Comic Book Writing Workshop in South Shields
On Friday 10th August, I’ll be running a comic book writing workshop at South Shields Museum and Art Gallery. The workshop will take place between 11am and 3:30pm, is free for young people aged between 11 and 18 years. This session is part of a summer school organised by New Writing North, a fantastic organisation supporting writers in the region.
I’m very excited to be involved with this summer school for a number of reasons. Working with New Writing North is a seal of approval that further justifies the hard work and commitment I’ve given to creating comics and working with young people since graduating in 2009. Another reason I’m looking forward to the session is that it’s taking place in my hometown. Although I’m a part-time youth work assistant in the town, there is very little opportunity for me to work in-depth with the talented young people of South Shields. I’ve facilitated more workshops in Cramlington than I have in my own hometown.
This one day writing workshop is ideal for anyone who wants to write comics, but will also be beneficial to anyone wanting to learn about developing characters and stories for any medium - even if you only have a passing interest in comics. There is a specific scriptwriting workshop during the summer school program, but those interested in scriptwriting will also be given insight into a different type of scriptwriting from the comic writing session. In fact, these two workshops should be really nice bedfellows.
During the workshop, we’ll look at what comics are - because it might not be as simple as it seems. And, sometimes, the simple stuff is the stuff we forget. We’ll also create some engaging characters, making sure that we don’t just come up with some superficial bland ones. I’ll also be guiding you through generating story ideas and developing them into something that will really work. But, most excitingly, we’ll be pitching those stories to the group to learn about how you recruit an artist and publisher. Once all that development work is done, we’ll explore different types of comic book scripts and then get to work writing your first draft.
I think that sounds like an inspiring and - perhaps - exhausting day. If you want to put your name down for the workshop and you’re in the right age group just email laura@newwritingnorth.com. For more information on the summer school and the other sessions involved, click this link.
