Masterclasses

A day’s masterclass can transform one’s writing: something magical happens when you get a group of like-minded people in a room together. The RSL Booker Masterclasses, as well as being extraordinarily good value for money, make it possible for aspiring writers to learn from some of the most distinguished and successful novelists at work today.  – Deborah Moggach

Forthcoming Masterclasses

Our masterclasses, run in conjunction with the Booker Prize Foundation, offer aspiring writers the opportunity to explore different aspects of writing fiction. Masterclasses are limited to 14 participants, with 6 places reserved for Fellows and Members of the RSL. Applicants must be aged 16 or over.

Past Masterclasses

We are keen that the benefits of the classes are shared as widely as possible. Follow the links below for reading lists and top tips from our tutors:

Deborah Moggach: Adapting books into films

October 24, 2015

Deborah Moggach gave a class on adapting books into films at Llandrindod Wells Library, Wales. Recommended reading and viewing The Diary of Anne Frank Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen Short Cuts – the Raymond Carver short stories, and the DVD of the m …

Howard Jacobson: how to write a comic novel

September 5, 2015

Howard Jacobson gave a class on writing comic novels at Somerset House. Recommended Reading David Copperfield or Little Dorrit (These are long novels. If time is short, then Great Expectations. But there has to be Dickens in here somewhere) Persuasion  …

Penelope Lively: what we remember

June 21, 2014

Penelope Lively gave a class on writing what you remember at Somerset House. Top Tips A memoir is concerned with memory. Think about how memory works? Is it linear, chronological? Or not? Let your memoir writing reflect the workings of memory itself. D …

Bernardine Evaristo: on character

June 15, 2014

Bernardine Evaristo gave a class on writing strong characters at The Free Word Centre, as a part of The Literary Consultancy’s digital conference. Top Tips Your characters need to be believable, that is, as psychologically complex and flawed as we memb …

Kamila Shamsie: writing the unfamiliar

April 11, 2015

Kamila Shamsie gave a class on writing the unfamiliar at Somerset House. Top Tips Writing has to be about discovery – don’t limit your ideas of what you’re allowed to discover. Keep in mind what Colum McCann once said – rather than writing what you kno …

William Fiennes: memory and transformation

November 29, 2014

William Fiennes gave a class on writing about memory and transformation, at Oxford Central Library. Top tips The big themes are alive in the smallest transactions. One good image conveys more than pages of assertion and explanation. Put your faith in t …

Jim Crace: the writing is in the rewriting

September 27, 2014

Jim Crace gave a masterclass on editing novels at Stratford Upon Avon Library. Top Tips Print out your ‘finished’ manuscript and ruthlessly disfigure it by marking or circling any words, phrases or sections which in your heart of hearts you know to be …

John Burnside: capturing moments of wonder

November 9, 2013

John Burnside gave a class on writing about the wonderful and wondrous, at St Andrew’s Public Library. Top Tips “Our minds, as well as our bodies, have need of the out-of-doors,” says Edwin Way Teale, the great American nature writer. “Our spirits, too …

Helen Dunmore: secrets in fiction

September 12, 2013

Helen Dunmore gave a masterclass on secrecy in fiction at Junction 3 Public Library, Bristol. Reading List Charlotte Brontë Jane Eyre Daphne du Maurier Rebecca Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice Henry James Portrait of a Lady Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarl …

Ruth Rendell: crime writing

June 22, 2013

Ruth Rendell gave a class on crime writing, at Somerset House. Top Tips: The writer of fiction writes or longs to write. The writer of fiction needs to be well-read. Not a reader exclusively of crime fiction, not necessarily one who ever reads crime fi …

Peter Kemp: reviewing literary fiction

April 13, 2013

Peter Kemp gave a class on reviewing literary fiction at Somerset House. Top Tips Bear in mind that a review is a balancing act – between reporting and commentary, fact and analysis, information and lively writing. Always read with a pencil in hand – n …

Tessa Hadley: the short story

November 10, 2012

Tessa Hadley gave a class on the short story at Cardiff Central Library. Top Tips Here are some tips for writing short stories: Know – or half know – what you are writing towards before you begin. Struggle to find fresh words to do justice to the scene …

Adam Foulds: bio-fiction

September 8, 2012

Adam Foulds gave a masterclass on fiction that incorporates real people’s lives, or ‘bio-fiction’ at Somerset House. Top Tips Research your subject thoroughly, through biographies, letters and diaries. Clarify your thinking about them, about what the s …

David Almond: cross-over fiction

May 26, 2012

David Almond gave a class on cross-over fiction at the Lit and Phil Library, Newcastle. Top Tips Write. Write again. Yes, writing is serious, is hard work, but it’s also a form of play. Books appear to be perfect, but they are the result of a messy and …

William Boyd: adapting words for the screen

November 5, 2011

William Boyd gave a class on adapting words for the screen at Somerset House. Top Tips Be an autodidact – buy the script, watch the film.   Break the rules – Ignore the jargon.   Film is photography – Show not tell.   Film is a very diff …

Candia McWilliam: memory and imagination

September 24, 2011

Candia McWilliam gave a class on memory and imagination in Stockbridge Library in Edinburgh. Top Tips Read. Look. Listen. Remember. Read more. Reread. SPY. COLLECT. Observe. TUNE IN. [Do not drop out]. Find the right word for the precise feeling, the w …

Colin Thubron: the evocation of place

May 21, 2011

Colin Thubron gave a class on the evocation of place at Somerset House. Top Tips In travel, leave behind – as far as you can – all prejudice. Shed your own culture. Take full notes as you go. The vitality of description lies in its detail. Don’t be too …

Caroline Moorehead: wordplay-biography

March 13, 2010

Caroline Moorehead gave a class on biography at Somerset House. Top Tips Establish your purpose in writing – portrait? forensic examination? a way of telling social history? what can you bring to this particular subject? Think through your structure – …

Hilary Mantel: historical fiction

January 9, 2010

Hilary Mantel gave a class on writing historical fiction at Somerset House. Top Tips Question every historical fact you think you know, and never take the word of a single source. Learn to tolerate strange world views. Don’t pervert the values of the p …

Mimi Khalvati: poetry

November 14, 2009

Mimi Khalvati gave a masterclass on poetry at Somerset House. Top Tips Marilyn Hacker has said that “writing is a difficult form of reading”. To write well is to read well. Practice the art of reading – with passion and delight, but also with a high de …