The festival is an opportunity for writers to get together, discuss, learn and share their work in a scale that is hard to find elsewhere. It is a bit like a writers' group, except the group numbers into the hundreds. This year's festival had over 300 attendees and 70 guests.
The scholarship is a an annual award given to young writers who have shown a dedication to writing. It pays for the young writer to attending all three days, including four one-to-one appointments with agents, publishers and authors. Just the thing any young author needs to get their foot in the door. I was amazed to find out that I had been awarded a scholarship to the whole festival. It was a fantastic surprise and this blog was a big part of why I won the award.
The festival is runs for three days, offering master degree style lectures, one to one interviews with agents and publishers, engaging talks about the different professions and a keynote speech from a literary giant; this year Sebastian Faulks.
On my first day I was part of novelist Lizzie Enfield's master course. In which she covered the many aspects that a manuscript must go through after a finished draft has been completed. Many non-writers will probably think that once the novels written it is done. Unfortunately this is far from reality, in truth it is just the beginning. After the initial draft (which can be at least 70,000 words for a short novel) several edits and proofreads need to be done. Every detail of your story needs to be analysed. Details like tone, pace, consistency, plot, sentence structure, spelling, oh and then there is grammar. Only then is it ready to send it to an agent who will then go through that same purpose. And take it from me there is a reason why editing is known as killing your darlings. Each and every small edit or cut hurts and it is a painful process. Any extra advice or techniques is gold dust to a fledgling writer like myself.
Day two began with a keynote speech from Sebastian Faulks, author of novels like The Girl at the Lion D'or, Charlotte Gray and Birdsong. In his speech he outlined the stages that he believed all writers go through, and reflected this upon his own life. His life was a great story in itself, and he certainly entertained the audience. Although I think he would have wowed us even if he had stayed silence, a career writer can do that.After this I attended four talks that covered different areas of interest to me. One talked about the potential that foreign markets hold for authors, the next was delivered by a young successful writer who talked generally about our craft, my third discussed methods of self-editing and my final talked about what it means to create a well-rounded story with a satisfying conclusion. All of these were invaluable to me giving me helpful advice, and more importantly enthusiasm to write.
On Sunday I took part in a full-day workshop on life writing taught by Paul Dodgson. I learnt techniques for recalling memories, and using these in your writing. An unexpected result was that I got to meet some writers who have led extraordinary lives. One woman had been a young girl living in Nazi Germany, another survived the destruction of her town. Some inspiring tales that definitely deserve putting pen to paper.
The Writers' Festival was amazing, and although I am feeling rather tired, I am more then ready to write. A big thank you to the University of Winchester, to Judith Hengan who organised the festival and to the many volunteers who ensured it ran smoothly.
