Every month we have a Zoom workshop focused on different aspects of writing short fiction. All of the workshops are taught by WestWord founder and publisher, Amanda Saint.
About Amanda: She’s the author of two novels, As If I Were A River (2016) and Remember Tomorrow (2019), and a novella-in-flash, Pressure Drop (2024). Her short fictions have been widely published, placed and listed in lots of international prizes, including the Mslexia Flash Fiction Prize and Fish Flash Fiction Prize, and nominated for Best Small Fictions 2023. She’s been working with writers to help them develop their craft for many years. In 2012, Amanda founded Retreat West (Winner Most Innovative Publisher 2020 Saboteur Awards), where she provides an online writing community, competitions, workshops and courses, and published 23 books between 2018 and 2023. In 2022, Amanda started the WestWord literary journal. She also writes The Mindful Writer newsletter here on Substack and in 2024, launched a new creative venture inspired by it. Find out more here.
2025 Workshops
There is no workshop in February as Amanda is away.
From March to August 2025, the workshops will be adapted from Amanda’s Slow Story Course and are focused on writing one short story with real depth and nuance and characters that you know well. The stories created can be submitted for a special edition of WestWord, which will publish in November 2025. More info coming on that soon.
These workshops are not for sale separately and are only available to WestWord member. The readings for each session will be sent out ahead to read in time for the workshops.
In the beginning there was truth
15th March - 14.30-16.30 GMT
Themes are the heart of the story, the core element of the human condition that your characters are exploring through you, the reason it's being told. This first workshop will focus on finding out what your story is all about and giving you an idea of the themes you want to dig into.
Getting to know you
06th April - 14.30-16.30 BST
Characters are who we connect to our stories through in order to write them, and they’re the element our readers remember if we create ones that crackle with life and make them feel something. Even if the narrator is unlikable, and/or unreliable, if we write them with nuance, understanding and compassion then the reader will have an emotional response. For us to engender an emotional response in our readers, we have to feel those emotions too when we write our stories. So how do we get close enough to these characters that appear in our heads to really feel for them? We get to know them properly.
Losing the plot
10th May - 14.30-16.30 BST
Most short stories are not plot driven. They’re rooted in character and emotion. But that said, you do need a storyline. A narrative drive. A reason for the story to be told and to move it forward. These are often small, quiet elements rather than big action-filled scenes, which is what many people associate with “plot”. This workshop will look at how you make a story compelling through character, conflict, emotion and using symbols and motifs.
Building an immersive world
08th June - 14.30-16.30 BST
For our stories to really shine and feel immersive, then the world it all takes place in needs to come vividly to life. We are sensory creatures and to ensure our readers can lose themselves in the worlds we are creating, we need to use all of the senses. We also need to make sure that the landscape and setting writing is working hard to develop the story, characters and themes, too, and is not just lengthy descriptions of clothing, trees, city streets, etc., for no particular reason. Our protagonists need to be in a relationship with it all. This workshop will show you how to write an immersive world through character.
The journey of story
6th July - 14.30-16.30 BST
After focusing on themes, the protagonist, storyline, conflict, and the world it all takes place in, now we’re zooming back in on the character at the heart of the story and the journey they go on throughout it to be in some way different by the end.
This is the end
03rd August - 14.30-16.30 BST
This the end of the workshop series and the end of the story we’ve been writing. So we are looking at how we can make sure that the ending leaves the reader feeling satisfied. As mentioned before, stories are a container for change and there should be some sense of a shift by the end, even if it is just a subtle shift in perception for the reader through a small change in circumstance or mindset for the protagonist. We’ll look at how you can end your story to bring that satisfaction for the characters, for you, and for the reader.
Want to join us for this? Subscriptions start at just £5 a month and include lots of submissions as well as the workshops.
