Are you a budding writer living locally?
Do you crave something creative and fun to do in your spare time?
Do you want to meet like-minded people, sit in a beachside cafe, and learn to improve your writing skills all at the same time?!
Then join us! The only English-speaking creative writing group in the local area which also gets published!
The group has been running about 3 years now and is ever-changing, to reflect the transient nature of the ex-pats here! At heart, we are a friendly and supportive bunch of people, of all abilities and ages, who meet fortnightly on Tuesday mornings from 11am - 1pm. I lead the group, and as such, plan the exercises, decide on the written assignments, and mark these at home. The written assignments are mostly short stories which are either genre or skills based. Each one is about 1,500 words. People love the group because it gives them a timeframe and a discipline for their writing, they get to meet like-minded people, and they get to explore their creativity.
For a lot of people, this group is their first encounter with creative writing since school. Do not worry if you haven’t written for years! For others in the group, writing is very much a strong focus on their lives, and it’s this balance of people that makes a writing class so successful.
The format of the class is straightforward. We each read our stories and then provide friendly feedback. Again, do not worry about this! It’s an extremely nurturing atmosphere. We squeeze in a quick writing exercise which sets up the homework and then you go away and work on your creative juices and come up with a masterpiece! In complete confidence I will look at your story at home and give you that extra bit of attention that points out your strengths and weaknesses.
A lot of the writers at the moment are working on their own novels (but not all of them) and they tend to bring in the latest chapter. It’s a good way to see a book grow.
We always have a summer break and the last ‘official’ class was actually last Tues! But never fear, we are meeting on an informal basis on Tuesday 29th July and any newbies are very welcome to join us. The venue is Chiringuito Victoria on the seafront in Torre Del Mar. This chiringuito is opposite O’Donnels pub, and is the Caleta end of the prom, rather than the lighthouse end.
The first class is always a sample class and is free. If you choose to come on Tuesday then this can act as your intro class. Thereon each class is 20euros or some people prefer to pay for 4 classes upfront, thereby ensuring a level of commitment, and this is available for 70euros. If you take this 2nd payment option, it does not matter if you do not take the classes consecutively. Some people make 70 euros stretch 4 months. Although, like anything in life, the more you put in, the more you get out.
The overall aim of the group is to provide a safe atmosphere for all writers to learn and develop. Some people are writing books outside of the class and they use the tools they learn with us on these projects. Some people’s aims are to simply utilise their free time more creatively. Others aim for magazine publication. It’s my goal that all these aims are fulfilled.
Each month one of the short stories is chosen and published in the local publication, Streetwise.
