Hey there

Hope you are keeping well. A new newsletter series on writing will arrive towards the end of 2020 and it’ll be themed on life writing/memoir writing to coincide with my next book, coincidentally a memoir, out in February 2021. All preorders appreciated. It’s called Brown Baby.

But hey, look, I didn’t jump into your inbox to promote my next book. I came here to promote the next in my zoom workshops. I’m doing four more two hour zoom workshops. They are two short lectures, two writing exercises and a q&a. We ran some in August and they were extremely well attended. So I thought I’d do more. Interested? Read on then!

Workshop 1: How to begin a novel. 24th September 2020, 7.30pm-9.30pm. On Zoom.

This will cover planning and researching your novel, building characters and story, structure and how to approach the first draft. Very introductory stuff for the writer about to embark on their lifelong dream of writing a novel.

Workshop 2: How to build up your characters. 1st October 2020, 7.30pm-9.30pm. On Zoom.

This will cover how to build up your characters, internally, externally, how to work on their emotional register, function, story arc and also, how to make them realistic and interesting enough for people to want to spend time with.

Workshop 3: How to edit your manuscript. 8th October 2020, 7.30pm-9.30pm. On Zoom.

We will cover the different types of edits, how to approach an edit, planning the edit, doing the edit. We will work on your prose, how to look at it and know how to wrestle it. Editing tips for line editing but also method and strategy for structural edits.

Workshop 4: What to do with your manuscript when it’s done. 15th October 2020, 7.30pm-9.30pm. On Zoom.

How to finish, tidy and format your manuscript. How to prepare what to send to literary agents. How to approach literary agents. What to send them. How to communicate with them. What happens once you’re signed to a literary agent, all the way through to publication.

All will be recorded and available for participants for one week after the workshop.

How to join the workshops?

Contact me through my website nikesh-shukla.com/contact to register your interest. Do not reply to this email. In the subject, write ‘WRITING WORKSHOPS SEP/OCT’ and in the email tell me which workshop(s) you would like to register for. I will let you know payment details and confirm places when all 100 slots are filled. I can offer ten free spaces per workshop for writers from low income backgrounds. If that’s you, message me and say that you’re a writer from low income background and want to register interest in a free space. Tell me which workshop you’d like to be put down for.

Cost

The price per workshop is £20 if you can afford it. If you can’t, the subsidised price per workshop is £14. If you’d like to attend all workshops, the price is £70 if you can afford it or £50 if subsidised.

The reason for the 'pay what you can afford' offer is that it helps to subsidise places for those who can't afford it. Hope that's okay with you. I'm not going to police it. I trust you to pay what price you can afford. Also, if you are subsidising a place for someone else, let me know in the payment and also whether this is a space you will be allocating yourself or one I can help promote on socials. Payment will be made through Paypal. If you pay for the workshop and for some reason, can’t attend, refunds are available until 24 hours before start time.

Hope this are of interest to you.