Structure & Form
a one-day workshop
with Victoria Gosling

September 5th
10h30-18h00

Structure & Form:
Finding the right shape for your story

This one-day workshop explores one of the central challenges of creative writing: structure. Ideas often arrive in fragments: a dream, an image, a question, a voice, or a character who refuses to leave us alone until their story is told. But how do we transform these raw materials into a compelling piece of writing? How do we shape our ideas so that we don’t get lost? How does plot work and how interested in it are we? And around which factors can we organise our material?

Through discussion, close reading and writing exercises, we will investigate a range of approaches to storytelling, from classical principles to contemporary experiments with form. We’ll touch on ideas from thinkers and writers as diverse as Aristotle, Kurt Vonnegut and Carmen Maria Machado, using their work as a springboard to develop our own.

Together we’ll examine the many different ways writers organise stories. Whether you’re working on a novel, short story, memoir or are simply curious about how stories function, this workshop will provide you with strategies to help you organise your ideas and move your writing forward with confidence. Expect a lively, open and supportive environment with plenty of opportunities to ask your questions. The workshop is suitable for writers of all levels of experience.

The day will include: 

• Morning session 90 minutes
• Break for coffee
• Late morning session 90 minutes
• Long lunch break
• Afternoon session 120 minutes

VICTORIA GOSLING is the author of two novels. Her debut novel BEFORE THE RUINS (Serpent’s Tail, 2021) was called ‘stylish and sophisticated’ by The New York Times. Her second novel BLISS AND BLUNDER (Serpent’s Tail, 2023) was a Guardian Book of the Day and a TLS Summer Book Pick. Victoria is the founder of  Ink & Salt Retreats and The Reader Berlin. She has taught workshops for major literary festivals, for the Arvon Foundation, in prisons, and is a creative writing tutor at the Oxford University Summer School. She divides her time between Wiltshire and Berlin.