You have a story.

Fiction doesn’t have to come from a writers’ school. It can come from the workplace, a grease pit, prison, a bus driver’s seat, a hospital corridor or a working life spanning decades.

I am the author of two non-fiction books and two novels, and a creative writing tutor. I see myself as a modern-day working-class writer: a writer who draws inspiration from real life, work and people.

The Working-Class Writer’s Writing School offers writing guidance to people who have stories in their minds but who may not yet know how to turn them into text – let alone a book.

We can start by drawing on, for example, one’s own profession, experiences at work, family stories, one’s own life or local history. You don’t have to invent everything. Sometimes the most interesting story is one you’ve already lived.

I’ll guide you in finding a topic, perspective, voice and structure from your own experience. I’ll help you transform your memories, observations and experiences into text – whether your goal is a short story, a novel, a non-fiction book, a column, a biography or your own small writing project.

This service is suitable, for example, for:

- a writer who wants to start their first book

- a professional with interesting stories to tell
- someone who wants to write their own life story

- a workplace that wants to record its own history

- an association or community that has stories but no book yet

- a writer who needs structure, a perspective or encouragement for their text.

Here, we don’t teach you how to write ‘correctly’. We’ll learn to write in a way that makes the reader want to keep reading your text.

The work can take the form of one-to-one coaching, small group sessions, a workshop or a longer writing process.