Thursday 14 April

A Dialogue Workshop with Sara Barnard

Dialogue and voice – the difference between the two, how to do both effectively etc – with a primary focus on writing for teenagers/young people.

Sara lives in Lewes and has been writing ever since she was too small to reach the “on” switch on the family Amstrad computer. She gets her love of words from her dad, who made sure she always had books to read and introduced her to the wonders of secondhand bookshops at a young age.

She studied American Literature with Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, which taught her everything she needed to know about how she didn't want to write.

She has lived in Canada, interrailed through Europe, and once spent the night in an ice hotel. She is inspired by what-ifs and people. She thinks sad books are good for the soul and happy books lift the heart. She hopes to write lots of books that do both.

Review of the Meeting

Sara Barnard led an engaging workshop. We learned the difference between narrative voice, character voice and dialogue - and wrote passages in all three styles. We had three writing sessions when every head was bowed and the only sound was the occasional rustle of a turning page. Nearly all those present in the hall were ready to share one of the pieces that they had written.