Florence Art of Writing Retreat, May 5-9, 2024
Full Writing Immersion
This retreat is now full.
All sessions are to be conducted at Palazzo San Niccolò.
Retreat May 5 - 9, 2024
Full 4 Day + 2 Night Workshop
COST: 1,300 Euro
Included in price:
All tuition and Zoom lectures.
Welcome drinks and opening dinner.
Morning cappuccino break.
Final light dinner and wine at Palazzo San Niccolò.
All wine during our evening special Aperitivo Zoom hours.
Please note this retreat does not include accommodation.
Sunday, May 5th
1830:
Aperitivo in Palazzo San Niccolò. Welcome!
1930:
Welcome Dinner to meet your fellow writers. Introduction to Lisa Clifford, you, your work and the week ahead. Opening dinner together at a nearby restaurant included.
Monday, May 6th
Let’s strip story back to the basics in our first class. Before we can move into Character and Plot the craft involved in engaging your reader must be understood. Drama, suspense, conflict, narrative and more - your confidence starts here, in understanding the main elements of great stories.
9:30 – 11:00:
Turn the Page - THE FUNDAMENTALS OF STORYTELLING in-person with Lisa Clifford.
Let’s strip story back to the basics in our first class. Before we can move into Character and Plot the craft involved in engaging your reader must be understood. Drama, suspense, conflict, narrative and more - your confidence starts here, in understanding the main elements of great stories.
11:00 – 11:30:
Morning cappuccino (or tea!) break.
Jules Van Mil.
11:30-1300:
CHARACTER.
Jules Van Mil.
$1300-1500:
By zoom.
This is the fun part! Character foundation looks at the meat and bones of your character. How and why they are who they are. Understanding your protagonist is imperative. Any tiny reaction or response that is OOC (Out of Character) undermines your entire story. Whether you are nutting out a new character, cultivating an existing one or editing your final manuscript this class is the lynchpin to a good book because character is key.
$1300-1500:
Lunch break Italian style. Private writing time.
Tuesday, May 7th
09:30-1100:
This wonderful session starts in the ‘classroom’ and then becomes a walk. Learn how to add authenticity to your settings and characters, create atmosphere and articulate descriptions that show, not just tell, your reader’s location. This class is not simply about sounds, touch, smells, and tastes. This tutorial helps us notice the tiniest of life’s details. Make your reader feel your setting, fully immerse them in your sense of place.
SENSE OF PLACE.
Lisa Clifford in-person.
This wonderful session starts in the ‘classroom’ and then becomes a walk. Learn how to add authenticity to your settings and characters, create atmosphere and articulate descriptions that show, not just tell, your reader’s location. This class is not simply about sounds, touch, smells, and tastes. This tutorial helps us notice the tiniest of life’s details. Make your reader feel your setting, fully immerse them in your sense of place.
11:00 - 11:30:
Morning cappuccino (or tea!) break - provided.
Sense of Place and lunch together.
Take your character for a walk-through Florence with Lisa Clifford. What is your character thinking, feeling, and seeing? Our Sense of Place trail starts from Palazzo San Niccolò and finishes at the Sant Ambrogio Food Markets. Lunch at our own expense around Sant Ambrogio with Lisa Clifford.
13:00 - Lunch together near Piazza Sant Ambrogio. (Not included in price).
15:30:
Private writing time.
Wednesday, May 8th
By zoom.
09:30-1100:
Bernadette Foley.
By zoom.
PLOTTING YOUR WAY, OR NOT?
How do you construct a compelling plotline? Are you digressing or staying on track and how do you know? Sometimes it’s difficult to know whether to plot first or wing it as you write. This class helps you understand the importance of charting your story from beginning to end, or from end to beginning, while leaving room for creativity, inspiration and ideas. Should I write a full-length outline before my draft? And what would that look like?
Lisa Clifford in-person.
1130-1300:
THE ART OF MEMOIR.
Lisa Clifford in-person.
Not every memoir is full of dramatic action and historical moments. Most memoirs are about the choices we’ve made, the impact they’ve had on our lives and the quiet internal struggles of normal, everyday people. Autobiographies and ‘life writing’ are about how you’ve changed and what you have to teach us from your experience. Using examples from Lisa’s best-selling memoir The Promise, let’s explore how to focus on your story, and its themes, without digressing.
11:00 – 11:30:
Morning cappuccino provided.
1300:
Lunch break Italian style.
1500:
Private writing time.
The Life of a Book.
18:00
Aperitivo by Zoom in London with Martha Ashby, Editorial Director of HarperCollins UK.
The Life of a Book.
By zoom.
An opportunity to ask one of Europe’s top Acquisitions Editors anything you'd like about your story and ultimately your submission.
Thursday, May 9th
Laurel Cohn.
09:30-11:00:
THE ART OF BALANCING BACKSTORY.
Laurel Cohn.
$11:00 – 11:30:
By zoom.
How to resist the temptation of using a slab of backstory? Rather than artfully placing our character's history throughout our story? The how, when, where and why to including past in our text.
$11:00 – 11:30:
Morning coffee.
Carrie Cox.
11:30-1300:
MY WRITING JOURNEY.
Carrie Cox.
By zoom.
Carrie is a former Art of Writing writer and now the author of three published novels: AFTERNOONS WITH HARRY BEAM, SO MANY BEATS OF THE HEART and STORYLINES. Carrie has also penned two non-fiction books. With her wonderful humour, candour and humility Carrie takes us via Zoom on her writing journey. We’ll chat about the steps she took to land where she is today, finding an agent, publisher, and her editing process. This is an informal chat into Carrie’s personal writing process. And what happens next.
13:00 - 15:00: Lunch break – Italian style.
1500:
Afternoon writing time.
1800:
Conclusion and shared reading. Let’s wrap up our time together with dinner –with antipasto - by reading something we’ve written over the past week. Gift your favourite piece to us, over a glass of wine.