Working together
Writing Roomers know that when we work together we achieve more. We begin to see our work objectively, identifying our unique voice and gaining self-belief in our creative writing and in ourselves as writers.
Small cohorts
In our small tutor-groups (up to 12 students) you meet the same cohort every week for the six sessions of your course in a fun, friendly and supportive environment. You will get to know other writers and their writing, and they will get to know you and your writing. You will bump into them at our drop-ins and events, and meet writers who are attending other options. You'll make lasting friendships and writing buddies to keep you writing when you are finding it challenging.
Live hosting on Zoom
Zoom has transformed our reach and we’re now in touch with writers around the world. The majority of our students live in the UK but people have also attended from France, Spain, Italy, Iceland, the USA, Brazil, South Africa and Australia to name just a few. If you sign up for a course but have a holiday planned mid-way, you can attend from your holiday (and make us all very jealous!). Secondly, you can come when you might not have otherwise been able to leave the house: we have found that since transferring online our attendence is much higher than when people had to come to our writing studio. Finally, it's environmentally friendly to host online, with no need to travel to a venue, and we all save on travel costs.
Added benefits
We offer a wrap-around week of morning drop-ins which add a great deal of value to your course. We host a student showcase on Zoom each term where you can read an extract of your work to a friendly audience of students, friends and family. Preparing your extract and sharing it with a small audience is an enlightening experience! It's always a fascinating evening of words that the whole Writing Room and all the students team look forward to.
Course structure
Each of our courses is made up of six 2.5 hour sessions across either six weeks or twelve weeks. You may be given exercises or reading to complete outside class. This is optional but the more you put in, the more you get out! There will be a sharing element on your course where your writing is read by the group for feedback, and sometimes you might read your work aloud to the group. Sharing is optional but people tend to find it an extremely rewarding aspect of their course.
Enrolment and payment
The first step is to email contact@writingroom.org.uk to see if there is space available on your chosen course. We aim to respond within a day or two during the working week. We operate a 'pay to book' system. We'll send you an enrolment email with a payment request. Once you've paid, your place is secured and you'll get an email confirming your booking. We take payments via direct transfer into our bank account. You can post us a cheque if you prefer.
Refunds and transfers
Regrettably we can't refund a course fee, or transfer a course place, once the course has started. We're a small non-profit organisation and courses go ahead based on numbers of people signing up. However, if you're withdrawing before the course has started, we'll do our best to fill your place - which we very often will be able to do. If we succeed in filling your place, you'll get a refund minus a £10 admin fee. Obviously, the closer to the course you withdraw, the trickier it might be for us to fill your place, but we'll do all we can.
Supporting Community Arts
Writing Room is a registered community arts organisation, committed to allowing all creative writers to access our options, regardless of their ability to pay, so please check our bursary section if you'd like to sign up but feel you can't afford to. Please consider making a donation to our non-profit organisation if you would like to support our activities and bursary places. By attending our options and spreading the word about what we do, you are already supporting our us.
ZOOM IN YOUR OWN HOME
“It's very comfortable to Zoom in while being in your own home. It was the most enjoyable thing I have done for a long time. It helped me to sound out my writing while being given constructive criticism.”
Anon from a student survey
I DIDN'T THINK I COULD!
“I didn't think I could do it and now I think I can. Loved the tutor. Loved meeting the other students. It was fun and challenging.”
Anon from a student survey
COMMUNITY THAT BUILDS
“It feels like a writing community rather than separate courses. The costs are low compared with other options and I hope that means that it's more accessible. The mix of ages is good.”
Anon from a student survey