Writing Retreat Blog
Mexico Creative Writing Retreat, 2022
Yesterday I returned from teaching our second annual Creative Writing Retreat in Merida, Mexico – and what a studendous week it was. Great writers, wonderful scenery, memorable experiences, daily writing workshops and so much great food! Creative Writing Retreat: Merida! Such a special city. Street festivals, wandering the Plaza Granda and people-watching along the Paseo de Montejo. Visiting the Mayan World Museum. Exploring the art. Wandering the parks. Live music and dancing most evenings. [...]
A Creative Writing Prompt!
Welcome to the fifth in my series of creative writing tips, techniques and prompts! Today, I’m sharing a creative writing prompt you can use at any time. Creative Writing: Tell the Story of a Life On a trip to Spain a few years ago, I saw in Grenada a traveller with a typewriter and a sign reading, “I tell your life story in 10 minutes”. Tourists lined up before his desk on the street corner, [...]
Creative Writing Tips and Techniques: How to Create Characters for Fiction
Welcome to the fourth in my blog series on creative writing tips and techniques! Today I want to examine character creation. Read on for information on how to build characters for short stories and novels – and in the meantime, don’t forget to check out our Creative Writing Retreats in Mexico and Costa Rica! A Character Creation Technique There are many ways to build fictional characters for a novel or short story, and ‘status’ is [...]
Journaling for Creative Writers
This is the third in our series of creative writing tips and prompts for writers interested in our creative writing retreats to Costa Rica and Mexico, and our virtual creative writing classes. Read on for advice for writers on how journaling can help you hone the craft of writing… particularly if you hope to write a memoir, of fiction inspired by life experiences. The Connection Between Journaling and Creative Writing Journaling is a way to [...]
A Creative Writing Prompt for the Weekend!
Our Creative Writing Retreats in Costa Rica and Mexico are close to full now – but some spots remain! In the meantime, we’re offering a series of creative writing prompts – and creative writing tips – for fiction writers, memoir writers, poets and anyone interests in getting their work published, or improving their creative writing skills. A Creative Writing Prompt… This prompt works for writing fiction, or poetry. It is particularly helpful for writers interested [...]
Building a World: A Writing Prompt
World Building for Creative Writers Many forms of fiction – historical, steam punk, fantasy, science fiction – require the construction of an entire world, which then becomes integral to the plot, and to the protagonist’s challenges. But how do you create a fictional world from scratch? A creative writing tip: some part of the world you build for your novel must reflect our own. Readers need to see themselves and their lives reflected in the [...]
