To say that this summer’s write4kicks Creative Residential was a success would frankly be an understatement! Our belief that 50 young writers, a team of enthusiastic teachers and an inspiring setting are the ingredients for great writing and great fun has definitely been validated.
We certainly packed it in, beginning every day with an exercise session to wake ourselves up and burn off at least some of Stonar’s fried breakfast. Then there were the workshops; this year Cat, Fliss, Belinda, Stacie and Griff offered sessions looking in detail at the novel, poetry, screenplays, autobiography, publishing, journalism and sci-fi. We also had a brilliant songwriting workshop run by engineer and songwriter, Matthew Booth and not forgetting of course, the fantastic Jack Thorne, writer of Shameless and Skins, who came down for a day to make available his infinite knowledge on writing for television. All our visiting writers were genuinely impressed by the young people they met.
We spent some time each day working in small groups, where our young writers got the opportunity to work with a mentor on improving their individual writing skills and we’re sure they’d all agree that the staff put in a great deal of one-to-one time with each of them. Of course, it was no great hardship, we were incredibly impressed not only by the quality of work we saw but also the commitment with which everybody worked on their pieces. This spirit was epitomised by Alice Belcher who put a huge amount of time and energy into her writing and for that reason was given the accolade of Most Dedicated Writer. We really enjoyed all of the pieces we read, but Rebecca Pickering’s really stood out in terms of its originality and the strength of its narrative voice and it was decided by the team therefore that she should receive the award for Most Promising Writer. These were certainly not the only two writers whose approach and style impressed us. You can be sure that there was more than one heated discussion in the staff room when the decisions were made!
Each day we used a focus session following dinner to get together as a whole group and share ideas for dealing with those tricky areas that even the most seasoned of writers often struggle with. We were struck by how opinionated people were during these reviews. Something we try to encourage at write4kicks is the belief that there is as much to learn from other young writers as there is from the teaching staff and this summer's group really embraced that idea.
And then there were the evenings…
Anyone who thinks that writers are boring should have seen this lot party! We can safely say that heads at Stonar were turned by some of the colourful outfits worn to the pool party. It was only the second night but it felt like we’d been there a week already, friendships had formed so quickly. It never fails to amaze us how that can happen on a residential, although we can honestly say that none of us have ever seen it happen quite like that before. It was a very special group.
Wednesday’s disco was great but exhausting. The DJ did an excellent job of catering to an eclectic range of musical tastes and keeping the dance floor full for most of the evening. We all know now what we didn’t know before: writers can dance! Well these ones can anyway, some serious moves were exchanged!
One of the highlights of the week was the Talent Show. It was a surprise that there were so many accomplished actors, singers, comedians and dancers among just 50 people! It was a truly enjoyable performance and a great night, made all the more entertaining by the hilarious compering of Harry Bulman. But the way he introduced each act wasn’t just funny, it was also generous and kind, which summed up his approach to the whole week and gained him the title of Most Constructive Group Member.
There was an impressive turnout for the presentations on the Saturday lunchtime, it was brilliant that so many parents were able to come and in some cases were willing to travel for many hours to be there. We hope they’d agree that it was well worth it, that the standard of work was extremely high and that it was a great opportunity to have a chat about the week over some lunch. It was a real honour for us that Fay Weldon was able to attend and give us the benefit of her experience and expertise.
To sum up then, a wonderful week, the write4kicks Team had the time of their lives and we think that quite a few of our writers feel the same way about it. We hope to see some familiar faces on our courses next year.
We’re sure we speak for everybody involved in saying an enormous thank you to:
Fay Weldon
Jack Thorne
Matthew Booth
Tessa Taylor at Stonar School
Oh go on then! A little pat on the back for ourselves too:
Cat Jones
Fliss Buckles
Belinda Seward
Stacie Lewis
Gareth Griffiths
The write4kicks Team |
