Article for Bookanista: 'The big W'

‘My workshop group was made up of talented writers and astute critics. They stood for no nonsense. The workshops themselves were gruelling, but prepared you like nothing else for the rigour of a professional edit. They taught me when to murder my darlings, and when to stand my ground.’

In ‘The big W’ for Bookanista, S.E. Craythorne discusses the merits of different kinds of creative writing groups; from council run community groups to her MA workshop group.

S.E. Craythorne

S.E. Craythorne is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. Her poetry and prose have previously been published by Gatehouse Press, Poetry Unbound and ink sweat and tears. In 2013 she was awarded a place on the METAL Culture Lab programme and performed at the Shorelines Festival. An extract from Craythorne’s debut novel, How You See Me, was shortlisted for the 2013 Writer’s Retreat Competition and was longlisted the same year for Mslexia‘s Women’s Novel Competition. In 2014, she was awarded Arts Council funding to write her second novel.

Brought up on a smallholding in rural Norfolk, S.E. Craythorne has also lived in Manchester and Hong Kong. She has worked as a bookseller, journalist, artist’s model, English teacher and librarian. S.E. Craythorne now lives and works in Norwich.

Myriad published How You See Me in August 2015.