strategy, and plot structure.
• There will be an emphasis on moving ideas forward, problem solving in writing, trying different approaches and stimulating new ideas.
• We will read together some extracts from LGBTQ+ themed writing to stimulate discussion around queering the creative approach to the novel and the novel as a form of storytelling. Participants will be encouraged to bring their own favourite examples of writing to share with the rest of the group.
• Course attendees will gain a greater understanding of their own writing process through practical work, exploring on the page, close reading, and talking around and about their process and their experiences of writing.
• There will be an opportunity in the final session of the course for participants to share a piece of writing produced in one of the sessions.

The course is aimed at beginner/emerging novelists and novela writers, perhaps those working on their first long-form fiction project, or those some way through who are feeling the need for some inspiration, some practical tips and advice, and an injection of creative energy. 

After the Course 

Attendees also get free access to our online LGBTQ+ Writer Network Community for 2022. This is a safe and managed space on our own Slack platform and it's easy to use.

Partial Bursaries for writers who would otherwise be unable to attend are available for this workshop. To enquire about a bursary please email Paul, his email address is contact@outonthepage.co.uk

About Michael Langan

Michael Langan works as a freelance editor, mentor, and writing workshop facilitator. He was a founding member of the Liverpool writing collective Queer Scribes, Arts Editor of Polari Magazine, and a Contributing Editor of Paris-based Seymour Magazine. He has a PhD in Creative Writing from Liverpool John Moores University and taught at the University of Greenwich for 10 years. In 2019 his debut novel, Shadow is a Colour as Light is, was published by LUME Books and he is currently working on his next. Each June (Pride month) Michael teams up with The Literary Consultancy to offer free feedback to LGBTQ+ writers as part of their LGBTQ+ Free Reads Scheme. Michael lives in Lisbon with his husband, the artist Henrique Neves.