- 20th Apr, 2021
- 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Venue: Online via Zoom
Cost: £20.95 pp (Guild members) | £30.95 pp (non members)
This course is now fully booked. To be added to the waitlist, contact secretary@beerguild.co.uk.
Kill Your Darlings: How to Produce Brilliant Copy for Editors, and Yourself
Presented by Matthew Curtis, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Pellicle Magazine
Have you ever found yourself way over word count and feeling like there’s no room left to manoeuvre? Do you ever find yourself looking to construct a tight narrative or balanced argument but struggle not to get weighed down with reams of copy? Are you self-publishing a blog or newsletter and looking to tighten up your posts and boost reader engagement? Or are you simply looking to introduce a little more flow and brevity into your writing to help ensure your latest story idea gets the attention it deserves?
Hosted by award-winning beer writer and editor-in-chief at Pellicle Magazine Matthew Curtis, Kill Your Darlings is a short course and creative writing exercise that aims to help you tighten up copy and strengthen the narrative structure within it, whether you’re writing for yourself, or for an editor.
In the course, participants will learn to:
- Prep for your article through research and use of sources, so when it’s time to write it up you’re 100% ready.
- Develop strong leads and kickers (beginnings and ends) so that your audience is engaged from the first word and not hanging at the finish.
- Create engaging narrative structures that ensure your readers are engaged with every word.
- Write to tight word counts and trim unnecessary “fat” from your copy.
- Produce work that keeps your readers and editors happy so they keep coming back for more!
Suitable for hobbyists looking to improve, or professional writers in need of a refresher, Kill Your Darlings will be an approachable two-hour course suitable for all skill levels. Whether you’re starting out with a new blog or newsletter, or are about to set out on your next book, there should be something valuable to take away for every attendee.
Taking place over Zoom, the course is limited to 10 places so there’s room for discussion. Attendees will also be required to engage in a fun, beer-based creative writing exercise (500 words, produced and submitted to the host beforehand) and have that work assessed with full feedback. If you’re feeling brave enough, volunteers are also welcomed to have that appraisal live during the course! Kill Your Darlings promises to be a fun couple of hours that should be hugely beneficial to your creative writing and editing skills.
Having written for numerous publications, including BEER and Ferment, Matthew is currently working on two books, including Modern British Beer set to be published by CAMRA in Summer 2021. He previously worked as UK editor at Good Beer Hunting before founding Pellicle in 2019 and has edited beer writers including Claire Bullen, Will Hawkes, Adrian Tierney-Jones, Emma Inch and current beer writer of the year Lily Waite. Kill Your Darlings promises to be as much an insight into his own creative process as it is to how he approaches editing other writers.
Testimonial:
“Every writer needs a good editor and down the years I have been lucky to work with a host of excellent editors in both newspapers and magazines. Matthew is one of these. He is thorough, dedicated and collaborative, traits which you can see time and time again in the luminosity and lucidity of the articles that appear in Pellicle. Guild members who sign up for his online editing course will be in for a highly informative treat.” — Adrian Tierney-Jones, Beer Writer of the Year 2017.
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To reserve your place, visit our e-store. (Non-members must contact secretary@beerguild.co.uk to book on.)
Contact secretary@beerguild.co.uk with any questions.
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Cancellation policy: the course fee is non-refundable if notice of cancellation is received fewer than 5 working days before the course