Writing about real lives and experiences – your own, or someone else’s – is rewarding but also daunting. What if you have too much information, or your story involves other people? How do you fill the gaps? What if your core purpose is to write creatively not about a life, but about a specific place or time? Join Emma to explore how to research, develop, shape and voice real-life material as a story.

Psychic Distance: the fiction writer’s secret sauce. Over the years Emma has found that learning to work with psychic distance – often called narrative distance or emotional distance – is the game-changer for her students, and will share the secret of it in this online tutorial.

Discover why agents and editors consistently cite a compelling narrative voice as the key to great fiction. In this masterclass, you’ll learn how your chosen narrative viewpoint has profound implications on everything from prose to structure, and how the right voice can make your story unforgettable.

Psychic Distance: the fiction writer’s secret sauce. Over the years I’ve found that learning to work with psychic distance – often called narrative distance or emotional distance – is the game-changer for my students. In this extended Masterclass you will have the chance to explore how and why that happens.

In an industry driven by ‘Look Inside the Book’, the opening of a novel or memoir may draw a reader in irresistibly – or let them wander off. Before even that, your pitch in your covering letter to agents and editors can start your submission on the front foot – or hobble it hopelessly. Join us to explore how to make sure they know your writing deserves their attention.

Voice is the element which all agents and editors say they are looking for in a manuscript – but that’s by no means the only reason to work hard on the word-by-word text and textures of your novel: in the end, the power of your story comes from the words you have put on the page.

Everyone says that character is the foundation of storytelling, but what does that mean? Join Emma at Blue Pencil to find out how to develop convincing, lifelike characters while still using them to power your plot?

As part of the History Quill Writers’ Convention 2025, this keynote presentation and Q&A will show you how to craft truly engaging historical fiction.

Worrying about plot, structure and storytelling isn’t only for writers who’ve been told they have a saggy middle. To keep your reader reading, you need to keep them wanting to know what happens next right to the end. Join Emma Darwin at Blue Pencil to find out more.

All writers know that the most important stage of writing is actually the re-write. Most know that it’s about a whole lot more than tidying up the sentences – but what does that actually mean? What should you be looking for and what do you do about it? Join Emma on Zoom to dig into this crucial stage of writing your novel or creative non-fiction

Whether the story you want to write is set in the present, the past or the future, you’ll need to find things out: material facts, dates and times, ideas, manners, details and people.But the very real-ness of what you research or remember can also cause problems in anything from wooden dialogue and the dreaded info-dump, to complete creative paralysis.

So how do you make sure that your research serves your storytelling, not the other way round? How do you create a world out of materials you’ve only just unearthed? And what happens when the the facts contradict what you wanted to write?

Join Emma, writing coach/editors Jacqui Lofthouse and Laura Wilkinson, and agents Laura Williams and James Lockhart, for the Writing Coach’s Getting Published day in the gorgeous Asia House in central London. Inspiration, encouragement, realism and networking galore!

Voice is the element which all agents and editors say they are looking for in a manuscript – but that’s by no means the only reason to work hard on the word-by-word text and textures of your novel. Join Emma online to explore the tools you need to raise your writing to the next level.

So you have a story in mind, but how do you create characters that readers will want to follow to the end? In this practical tutorial we will explore what makes a character compelling, how to move on from lists and stereotypes, and how to make developing your characters a dynamic, organic part of your writing process.

If story is king then narrative drive is story’s engine. But how do you come up with a story that has enough drive, while staying true to your need to tell stories that matter to you? If the heart of your story is emotional and psychological, how do you make it compelling while keeping the reader turning the pages? Join us to unpack how story-structure keeps the reader reading, and learn to use that knowledge to shape or reshape your novel.

Writing about real lives and experiences – your own, or someone else’s – is rewarding but also daunting. Whether you’re writing your memoir, shaping live-writing round someone in your family or the past, writing about travel or other experiences, or want to build a narrative round a specific passion, perhaps for an art or a sport, join us for this practical Zoom workshop to explore the exciting possibilites, and sharpen your skills.

Most writers know that editing your work is about a whole lot more than tidying up the sentences – and that the most important stage of writing fiction is actually re-writing. But what does that actually mean? How do you discover what isn’t working, and what do you do about it? Join our workshop to find out.

You know the submission package representing your novel or memoir is your biggest and best chance to hook an agent and hopefully a publishing deal – but how do you make the most of that chance? Blue Pencil’s Emma Haynes will be joining us for this practical, all-day workshop. Discussion and exercises will draw on participants’ own letters, synopses and opening pages, submitted in advance.

Story and plot are often talked of in the same breath, but understanding the difference is key to making both work for you. In this practical, all-day workshop we’ll unpack what this means for each writer, with exercises will be based on your own work. Over afternoon tea, Marina de Pass from The Soho Agency, The Bookseller’s Rising Star of 2023, will give you the inside track on the submission process.