14th September 2024: 10.00 - 17.00 BST
Join us for an inspiring day dedicated to the art of short story writing.
Masterclasses, writing prompts and insights to help you write the best stories you can.
10.00 - 10.45 BST
Festival Opening and Keynote: Jumping into Stories with Nicholas Royle
We're kicking off the day with a welcome from host and Retreat West founder, me - Amanda Saint, and then Nicholas Royle will share his inspirational keynote.
Nicholas Royle is the author of five short story collections – Mortality, Ornithology, The Dummy and Other Uncanny Stories, London Gothic and Manchester Uncanny – and seven novels, most recently First Novel. He has edited more than two dozen anthologies and is series editor of Best British Short Stories for Salt, who also published his White Spines: Confessions of a Book Collector and follow-up volume Shadow Lines: Searching For the Book Beyond the Shelf.
In 2009 he founded Nightjar Press, which publishes original short stories in the form of limited-edition chapbooks. Forthcoming is Royle’s third short story collection for Confingo Publishing, Paris Fantastique.
11.00 - 12.30 BST
Something Changed with Alison Moore
Something has to be fundamentally different by the end – it can be something that’s happened, it can be something that’s realised, it can be something very small, it can be the rising of a knowledge that can no longer be suppressed – Lucy Caldwell, 'Endings and New Beginnings', Open Book, BBC Radio 4
In this workshop, we’ll consider a selection of short stories in terms of what changes, focusing on the stories’ beginnings and endings, the nature of the change, and the moment of change, paying particular attention to point of view. The stories are all available online and will be circulated in advance.
Alison Moore’s stories have appeared in various ‘Best Short Stories’ and ‘Best Horror’ anthologies. She has published two collections, including Eastmouth and Other Stories, and five novels, including The Lighthouse and The Retreat.
13.30 - 15.00 BST
Hooked on a Feeling with Meg Oolders
World ending, life or death stakes may grab our attention, but it’s the emotional experience of the people facing those stakes that keeps us glued to the page. In this session, you’ll learn how to reel your reader in from paragraph one by giving them what they desperately need to stay hooked on your story: A reason to CARE.
We'll look at: why emotional stakes are just as important as physical stakes in our stories and why we should set them firmly and as early as possible to keep our readers engaged; the importance of “voice” for setting the emotional tone of our stories; about the “promises” we make to readers with our opening lines and why we should consider breaking those promises. Sometimes.
A writing exercise will help you find the emotional heart of your story before you even start writing it! Please bring an idea for a short story you’d like to start writing, OR a first paragraph from a story you’d like to infuse with a stronger emotional hook.
is the author of the 2023 Watty Award winning novel, SEE DOT SMILE, and creator of the dynamic Substack publication, STOCK FICTION. Her compelling young adult novels are ripe with humor, heart, and emotional heroism, and her short form style is equal parts empathic, evocative, edgy, and experimental. Her short story SWEET SIXTEEN won a Lunar Award in 2023, and she plans to self-publish her first short fiction anthology by the end of this year. Meg lives in New England (USA) with her supportive husband and two intensely creative children. When she’s not writing, Meg works part-time as a floral designer, and she also enjoys yoga, long walks, cake, music, cooking, dance, and banter.15.15 - 16.45 BST
The Art of Pop Culture with Aaron Burch
Using pop culture in fiction can be tricky, and we are sometimes even encouraged not to (it can be denigrated as a “cheat,” or audience-limiting, or any number of other generalized complaints), and yet it is present in so many of our real world lives. We use it to relate to one another, to seek pleasure and consolation, to fill our lives, to understand ourselves and others and even the world around us.
We’ll look at various examples (in both personal essays and fiction, though with a specific emphasis and eye toward short stories) of using pop culture in prose, and discuss its multitude of advantages and uses — how it can be a lens, a mirror, a time machine, a reflection, a character trait, world-building, a doorway, an echo, and more.
Please have a song or specific movie scene, TV episode, video game moment, or similar, in mind and we will do a series of prompts to explore how to write using them artfully and generatively in fiction.
is the author of the memoir/literary analysis of Stephen King’s The Body; the short story collection, Backswing; and the novella, How to Predict the Weather. He is the Founding Editor of HOBART, where he edited and published stories that were anthologized in Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading. In 2023, he launched a new literary magazine, Short Story, Long. He is currently working on a novel, a maybe-chapbook of short-short prose, and collection of essays, THIS WAS ALL BEFORE THE INTERNET, about growing up and music and religion, essays from which, about Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, and Alice in Chains, have appeared in Salon, Catapult, and The Smart Set. He teaches at the University of Michigan.Get your tickets
You can buy tickets for the whole day, to get the replay links only, or buy tickets just for individual events. Just choose your ticket type!
Full Day Tickets: £35 Community Members or £45 Non-Members
Recordings Only Tickets: £25
Keynote Session: £10
Masterclasses: £15