Write Now: Day 1 Summary Listings

Please see below for further information re: speakers, pricing. 

Friday 9 March

The Mechanics of Page Turning: Narrative Drive 

11.00am – 12.30pm

Narrative drive is a vital element in getting your work published. Novelist Sara Sheridan provides key hints and tips to keep the pages turning.

Making the Pitch and not Striking Out

11:00-12:30 or 14:30-16:00

Novelist Helen FitzGerald and screenwriter Sergio Casci will look at the art of the verbal pitch.

Looking for an Agent? An Expert Guide to the Submissions Process

11:00-12:30

Now you’ve written – or are writing – your book, how will you get it accepted by an agent, publisher or editor? Nicola Morgan reveals the common traps for the unwary and offers tips for success.

www.WRITER 

11.00am – 12.30pm Part 1 (requires advanced preparation by participants)

Don’t get left behind.  Writer and web designer Cat Dean will guide participants through setting up their own writer’s website-with-blog. By the end of the day, each participant will have a simple, but fully functioning website-with-blog.

The Marketplace

12.30am – 14.30pm FREE

Interested in the Scottish publishing scene?  If so ‘The Marketplace’ is the place to be.  This showcase will feature independent publishers and Scotland-based magazines that provide an outlet for new writers.  Pick up the latest and the best new writing along with ideas on how to get started writing or where to place your work.

Book to Film, Film to Book – Adaptations 

13:00-14:00 

An inside look at adaptation with author Helen FitzGerald, screenwriter Sergio Casci and film producer Claire Mundell. The session will also look at new developments and opportunities for writers.

Is Blogging For You? – Blogging Your Way to Success 

13:00-14:00

Whether it’s getting started or improving confidence in blogging newbies, experienced writer and blogger Cat Dean will provide practical tips on how to make the most of your blog.  

Writing For Graphic Novels 

13:00-14:00

Rodge Glass discusses the process of writing a graphic novel: the challenges of collaboration between writer and artist, and gives tips and advice on making your graphic novel a success. 

Your Book Needs You 

14:30-16:00

Novelist Sara Sheridan debunks the myths of book promotion and publicity and gives expert advice on how to use all the communications tools available to sell yourself effectively.

What Are Publishers Looking For? 

14:30-16:00

Nicola Morgan, author of 90 books, will share her knowledge of what makes agents and publishers say yes, giving you the best chance of success. 

www.WRITER 

14.30am – 16.00pm Part 2 (requires advanced preparation by participants)

Second half of this web design workshop.

The Making of a Bestseller - Christopher Brookmyre

16:30-17:30 £15/£12

Award-winning crime writer and author of 14 published novels, Christopher Brookmyre has plenty of experience to share with aspiring writers and interested readers.

Jane Harris to speak at Strathclyde Author Event

Doug Johnstone, novelist and Keith Wright Fellow at the University of Strathclyde, has organised another event in February for all word lovers; this one is free, too! Please come. Don't be put off by the unrepentant ugliness of the building. Jane Harris wil be speaking about her latest novel, 'Gillespie and I,' among other things.

5pm, Monday 13th February 2012
Room LT509, Livingstone Tower
26 Richmond Street, Glasgow
Free entry, refreshments provided


Jane Harris is a British writer of fiction and screenplays. Her latest
novel, Gillespie and I, was published to critical acclaim in the UK by
Faber and Faber on the 5th of May 2011. Her first novel The
Observations was shortlisted for The Orange Prize for Fiction 2007 and
has been published in over 20 territories worldwide. In France, The
Observations was shortlisted for the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger in
2009. In the USA, The Observations won the Book of the Month Club’s
First Fiction Prize in 2007.

Waterstone’s chose Jane as one of its 25 Authors for the Future and in
2007 she was also nominated for the British Book Awards Newcomer of
the Year and for the Southbank Show/Times Breakthrough Award. In 2011,
Richard and Judy chose The Observations as one of their 100 Books of
the Decade.




** You can follow her on Twitter; perhaps you will even work up the nerve to ask her why she calls herself @blablafishcakes, and why she spells 'blah' without the 'h'.

Zoë Strachan at Write Now 2012

This is Zoë Strachan (see image above). 


We are thrilled that she is going to be a panellist at Write Now 2012. So thrilled that I thought I would tell you a bit about her. I was even more thrilled to discover that she has a perfectly readable bio, and there is very little for me to actually DO, other than cut and paste. I was also happy that she has a really nice headshot, as I am not feeling up to the challenge of Photoshopping anyone today. In all seriousness, I am looking forward to hearing people ask her lots of questions about whether or not it is really possible to teach creative writing.


On a sort of unrelated note: I am looking forward to talking to her about the University of Iowa, where she had a fellowship at the International Writing Program. I studied Speech Pathology and Audiology across the river, on the science ghetto part of the campus, looking longingly at the English building, wishing I had been less responsible and just done writing instead.


If you'd like to see Zoë, you can still register and get the early bird conference discount by booking via the University of Strathclyde online shop: http://onlineshop.strath.ac.uk/. Click on the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty link.








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Zoë Strachan is the author of three novels: Ever Fallen in Love (Sandstone Press, July 2011), Spin Cycle and Negative Space (Picador). The latter won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award. In 2003 The Independent on Sunday listed her in their top twenty novelists under 30, and the Scottish Review of Books selected her as one of their new generation of five young Scottish authors in 2011. Her short stories and essays have been included in numerous journals and anthologies, she contributes journalism to various newspapers and magazines and her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3. She has received two writer’s bursaries from the Scottish Arts Council, a Hawthornden Fellowship and was UNESCO City of Literature writer-in-residence at the National Museum of Scotland. In 2008 she was awarded a Hermann Kesten Stipendium and spent time in Nuremberg, and in 2009 she received a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship which took her to France to write. In 2011 she undertook a British Council visiting fellowship at the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. In recent years she has become more interested in interdisciplinary projects, for example collaborating on the exhibition and publication ‘I throw my prayers into the sky’ (Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia, Germany) with visual artists Laura Murray and David Sherry and writer Louise Welsh. Recent works for theatre are ‘Panic Patterns’ (with Louise Welsh, Citizen’s Theatre and BBC Radio Scotland) and ‘Old Girls’ (which opened the 2009/10 season of A Play, a Pie and a Pint at Oran Mor in Glasgow). Her short opera Sublimation (with composer Nick Fells) toured Scotland in May 2010 with Scottish Opera before going to Cape Town, South Africa in November 2010. She has taught on the Creative Writing Programme at the University of Glasgow since 2003 and is currently working on a major new opera project for Scottish Opera for 2012. You can find out more at www.zoestrachan.com<http://www.zoestrachan.com>


Zoë Strachan is an award-winning novelist who also writes plays, libretti, short stories and essays. She was born in Kilmarnock in 1975. In 2003 The Independent on Sunday listed her in their top twenty novelists under 30, and the Scottish Review of Books selected her as one of their new generation of five young Scottish authors in 2011. She has been awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship, the Hermann Kesten Stipendium and a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. Her latest novel is Ever Fallen in Love, has just been shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize, and in autumn 2011 she was British Council Writer in Residence on the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow.www.zoestrachan.com<http://www.zoestrachan.com/>


One more thing: you can follow her on Twitter. She says that she is a bit scared, so play nice. Her handle is: @zoestrachan