A strong sense of place pervades the writing of William Butler Yeats, particularly the work inspired by the Sligo landscape he came to love as a boy. This workshop will use guided writing exercises and prompts to help participants to develop a sense of place in their own writing, and hone other skills essential to clear and beautiful prose.
Louise Kennedy’s writing has featured in The Stinging Fly, Ambit, The Tangerine, Wasifiri and The Incubator, and on Arena on RTE Radio 1. Prizes in 2016 include John O’Connor, Listowel -LosGatos and Short Fiction Journal contests. She is fiction editor of The Open Ear, a Belfast- based journal of new writing, and is a professional member of the Irish Writers Centre. She holds an MA Creative Writing with Distinction from Queens University Belfast, where she is currently undertaking a PhD. She is working on a collection of short stories set in the north west of Ireland.
In the workshop we will examine how some of our favourite writers have approached location and setting in their work. We will also look at how to create authentic, complex characters capable of making an emotional connection with a reader. The elements of craft such as tense, narrative voice and point of view will also be examined. The session will conclude with an introduction to editing.
