Budding Writers provides writing support to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities through writing workshops delivered online or face-to-face.

All our work is geared towards helping people find their own voices and tell their own stories in whatever form seems best to them – story, poem, comic, script, etc.

We have a collection of tried and tested workshop programmes for 6 – 10 year olds, 10 - 16 year olds and adults. These run for approximately an hour to an hour and a half, once a week. These can be presented via Zoom or face-to-face.

Our sessions are fun and relaxed, helping to create trust between group members for an enjoyable and effective learning experience.

We can work online (nationwide or internationaly) , or face-to-face in schools, libraries, arts and youth centres – in the Greater Manchester area.

If you would like to book us to run a workshop, or work with us to create a workshop, please contact [email protected] for a quote.

 

The programmes we currently have available are:

 

6-10 year olds

1. Weekly writing club
Run during term time on a Saturday morning.

2. Let’s Make Comics – 6 weeks
The elements that go into a comic are analysed. From here the group create characters, stories, poems, puzzles, jokes, adverts and letters to build up a unique comic of their own.

3. Let’s Make a Story – 6 weeks
The group create a story together using the 3-Act plot structure.

4. Building a World Together – 7 weeks
The group builds a world together but then make their own characters to write stories about set in the world that’s been created.

10-16 year olds

5. Weekly writing club
Run during term time on a Saturday afternoon.

6. Bronze Arts Award focused on Creative Writing 
Online course with email or telephone support – 1 year.

7. World building workshop - 7 weeks
Each week, the group works through one of the seven elements that make created worlds believable.

8. People, Places and the 3-Act Plot – 6 weeks
Here, participants are guided through the building of fictional worlds and protagonists for stories of their own. The workshop group then goes on to create a single, collective story, following the structures of a classic 3-Act Plot. Once these structures have been learned, individuals go back to their own material, and apply them.

9. The Hero’s Journey – 6 weeks
This twelve step story structure appears in cultures all over the world. Each step is examined and explained so the participant can apply each structure to their own story.

10. Words on a Page – what makes good writing– 6 weeks
Participants look at, and practice, different techniques to develop style and clarity in their writing.

11. Writing Dialogue – 2 weeks
Participants are shown the technical, functional and expressive elements of writing dialogue and are given exercises to practice what they’ve learned. 

 

All workshops are run by Phil Busby assisted by Susie Busby. Phil Busby is also trained as a Bronze and Silver Arts Award adviser.

 

The children’s and young adult sessions are for groups of 10 when conducted online and last for approximately 1 hour.

 

Adults with learning difficulties

12. Superheros  – 1 week
The group learns about the history of the superhero. They work together to create a superhero and then, if there is time, make a superhero of their own.

13. Places, People and the 3-Act Plot – 6 weeks
The group create a world, characters and then a story together using the 3-Act plot structure. 

14. Let’s Make a Comic – 6 weeks
The elements that go into a comic are analysed. From here the group create characters, stories, poems, puzzles, jokes, adverts and letters to build up a unique comic of their own.

All workshops are run by Phil Busby (assisted by Susie Busby online.)

 

These sessions are for groups of 10 when conducted online and last for approximately 1 hour to an hour and a half.

Adults 

Click here for our 2022 programme run in partnership with The Writers Bureau

15. Places, People and the 3-Act Plot – the essentials of storytelling – 8 week workshop – group of 6
Here, participants are guided through the building of fictional worlds and protagonists for stories of their own. The workshop group then goes on to create a single, collective story, following the structures of a classic 3-Act Plot. Once these structures have been learned, individuals go back to their own material, and apply them. In the final two weeks, participants learn how to write effective dialogue and they discuss how they will take their writing forward after the workshop has finished.

16. Marks on the Page – a writer’s guide to techniques of narrative fiction – 6 weeks – group of 10.
Participants look at, and practice, different techniques to develop style and clarity in their writing.

 

These workshops last for approximately one and a half hours.

 

What we would like to do

We would like to make these programmes accessible to groups of children, young people and adults who wouldn’t be able to afford them if a professional rate was charged.

We can work online, (nationwide and internationally), or face-to-face in schools, libraries, arts and youth centres – in the Greater Manchester area.

If you would like to book us to run a workshop, or work with us to create a workshop, please contact [email protected] for a quote.