The first writing retreat we have booked in for 2017 is the Character is Destiny Retreat featuring masterclasses with novelist and screenwriter, CM Taylor. If you were at the 2016 Festival of Writing in York you may have seen Craig in action delivering workshops based on this. The classes at the retreat will be an expanded version that will teach you to tie in your themes and characters’ emotional transformation and behaviour to your overall plot.

The retreat is taking place in West Bay, Dorset from 24-28 March 2017 and you can get all of the info on it here. The prize is to get your own room at the retreat for 4 nights, take part in all of the workshops, and all food and drink is included too.

How can you win a place? As always, it’s by writing! As this retreat is all about character then we want to hear from your characters. Write a letter (up to 500 words) from one of your characters to another telling them something that they’ve never told anyone before. Think theme, description that works hard, voice and emotional arc as you write!

Deadline: 30th October 2016 – EXTENDED UNTIL 13TH NOVEMBER!

Entry Fee: £15

Competition Details

• Submit stories written in English through Submittable using the button below by 23.45 GMT on the deadline date (sorry late entries will not be included)
• Maximum word count is 500 but there is no minimum
• Do not include your name on the story but provide a short bio in the body of the email
• Stories must be your own original work and not have been published online or in print
• By entering the competition you agree to your story being published on the Retreat West website and to attend the writing retreat
• Stories can be in any genre apart from children’s fiction
• You can enter as many times as you like but each entry must be made separately and the entry fee paid each time
• The prize is a place at the writing retreat as detailed and is not transferable and there is no cash alternative
• The judge’s decision is final