Saltwater Folk Tales

SOLD OUT

Online // 

12th October
 – 15th November

Please note: this course has now sold out, but you can join the waiting list, or register your interest for a future rerun of the course, by emailing us at info@londonlitlab.co.uk.

This special, salty folk tales course focuses entirely on the lore and tales of the sea, and how we can draw on these to write new stories.

We’ll read tales about mermaids, selkies, sea monsters and ocean travellers. We’ll explore the flotsam and jetsam of seafarer’s lore, and be inspired by that liminal landscape between earth and sea: the shore.

Looking at original tales and published fiction inspired by them, we’ll think about how writers make the symbolism of the sea their own, how they flavour their fiction with its salty atmospheres, and how new stories have sprung from echoes of old folkloric beliefs. We will try out these methods for ourselves in writing exercises throughout the course.

We’ll read and discuss work by authors such as Kathleen Jamie, Kirsty Logan, Lucy Wood, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Victor Hugo, as well as ancient folklore and tales.

This course is aimed at new or established writers, who are either already experimenting with using folk tales in their writing, or who would like to learn about this approach for the first time.

Course outline

  • Three assignments, including reading material, discussion prompts and writing exercises
  • Opportunity to share your work (not obligatory)
  • Written feedback from the course tutor on a final submission of up to 1,500 words
  • An online writing community, lasting beyond the end of the course

Your course tutor, Zoe Gilbert, will upload a new lesson each week. This will include stories and other sources to read, Zoe’s lesson, and a writing assignment. You can read and write in your own time, and share your thoughts and writing with others using message threads on the course page. There is no obligation to share work unless you would like to!

In the final week, you’ll have time to develop one of the writing assignments into a finished short piece. Zoe will read it and provide individual feedback.

All material and discussion channels will be available for the five-week period of the course, and for two months after that.

Course timetable and content

Week 1 (October 12th): Crossing the shoreline – fishing for meaning in fantasies of the deep

Week 2 (October 19th): Bringing the sea inside – the uncanny symbolism of a watery home

Week 3 (October 26th): break week to catch up with reading, assignments and discussion

Week 4 (November 2nd): Sex, death and superstition – sea creatures as expressions of desire

Week 5 (November 9th): Submit a piece, up to 1,500 words, for feedback

Time Commitment

You can work through the material and do writing exercises at your own pace. To help with your planning, we suggest you allow a minimum of three hours for each lesson/assignment, and a little extra for optional recommended reading.

Learning online

The course will take place online, in a closed group on a platform called Slack, so you’ll need to have internet access, but not at any specific times. Slack is easy to use, and we’ll provide you with full instructions and guidance before the course starts. On Slack, we won’t have scheduled live chats, but there will be plenty of opportunity to interact with Zoe and the other course participants in discussion threads, throughout the five weeks.

Course dates

12th October
 – 15th November

Course location

This is an online course

Cost

£145

Half-price place

There will be one half-price place (£72.50) available on this course, for a writer who needs it. If you would like to apply, please send a brief note to us at ennis@londonlitlab.co.uk by 12th September 2023 explaining why it would benefit you. We’ll be in touch with successful applicants by 19th September.

Further Info

The course will run with a minimum of 8 participants and a maximum of 16. We welcome payment by instalments where preferred. To set this up, or if you have any questions at all, please drop us a line at info@londonlitlab.co.uk and we’ll be happy to help!

About the tutor

Zoe Gilbert is the author of two novels, Folk (Bloomsbury, 2018), which was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and adapted for BBC radio, and Mischief Acts (Bloomsbury 2022), which was a Sunday Times book of the year. Her Creative Writing PhD focuses on folk tales and enchantment in contemporary fiction, and she has been teaching folk-inspired courses for many years. You can learn more about Zoe here.

Saltwater Folk Tales