Get Writing 2012

It's that time of year again - the much anticipated Get Writing Conference 2012 is soon upon us. We spoke to event organiser Sandra Norval:

For those who have never been to a Get Writing event, could you tell us how it came about and who is behind it?
The event started life as a small conference run by members of the Verulam Writers’ Circle. Back then it was held in the church hall where the circle meets, St Michael’s in St Albans. Since then we have attracted the interest of publishers, editors and agents and with the support of the University of Hertfordshire, Radio Verulam and Waterstones it has grown into the amazing event we are now running. It’s still organised by volunteers from the membership of the Verulam Writers’ Circle and we enjoy working in partnership with National Short Story Week to help promote our annual competition the Get Writing Cup. I’ve just heard that we’ve had more entries than ever this year and we’re really pleased to have added a Young Writers Medal to the prizes too. Our winners will also have two new opportunities this year. Cornerstones Literary Consultancy will provide a critique on the winning story plus the Cup and Medal winners will also be offered the
chance to have their story published on the National Short Story Website. With feedback and exposure up for grabs, we’re expecting a very high standard of entries this year!

What sort of things are planned for writers during the day?
We have another packed programme for 2012 with eighteen workshops, two of which are aimed at Young Writers - that is writers aged under 25. We’ve tried to cover a variety of writing styles and markets so you will find sessions on novel writing, fantasy writing, description, view point, horror writing, non-fiction writing, radio drama, research and a fabulous workshop from Philippa Pride aka The Book Doctor on curing your writing ills! We have a session on blogging and the social networks, using humour in writing, and bestseller Leigh Russell will provide advice on successful fiction writing. But that’s not all! We are running the ever popular 3 minute pitches, 5 minute ‘super’ pitches and for the first time, for a fee of £10 you can also book a face time session. These are a great way to meet editors and agents.

I believe you have some great guest speakers lined-up - tell us more!
It’s a programme that we’re very proud of. We have two panels, one on non-fiction in the modern marketplace featuring Adrian Magson from Writing Magazine, David Lindo aka The Urban Birder who has written for a range of wildlife magazines and TV programmes, Mike French from literary magazine The View From Here and Marc Aplin the founder of Fantasy Faction an online magazine and community for the fantasy genre. The other panel will focus on the publishing arc, from writer to publisher featuring Suzanne McLeod, Urban Fantasy writer, Jane Judd, Literary Agent, Donna Condon, Fiction Editor for Piatkus, an imprint of Little, Brown and Lee Harris, Editor for Angry Robot.

This year will also see the return of Sarah Duncan with a session called ‘Mind the gap’, all about the tricky time from acceptance to seeing your novel published and our keynote session will be Barry Cunningham from Chicken House Publishing and the man responsible for commissioning J K Rowling while he was at Bloomsbury. We’re really excited about this session as he will be talking about ‘The future of writing’, it promises to be very insightful!

We’ll be rounding the day off with an ‘Ask the editors and agents’ Q&A panel featuring agent David Headley, Philippa Pride, who has edited for Stephen King for over twenty years, Marlene Johnson from Hachette Children’s, Donna Condon and Barry Cunningham.

Will there be networking opportunities for writers during the day?
We are always told by our guests that one of the best features of the event, is the endless opportunity to network with peers, editors, agents and publishers and we aim to provide a relaxed atmosphere to encourage this. The book signings also provide the chance to speak with our published guests and Waterstones will be selling copies of their books on the day. We often hear that new ideas were formed at Get Writing and that firm friendships have been made. Some even come along to the event to catch up with online friends as well as making new ones!

Where's the best place to get more info about Get Writing?
Everything you need to know is on the website here: http://www.vwc.org.uk/getwriting2012.php
You will find a copy of the brochure and details of all the workshops and guests are there. There is a button on the site which will take you through the booking process. Tickets will be on sale for another couple of weeks but book soon if you want to grab one of the Facetime slots, they’ve sold very quickly so there’s just a handful left.

Could you sum up why writers shouldn't miss being part of GW2012?
Get Writing 2012 is bringing all the favourite features back and weʼve added a few new things too. Where better to meet the people you could be working with as your writing career progresses? It will be a fun day with lots of learning and networking opportunities and all in a fantastic venue with a lovely lunch to look forward to! We canʼt wait to see everyone there.