Looking for inspiration?

Whether for stage, screen or the page, here are professional writer Pete Lawson’s top five tips on writing dialogue. Pete is well known for being part of the core writing team on EastEnders and other TV shows. Dialogue is so important for any situation in your stories or plays where characters are talking with each other, and as Pete explains dialogue can tell you so much about a character just by what they say and how they say it.

Want to know how to create tension in your writing? Author Araminta Hall shares her top tips in how to create it with you. Brighton writer Araminta has worked as a journalist for a variety of magazines and national newspapers. She has also written six novels. She spends a lot of time in my writing cabin battling words! Get ready to craft moments of suspense and conflict into your writing…

This short masterclass gives the stage to Joseph Coelho to tell you how you can write a clerihew poem. What is a clerihew? Well, take a look at this short video to find out! Joseph Coelho is a performance poet and playwright. His plays have received special note from The Verity Bargate Award and The Bruntwood Playwriting Competition. He has written plays for young people for Theatre Royal York, Pied Piper, Polka and The Unicorn Theatres.

Looking for help describing and imagining locations in your writing? Brighton-born writer Patrice Lawrence is here to help! A mini masterclass about building worlds with our worlds that are original, believable and exciting. She has won many awards including the Bookseller YA Prize, the Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction, the Bristol Crimefest YA Prize, the Woman and Home Teen Drama Award, the Jhalak Children's Award and the Little Rebels Award for Radical Children's Fiction.

Award winning screenwriter Suhayla El-Bushra gives you her best top tips for creating a character. Suhayla is a UK based playwright and screenwriter. Her TV work includes Hollyoaks, Becoming Elizabeth and Ackley Bridge, and her feature film, Brides (Neon Films/BFI) is currently in cinemas.Her plays include a musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), The Long Song, The NW Trilogyand The Suicide, National Theatre.

What is a ritual? What are your personal ceremonies that you take part in? How is the way you celebrate important events in your life, like birthdays or festivals, differ to your friends and other people you know? Explore these themes through writing exercises in this short Mini Masterclass with writer and poet Akila Richards. Akila designed this online Mini Masterclass as part of the Hidden Histories project.

Learn powerful and practical tips on how to start writing your own personal stories with writer Tanaka Mhishi. Discover his top tips on how to start, how to be braver and have more fun in this mini masterclass. Tanaka designed this Mini Masterclass as part of the Hidden Histories project. Hidden Histories was a creative writing project exploring heritage, identity and personal stories. Produced by Little Green Pig in partnership with Patcham High School. Funded by Arts Council England.