WriteForTheStage

We’re running our first one-day writing workshop at WriteForTheStage this coming Saturday (22nd Aug). And you might be wondering what it’s all about.

So, this article explains what to expect, what to prepare, and what you’ll take away from your one-day writing workshop—suitable for complete beginners and experienced playwrights and novelists.

Let’s go.

What do I need to prepare for my writing workshop?

The great thing about these short workshops are that your preparation is minimal. Just download the Zoom app if you don’t have it, and maybe consider what type of story you want to tell.

But, actually, you don’t really need to come armed with any ideas because, through guided exercises, you’ll discover what you want to write about.

If you’re in the midst of the frustration of writers block, this one-day workshop is ideal. We’ll help ease you into discovery, and by the end of the session, you’ll have something you can take away and develop.

Try our free online Finding Starting Points course

If you do want to start a step ahead, then our 5-star Finding Starting Points course can help.

We’re offering it completely free until September 2026, so give our teaching style a go, and find a great starting point for your story.

How long is the one-day workshop?

The first one-day writing workshop runs on Saturday 22nd Aug, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. In that four-hour slot, we’ll cover:

• The fundamentals of playwriting—in simple language, we’ll break down the elements that make scenes work dramatically
• Theme, character, and conflict
• The functions of dialogue

Is it possible to cram all that into four hours?

Yes. Absolutely. Your tutor is Mike Heath, a tutor, facilitator, and theatre maker with thirty years’ experience of classroom teaching.

This is a tried-and-tested approach to developing ideas and covering the essentials.

What will I take away from the workshop?

By the end of your workshop, you’ll have enough to start your play. You’ll have:

• Characters with objectives
• A Problem of the World
• A conflict
• The opening pages of your script

We work quickly here at WriteForTheStage. We use an approach that aims to switch off the “editing voice”—we encourage you to write from instinct without questioning the words that arrive on the page.

Ideas first. Questions later

We encourage you to find ideas first and ask questions of those ideas later. It’s liberating but it might not feel entirely natural at first.

We work through playfulness—allowing the idea to evolve without intervention.

And once you’ve found your idea, we help you find the questions to ask in order to develop it into a play.

We start on Saturday 22nd August

We’re running from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. UK time. And because the session is online, it’s available to an international audience. We’ve had participants from all around the world—as far afield as Australia, the USA, and the Middle East.

So, get booking. We’d love you to join us.