

Creative Writing Course: What’s the story? Finding and Developing your Plot
Jem Poster and Sarah Burton
Saturday, 28 March 2020
9:30am
All day
St Cross College
£90
Event sponsored by
Whether you’re a beginner in creative writing or a more advanced writer looking for new ideas and inspiration, this one-day event may be exactly what you need. Designed by two professional writers with long experience of teaching creative writing at university level, the programme will address the writer’s approach to plot in ways both practical and thought-provoking, involving both writing and the discussion of writing. The focus will be primarily on fiction, but writers of poetry and creative non-fiction are likely to gain useful insights from the event.
The course will highlight the importance of plot in fiction-writing, addressing such matters as the shaping and dynamics of plot, how and where to start your story, and ways of progressing towards a satisfying conclusion. The course can be taken on its own or in conjunction with the festival’s later fiction-writing course, ‘Who are these people? Developing your characters’, held on the following day, 29 March.
The course has been devised with 30 participants in mind; however, the presence of two tutors means that almost all of the teaching will take place in groups of 15. Each group will have two sessions with each tutor.
Professor Jem Poster is emeritus professor of creative writing, Aberystwyth University, and tutor for Cambridge University’s Centre for Creative Writing. He is author of a collection of poetry, Brought to Light, and two novels, Courting Shadows and Rifling Paradise. Sarah Burton, founder and former director of Cambridge University’s MSt in creative writing, is the author of Impostors: Six Kinds of Liar and A Double Life: A Biography of Charles and Mary Lamb. Her novel, The Strange Adventures of H, will be published in May 2020.
The sessions
9.30 - 11.00: Session 1: Introduction. Where to begin?
11.00 - 11.30: Coffee
11.30 - 1.00: Session 2: Shaping your plot
1.00 - 2.00: Lunch
2.00 - 3.30: Session 3: Maintaining narrative energy
3.30 - 4.00: Tea
4.00 - 5.30: Session 4: Endings. Drawing it all together




























































-
Jem Poster and Sarah Burton
Creative Writing Course: What’s the story? Finding and Developing your Plot
St Cross College 9:30am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Aida Edemariam
The Wife’s Tale: A Personal History
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Harry Potter
Celebrating the Harry Potter Books
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Dan Jarvis Interviewed by Nick Higham
Long Way Home
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Judith Maltby, Alison Shell and Clemence Schultze Chaired by Vivienne Faull
Anglican Women Novelists: From Charlotte Brontë to P.D. James
Cohen Quad: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Elleke Boehmer and Naomi Ishiguro
The Art of the Short Story
St Cross College 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Philip Lymbery and Graham Harvey
How to Feed Britain without Killing the Countryside
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Leah Garcés Interviewed by Philip Lymbery
Grilled: Turning Adversaries into Allies to Change the Chicken Industry
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Jonathan Rugman
The Killing in the Consulate: Investigating the Life and Death of Jamal Khashoggi
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Julie Summers Interviewed by Marion Hume
Dressed for War: The Story of Audrey Withers, Vogue Editor
Cohen Quad: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Linda Boström Knausgård Interviewed by Boyd Tonkin
Welcome to America
St Cross College 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Alexandra Harris, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst and Roy Foster Chaired by Hermione Lee
Princeton Conversation: Lives of Houses
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Kevin Crossley-Holland Interviewed by Elizabeth Garner
Between the Worlds
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Bodleian Libraries
Keepsake Printing
Weston Library 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Bence Nanay
Aesthetics: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 1:15pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Alastair Lack
Literary Oxford with Alastair Lack SOLD OUT
St John’s College 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Jonathan Drori Interviewed by Charles Godfray
Around the World in 80 Trees
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Christine Lindey
Art for All: British socially committed art from World War Two to the Cold War
St Cross College 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Val McDermid and Emma Smith Chaired by Triona Adams
Shakespeare and Marlowe: Rivals, Collaborators, or Aliases – an Early Modern Mystery
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Janina Ramirez
Riddles, Runes and Revenge
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Adam Rutherford and Elijah Lawal Interviewed by Stephen Law
Oxford Debate: Race, Science, and History
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Dieter Helm and Philip Lymbery
A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside
Cohen Quad: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Yaniv Iczkovits Interviewed by Rebecca Abrams
The Slaughterman’s Daughter: The Avenging of Mende Speismann at the Hands of her Sister CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Prue Leith and Peta Leith Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen
The Vegetarian Kitchen
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Laura Cumming Interviewed by Claire Armitstead
On Chapel Sands
Cohen Quad: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
M G Leonard and Sam Sedgman
Climb Aboard The Highland Falcon Thief
St Cross College 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Lisa Immordino Vreeland and Robin Muir
Love, Cecil: A Journey with Cecil Beaton
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Kim Wilkie Interviewed by Graham Harvey
Led by the Land: Landscapes
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Fatima Bhutto Interviewed by Harriett Gilbert
BBC World Service Recording: World Book Club with Fatima Bhutto
Worcester College: Lecture Theatre 4:30pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Margaret Snowling
Dyslexia: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 5:15pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Daisy Dunn Interviewed by Nicolette Jones
In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny
Cohen Quad: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
James Crowden
The Frozen River: Seeking Silence in Ladakh
St Cross College 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Dominic Frisby Interviewed by Nick Higham
Daylight Robbery: How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Marcus Sedgwick Interviewed by Nikki Gamble
Snowflake, AZ
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Dan Gretton and Giles Fraser Chaired by Daniel Snowman
Oxford Debate: Evil: The Desk Killers
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event -
Chris Packham Interviewed by Philip Lymbery
Peter Roberts Compassion in World Farming Lecture
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 7 May Friday, 7 May 2021 See this event