I’m brimming with excitement about teaming up with brilliant poet Helen Sheppard again to teach our on-ship writing workshop Writing on Water. It will take place from 10am-3.30pm on Saturday 30th September 2023.

Book here.

Whether you write about a raindrop or an ocean, you can harness water as a powerful writing muse.

How do you write about water? Does it trickle? Surge? Roar?

Is it hungry? Foreboding? Volatile? Reflective? Tranquil?

Taking place on Bristol’s atmospheric, historic lightship moored in John Sebastian Quay, this workshop encourages you to draw inspiration from the setting alongside creative exercises designed to help you find original, meaningful ways to use water in your writing.

Whether you write about a raindrop or an ocean, you can harness water as a powerful writing muse.

Start the day gently with readings from your hosts author Judy Darley and poet Helen Sheppard before exploring different ways of using water to shine up themes in your writing, with generative exercises, poetry and prose examples from a variety of writers, and plenty of time to write.

“Judy and Helen led such a supportive and inspiring workshop, with the Lightship as a unique venue. I loved the walk, prompts and time to explore ideas. My story that began on the Lightship went on to win 2nd prize in the Retreat West Flash Fiction Competition!”  Emma Phillips, participant in the first Writing on Water workshop in October 2022.

The day at a glance

10am – 12pm Judy Darley and Helen Sheppard introduce the day with two readings to ease you into the theme of water, followed by creative prompts, generative writing exercises, examples, time to write and the opportunity to share your writing if you wish. Hot drinks and biscuits are included in the ticket price. 

12pm – 1pm Inspiration-gathering harbourside walk (less than a mile in total) with prompts to engage each of your senses, and time for lunch (not included, but lots of options around the venue in Bristol, or bring your own).

1pm – 3pm Generative writing exercises, hot drinks and homemade cake (included in the ticket price), plus the opportunity to work with other writers, and the option to share your writing from the workshop.

3pm – 3.30pm Your chance to ask questions about how to develop your writing, what to do with it next (such as performance or publication), and share feedback on the day’s experiences.

Book your ticket for Writing on Water.

Why write about water?

I’ve been drawn to this mercurial, enigmatic element throughout my writing career, opening my debut short story collection Remember Me To The Bees with a story titled ‘Never seen the Sea’.

Fiction, non-fiction and poetry can all swim into watery themes, whether that’s to add atmosphere, provide a setting or build an evocative metaphor.

As a taster, here’s a splash from ‘Never seen the Sea’ from my short story collection Remember Me to the Bees:

A triangle of blue sharper and brighter than the sky – that was the first of it. Then a tang in her throat like the savoury suck of a chip dipped in salt and vinegar.
As she got closer, other sensations rang through her: a crack and crash like a glass falling and rolling and splintering again and again in a bathroom washbasin; a deep breath in, gasp out shuddering through the shore; the freshness of rain in the air, bursting against her skin from every direction possible.
And the triangle soared, spread out, transforming into a strip that hurtled all the way to the horizon, meeting the sky with a dazzle that forced her to glance away; a size too vast to comprehend; bigger than the confines of her mind could contain.
But more than that was the endless movement, less like one vast thing than a mass of smaller things, heaving, jostling, vying for the surface yet never quite breaking through.

Who will be teaching you?

Judy Darley is a fiction writer, journalist and occasional poet from Bristol. Her fiction has been described as ‘shimmeringly strange’, possibly because she can’t stop writing about the infinite fallibilities of the human mind. Judy’s words have been published and performed on BBC radio and harbour walls, as well as in bookshops, museums, cafés, caves, pubs, a disused church and an artist’s studio. Judy is the author of three fiction collections: The Stairs Are a Snowcapped Mountain (Reflex Press), Sky Light Rain (Valley Press) and Remember Me To The Bees (Tangent Books). Find Judy at SkyLightRain.com and on Twitter as @JudyDarley.

Helen Sheppard is a Bristol-based writer and worked as a midwife. Her poetry explores themes of birth, health loss, and those whose voices are often unheard. Helen has performed her poetry at Milk Poetry, RTB, Torriano Meeting House and Harvard Medical School. Her poems have been published widely, including These are the Hands. Helen co-runs Satellite of Love Poetry events. Her debut poetry collection Fontanelle was published in 2021 by Burning Eye Books. Helen interviews extraordinary poets for her podcast Health Beat Poets. Find Helen on Twitter as HelenSheppard7 and on Instagram as helensheppard58.