Welcome to my Speaker page
I love sharing my knowledge of the writing craft! Over the years I’ve given talks to many organizations and run workshops and classes too, as well as for my own business, Fictionfire. I offer a wide range of topics, covering
· motivation/commitment/creating your writing practice
· writing techniques
· editing and the submission process
· publishing options
See the list of previous topics/titles here and organisations I’ve previously worked with here. I can design bespoke talks and classes for you – just ask!
Upcoming events:
Oxford University Summer School for Adults, 6-13 July 2024 (fully booked)
Oxford University Creative Writing Summer School at Exeter College, 21 July - 10 August 2024
Events in 2023:
For Oxford University, summer 2023: OUSSA summer school (fully booked); Creative Writing summer school at Exeter College (fully booked); Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing lecture. For Oxford Royale summer school: 4 lectures.
Events in 2022:
Oxford University Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing Day School 23 October; Oxford University Creative Writing Summer School at Exeter College 24 July - 13 August; Oxford University Summer School for Adults (OUSSA) Fiction Writing: Key Aspects and Techniques, 9-15 July.
Talk on storytelling for non-fiction writers, for an Oxford group of writers, January 2022. ‘Lorna gave us a great talk on Storytelling Techniques in Non-fiction - it addressed the key issues for writers, had practical ideas to solve their challenges, and was backed up by a wonderful range of books for them to draw confidence and get ideas from, and be inspired by!’ Robert Bullard, Facilitator of GROW
Events in 2021:
Alliance of Independent Authors Self-Publishing Conference in October had as its theme Writing and Publishing Craft. With fellow author Debbie Young I discussed The Craft of Genre Fiction in an online presentation.
Oxford University Summer School for Adults (OUSSA) and Oxford University three week Creative Writing Summer School, Exeter College, were both cancelled this summer again, because of the pandemic.
Events in 2020:
1 March 2020: Oxford University Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing: day school classes on how to write openings, how to transform life into art, and key editing skills.
8 March 2020: I took part in the five day online Women in Publishing Summit, talking about mindset for writers.
25 April 2020: my workshop on mindset at the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival was cancelled because of coronavirus.
Summer 2020: Creative writing summer school programmes for Oxford University (OUSSA programme and the three week Creative Writing Summer School at Exeter College) were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
(Late 2019: Essential Editing, plus one-to-one appointments, at WriteCon in Zurich. http://writecon.ch/)
My key purpose is to inspire. In any talk or class I aim to entertain, inform and support attendees, giving them a vision of what they’re capable of as writers and the belief that they can go ahead and achieve it. I can help writers at all levels from absolute beginners to the more experienced and those seeking publishing advice.
If you’re running a writing group or writing circle, or are organizing a conference or festival and you’d like to invite me to give a talk or run a bespoke workshop or course, then use this contact form or call 07827 455723 and we can take it further.
I also welcome interview invitations, such as for radio or podcasts, or you can invite me to guest-post on your blog. Contact me via the contact form or call 07827 455723.