Online
Join me online each month for a friendly, practical creative writing workshop designed to help you develop your craft, try new techniques and, most importantly, put them into practice.
Each month, we'll take a deep dive into a different aspect of fiction writing, from character and dialogue to structure, pacing, description, and even editing. Workshops are practical, as interactive as you want them to be, and suitable for writers at all stages, whether you're working on a novel, writing short fiction, or simply looking to develop your skills.
Each two-hour workshop is divided into three parts. We'll begin with an interactive craft session, exploring the month's topic through practical guidance, examples, and discussion. We'll then have time for questions, exercises, and experimentation, giving you a chance to try out what we've covered. Finally, we'll finish with around 30 minutes of quiet writing time, when you can apply what you've learned to your own work or continue with the workshop exercises.
Every session stands completely alone, so there's no course to follow and no commitment to attend every month. Simply choose the workshops that interest you and book those.
Workshops take place on Zoom on the first Sunday of every month from 3pm–5pm French time / 2pm–4pm UK time and cost €15 per session. Your Zoom details will be sent by email the day before the workshop.
Can't make it live? No problem. Everyone who books will receive a link to the workshop replay by email afterwards, so you can catch up in your own time or revisit the session later.
2027 Workshop Programme
3rd January 2027
Painting with Words
Great description isn't about cramming in more adjectives — it's about choosing the details that make a scene come alive. In this workshop, we'll explore how to create vivid, immersive descriptions using sensory detail, specificity, character perspective, and carefully chosen language. You'll experiment with different techniques for bringing people, places, and moments to life without slowing your story to a crawl.
7th February 2027
It’s Not About the Weather
Some of the most powerful dialogue is about everything except what the characters are actually saying. We'll explore the art of subtext: how characters hide, hint, evade, deflect, and communicate without saying exactly what they mean. Through examples and practical exercises, you'll discover how to add tension, emotion and layers of meaning to conversations on the page.
7th March
2027
Creating Characters Readers Love
What makes us care about a fictional character — even when they're difficult, flawed or downright unlikeable? We'll look at the ingredients that make characters compelling, including goals, stakes, inner conflict, agency, and worldview, and explore how they work together to create characters readers understand, invest in and remember.
4th April
2027
Playing with Narrative Distance
How close is your reader to your character — and what happens when you move them closer or further away? This workshop explores narrative distance and how it can change the emotional intensity, pace and feel of a scene. You'll learn how to move deliberately between distance and intimacy, and how small changes in language can completely alter the reader's experience.
2nd May
2027
Show, Don’t Tell — And When Not To
“Show, don't tell” might be one of the most repeated pieces of writing advice — and one of the most misunderstood. We'll look at what showing and telling actually mean, what each can do for your story, and why good writing needs both. You'll learn how to recognise when a moment deserves to be shown in full and when telling is actually the stronger choice.
6th June
2027
Beginning, Middle… Now What?
You have a great beginning. You might even know how the story ends. But what on earth happens in between? We'll explore how story structure works without insisting that every novel must follow the same formula. From turning points and escalation to cause and effect and the dreaded saggy middle, you'll learn practical ways to find the shape of your story and keep it moving forward.
4th July
2027
Who Said That?
Do all your characters sound suspiciously like the same person? We'll explore what creates a distinctive character voice, from vocabulary and sentence rhythm to background, attitude, worldview and the things a character notices — or refuses to say. You'll experiment with ways to make each character sound authentically themselves without relying on gimmicks, catchphrases or exaggerated accents.
1st August
2027
Under the Microscope
Sometimes the difference between a sentence that works and one that really sings is surprisingly small. This practical introduction to line editing takes us right down to sentence and paragraph level, exploring clarity, rhythm, repetition, word choice and flow. You'll learn how to examine your own prose with a more critical eye — without editing all the life out of it.
5th September 2027
Love at First Page
Your opening doesn't have to explode, shock or begin with a dead body — but it does need to give your reader a reason to continue. We'll explore what strong openings actually do, from establishing character, voice and story promise to creating curiosity without confusion. Whether you're starting something new or revisiting an existing draft, you'll learn how to make those crucial first pages work harder.
3rd October 2027
What’s Wrong With This Scene?
You know the feeling: there's nothing obviously wrong with the scene, but somehow it just isn't working. In this workshop, we'll build a practical diagnostic toolkit for figuring out why. We'll examine purpose, character goals, conflict, stakes, pacing, emotional movement and more, helping you identify what's missing, what's getting in the way — and whether that troublesome scene needs to be there at all.
7th November 2027
Speed Up, Slow Down
Good pacing doesn't mean keeping your foot on the accelerator from beginning to end. Stories need moments that race, moments that breathe and everything in between. We'll explore the tools writers can use to control pace — including scene and summary, sentence structure, dialogue, description, chapter breaks and the passage of time — and learn how to recognise when your story is rushing or beginning to drag.
5th December 2027
The Writer’s Year in Review - FREE SESSION
A chance to finish the year by looking back at what you've written, learned, attempted and achieved - including the things that didn’t quite go according to plan. We’ll celebrate progress, take stock of where we are as writers, and start thinking about where we’d like our writing to take us next.