Every author has the same ambition: for readers to become totally immersed in your book and connect with the cast of characters you've created, following their every step and then imagining their lives beyond the final page.
Join author Piers Torday for this workshop dedicated entirely to the craft of creating complex characters that strike a chord with your intended readership, and insight into the art of developing character arcs. This session makes up part of our Children's & YA Fiction Festival 2022, and attendees can expect a practical session involving writing exercises and discussion. 30 minutes will also be reserved for Q&A.
Exclusive Content
All attendees reserving a place at this event also receive free access to An Introduction to Children's Publishing in 2022, a video interview with Alysoun Owen, Editor of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook and the Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook. A link to the interview will be circulated by email ahead of the festival, and remain available to view for one week.
We are partnering with The Little Bookshop Leeds and attendees will have the opportunity to purchase all festival books directly with them.
Selection of testimonials from our 2021 festival
"I thought the festival was wonderful - so upbeat and positive which is exactly what you want to hear when there's such a strong stigma of 'the chances of you getting published are about as high as you winning the lottery'." Grace Ball
"What a pleasure to hear from professionals in the field. Each of the workshops have given me some valuable 'take away' advice to work with." Lindsey Franklin
"Encouraging, informative, confident-boosting, enjoyable, very helpful." Carrie Steer
"Excellent. Full of insightful and practical information, giving inspiration to get plotting, writing and submitting." Lou Graham
"Professional, inspiring and totally engrossing. So much information packed into such a small time frame." Bedina
"Excellent. Very informative events with practical advice and encouragement." Sarah Giordano
Piers Torday began his career in theatre and then television as a producer and writer. His first book for children, The Last Wild, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Award and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His second book, The Dark Wild, won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. There May Be A Castle was a People's Book Award finalist and a Times Children's Book of the Year. The Lost Magician was a Book of the Year in six national newspapers and won the Teach Primary Book Award. The follow up, The Frozen Sea, was published in 2019. Piers has also completed an unfinished novel by his late father Paul (author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, The Death of an Owl) and adapted The Box of Delights and A Christmas Carol for the stage.
All workshops are available to purchase separately but come as part of our Children's & YA Fiction Festival 2022.
The workshop fee of £30 (inc. VAT) is payable in full online.
This is a live online event which will be presented using video conferencing software. Joining instructions and full guidance will be provided by the W&A Team a week before the event start-date.
Event materials will be made available to attendees for a time-limited period after the event at the author's discretion.
Please note that payment instalment plans are available for all W&A events, writing courses and editing services. Contact W&A Admin on writersandartists@bloomsbury.com so that we can find a payment schedule that works for you.
If you would like to book three workshops, you can do this at a special combined price of £70. W&A Admin will contact all customers booking at this special price w/c 14th February 2022 to confirm their workshop choices.
Accessible to All
It’s of real importance to Writers & Artists that our events and courses remain accessible to all.
- Writers & Artists has made up to five bursary places available for this event as part of our accessibility scheme. Please visit our bursaries page for further information about how to apply. All bursary applications must have been submitted for consideration by 7th February 2022
- At the author’s discretion, event materials will be made available to attendees after the masterclass.
- A link to a recording of the masterclass will be circulated after the event. This will be made available to event attendees only, and for a time-limited period.
- This event will include written text and visuals. Please contact us in advance so that we can make arrangements to be sure all documents appear in a format that works for you.
- If you’d like to attend but have any questions or concerns regarding accessibility, then please email AccessWA@bloomsbury.com
