Online Writers' Day

TLC’s popular Writers’ Day returns and for the first time, we are going digital!

• Enjoy a day of inspiring online talks and workshops to help you write, submit, and publish your work.
• Get links to video recordings of your sessions to watch back for up to 30 days after the event, so you don’t miss a thing.
• Take part in creative challenges to help you feel inspired, in a supportive online environment.
• Gain access to a free video library, with insights from key publishing figures and readings from exciting debut authors.
• Enter your writing into the TLC Pen Factor Competition, whose alumni include award-winning novelists.
• All Online Writers’ Day talks and videos will be captioned for maximum accessibility.

TLC Online Writers’ Day Programme

(Full programme leaflet here)

9.45am-10am

Welcome by TLC Director Aki Schilz

10am-11am 

New Digital Frontiers with Leodora Darlington, Commissioning Editor at Canelo
Publishing is changing, with new formats disrupting the way stories are delivered, and the way publishers and authors share risk and reward. Canelo is one of the most digitally forward-thinking publishers currently on the market. Find out how digital publishing offers a new way to reach readers, and a new model for writers working with publishers. 

11am-12pm

DIY: Publicity with Maria Garbutt-Lucero, Senior Campaigns Manager at Penguin Random House 11am-12pm
Publicists are often the unsung heroes of books that are the biggest hits with readers, creating connections and building momentum. Hear from an award-winning publicist about how she builds campaigns, and gain insight into how to apply big scale publicity strategy to small scale projects, to help build buzz around your work.

12pm-1pm

Lunch Break

1pm-2pm

Writing Workshops (Breakout Groups)

Group 1: The Science of Writing Characters with Dr Kira-Anne Pelican
In this illuminating workshop, find out why rounded or psychologically-credible characters are the most engaging; place the Big Five dimensions of personality at the core of characterisation; and take part in a creative writing exercise that begins to look at how to create memorable characters that come to life on the page.

Group 2: Writing Place with Amanthi Harris
Making home is an act of creativity. Looking at the places that inspire us, and what we aspire to, can be a starting point for creating vivid engaging environments for our characters. In fiction, as in life, can we draw on memory and impressions of place to create new worlds and new lives? In this workshop, we will consider ways of creating believable engaging worlds and how we might draw from our own experiences and ideals to enrich our writing.

Group 3: Write Your Story, Your Way with Okechukwu Nzelu
As writers, finding your voice is something we often talk about, but it can be a difficult, confusing and lonely process. In this interactive workshop, we will practise writing sketches and scenes from different perspectives and different styles, experimenting and playing with writing, to help you on your creative journey.

2.05-3.o5pm

Pitch Perfect (Break-out Groups)

Group 1: Fiction (Adult)
Learn how to pitch your work of fiction to agents and publishers, with literary agent Hattie Grünewald (The Blair Partnership)

Group 2: Fiction (Children’s/YA)
Learn how to pitch your children’s, middle grade and YA writing to agents and publishers, with literary agent Alice Sutherland-Hawes (ASH Literary)

Group 3: Non Fiction
Learn how to pitch your non-fiction writing, from memoir and travel to popular science, with non-fiction commissioning editor Joelle Owusu-Sekyere (Coronet).

3.10pm

Round up, thanks, and announcement of the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition winner
(Details of how to submit to the competition will be emailed to you once you have booked your ticket)

3.30pm

END 

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