Am thinking of going on one of these - anyone been on one, have any tips about how good/bad/indifferent they are?

I haven't, but I know many people for whom they've been hugely, fantastically valuable, and one or two who felt that they were completely on a different wavelength from the tutors. With one, it really knocked her confidence, with the other she just felt it had been a bit of a waste of money. But they are far outweighed in my statistics by the ones for whom it was really important in the development of their writing.

There are WWers who've done them and will advise more. I think it may be a case of getting a good idea of the tutors before you commit yourself.

Emma

Thanks very much Emma.
The tutors on the course I fance attending are:

Jill Dawson
Author of 5 novels, been shortlisted for the Orange Prize and Whitbread Prize for Fiction. Has taught on the MA in Writing at UEA.

Romesh Gunesekeras
His first novel (Reef) was shorlisted for the Booker, and he has since written 3 more novels.

I've been on two Arvons as a student, I taught a course last year and I'm down to teach another next year. Obviously I'd rate them very highly: in my case, the encouragement I had from a tutor gave me the impetus to get on and finish my first published novel.

If you look in the Teachers' Forum on WriteWords, there's a report I wrote about the last course I attended.

http://www.writewords.org.uk/groups/107_94564.asp

There's the report. Hope it's some use.

Jill Dawson must know what she's doing, and I think Romesh G teaches at Goldsmiths, where I'm doing my PhD. I'd have thought you'd nothing to worry about with those two - obviously hugely experienced teachers, and you should have a great time.

Emma

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Meant to say, it can also help to have a look at what they write. Not that a good teacher can only deal with their own kind of writing, but it does give you a feel for where they're coming from.

The thing that puts me off is the communal living aspect. For £475 I expect my own en-suite room and all meals provided. I’m not interested in paying to cook for other people (especially as I'm vegetarian – I wouldn’t even go near the kitchen if meat was on the menu). And sharing a bedroom with a complete stranger? I don’t think so. Of course I could pay an extra £50 for the privilege of a single room although it’s pot luck because they save them for people who need a single room on medical grounds. Alternatively, I could come home every night because I only live about five miles away from Lumb Bank, but I’d lay bets they wouldn’t give me a reduction…

Sorry – gone off on one. I'm sure the courses are excellent, but the facilities don’t seem to match up. It’s just something to bear in mind.

Dee

Horses for courses, Dee. I like a bit of luxury generally, but on Arvon it's the cooking together and sharing rooms that's part of the fun. You really get to know people and by the end of the five days you feel like you've made friends in a way that's never happened to me on any other residential courses.

Thanks everyone, much appreciated, think I'll go for it.

I think some WWers heard Jill Dawson talking at Cambridge Wordfest. Jem, I think, amongst others. You could ask her/them what she was like as a speaker.

Rosy

Dafydd, I've been on two Arvon courses and would highly rate the experience generally.

Dee's right that there's some mucking in, but it's a bit like staying in a big family home with a load of people who very quickly seem like friends - nothing like going on a businessy course in a hotel!

As for cooking, Dee, you cook in a team, so if you said you were veggie and wouldn't touch meat I'm sure they'd let you just chop veggies etc and not go near the meat - though you might have to be in the same room as it. But then, if you eat in any restaurant that isn't totally veggie you're in the same room as others eating meat, and your food has been cooked in the same kitchen as meat is cooked.

I have difficult dietary requirements (coeliac etc) and on both occasions the staff and other students were lovely about helping me with them. Being veggie will be something they're very used to!

I found that the biggest benefit of such a course was meeting other would-be writers and the tutors, who are very accessible, since you eat with them and spend time with them. Usually you will workshop some of your writing (co-crit with everyone) and usually there are also seminars where you all work on particular skills. And individual sessions with the tutors. There's a lot of time for writing alone too, and going for long walks in lovely countryside to get inspired, and the drinking.... well, there's lots of sitting around in the evening talking into the small hours, with or without wine as per your preference!

I would say that I felt I gained more in terms of how writers think and feel and work than I did in actual hard specific learning, but the former was just as valuable if not more so, since you can get the latter from a book to some extent. And you can get both from WW!

And of course you can pick the course which seems to most closely match where you feel you are or the genre you're interested in... lots of choice.

I hope you give it a try, since I think there's a 95% chance you'll really love it!

Deb

I don't know what the tutors are paid, but some of the £475 goes to them: say 15 hours workshop plus individual tutorials is quite a lot to be paid for. And I imagine you only cook one meal. My experience of varying sorts of activity holidays, if you want to look at it like that, is that Arvon's one of the cheaper ones.

Emma

Being cut off from the outside world can be an inspiration too: there's no tv or radio or internet. Just books, fellow writers, silence and views.

say 15 hours workshop plus individual tutorials is quite a lot to be paid for

- Actually, tutors are supposed to be available to students pretty much all the time. So you're teaching through every morning, then after lunch you're seeing students individually throughout the afternoon, then in the evenings you're giving talks or listening to readings. All the times in between, tutors are there for students to discuss work with: we were specifically asked not to bring any work of our own so that we could devote ourselves wholly to the course.

Yes, I thought that was the case - absolutely exhausting, I should imagine.

Emma