The Write Place is proud of all its students and we are especially keen to promote and encourage students working hard towards reaching publication along with our newer students who are just starting out.

Michael Deal 

 

Michael Deal lives in Gravesend and has been writing since 2004. He has been a student in a number of different classes, exploring various types of writing. 

Currently he is a member of the Write a Novel class, writing a Sci-Fi novel on espionage. This is a topic of which he has much knowledge, having studied this area of interest for many years. He hopes to get it published one day.

Michael has won or been placed in several competitions at Swanley Scribblers, Kent Adult Education and The Write Place. His story One Man and His Cat  has been included in the Kindle anthology Things That Go Bump In the Night.

 

  

Barbara Clements is a dancer and exercise teacher. She's been teaching exercise for 30 years and running dance clubs for fourteen.

She joined Elaine's classes as a beginner four years ago. Having been involved in dance all her life, she found it refreshing to do something completely different. She enjoyed writing short stories, although had a problem keeping to the stated amount of words! Owing to a class time change, she joined the Write a Novel class and thought she'd have a go at a longer project.

Her novel is progressing well, though rather slower than she would have liked owing to other commitments.

Barbara wants to explore every type of writing possible. Her story, Gone, is in the Kindle Anthology Things That Go Bump In the Night.

 

 

Samantha Whayman lives in Dartford with her husband Matt and her three children. She has worked at Royal Mail for ten years as a post woman, which she sometimes finds quite dull.

Her enjoyment of reading has engendered many of her own ideas for books. Feeling she needed help getting them down on paper, she decided to join the Write a Novel course to gain encouragement and confidence to start writing. She recently changed over to the Get Writing class, in the hope of achieving some short term goals.

Her story, Daffodil Hill, can be read in the Kindle Anthology Things That Go Bump In the Night.

Andy Prue

  

 

Andy Prue's day job is as an NHS Web Development Librarian. Enough said.

Andy is relatively new to creative writing, having scribbled nonsense for many years, mainly for his own pleasure (definitely not for publication). He's now reached a point in his life where he wants to give 'proper' writing a go: to see once and for all if he has any talent!

The kind of fiction that appeals to him includes fantasy/horror, Sci-Fi and techno thrillers; literally anything except Unicorns, teenage Beverly Hills vampires or Middle Earth Trolls, Goblins or Hobbits.

His favourite authors include, Alan Moore (graphic novels), John Birmingham, Michael Crichton, Clive Barker, Richard Morgan, Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, Stephen King and many, many, many more!

His aim is to one day give up the day job and join those exhalted ranks. Just like several hundred million others: but hey, you never know!

He's interested in sampling all forms: short-stories, novels, screenplays, non-fiction...anything.

He says he may look like a wild lycanthrope during a full moon, but don't let that put you off saying hello, as he really doesn't bite!!! 

His story, Flight 45, has been included in the Kindle anthology Things That Go Bump In the Night.

 

 

Mark Bigg

 

 

 

Mark lives in Dartford which is handy as he is only five minutes walk from The Mick Jagger Centre, where The Write Place currently resides (how come he's always late for class?)

He is married to Sally and has two young sons who take up the majority of his spare time.

Mark is very new to creative writing although he has always had a burning desire to put pen to paper. His love of reading, encompassing various genres including Stephen King, Clive Barker, George MacDonald Fraser, Roald Dahl and Agatha Christie has inpsored him to attempt to emulate his literary heroes.

Currently a member of the Get Writing class, Mark won the short story section of The Write Place 2011 Summer Competition. His story Small Blessings was published in the Kindle anthology Things That Go Bump In the Night in November 2011. He has also had a piece published in the Family Section of the Guardian.

In December 2011, Mark was awarded The Write Place's 'Most Promising Newcomer' prize. 

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 Valerie Miller

 

Valerie is retired and lives in Bean with her partner Jim. She joined Elaine's classes five years ago and after a gap of a year reurned in 2010 as she missed the challenge of writing under Elaine's guidance.

Valerie enjoys writing short stories and poetry. She has won a class competition for a short story and has been second for two entries of poetry. She has always enjoyed writing but as yet has not been published although she thinks her luck will change soon! Valerie is interested in all types of writing enjoying the classes and company of fellow writers.

Her other interests are holidays including cruising and trips to visit friends on France. She is also kept busy with seven grandchildren and enjoys swimming and attempting to play the occasional game of golf.

In 2011, she had her story Innocent Until Proven Guilty published in the Kindle anthology Things That Go Bump In the Night.

 

Giovanna Burgess 

 

 

Giovanna joined the Novel class in 2010, to write a teen fantasy following the adventures of Iduna and her wolf spirit, Rann.

Giovanna also enjoys writing short stories, and she'll write poetry at a pinch. Recently, she's had to take a break from writing to concentrate on her new baby, but is hoping to get back into it shortly, even if it means writing left handed while she feeds him!

Her spooky story, The Puppet Master,  was included in the Kindle anthology Things That Go Bump In the Night.

 

Adam Bird

 

Adam started writing a personal blog on his website;www.adambird.co.uk, in 2006 when he found out that he was going to be a father for the first time. It also appealed to his geeky nature and he needed to learn the technology for his job, which he did whilst working as a website developer for an advertising agency in London.

He thought that only his parents were reading his postings and used to cringe with embarrassment every time his mother complimented him about his writing, but when others, including strangers started to comment he started thinking that there might actually be some truth in it.

 In 2011, his current agency offered him £200 to learn something new, which they do with all their staff, so he decided to see if he could swim in a world away from his blog. So far, so good! It's amazing what a prompt and a bit of confidence can do! Rather than testing the water with a few short stories, he dove straight in at the deep end and subsequently, over the summer started penning his first novel - despite refusing to label it as such. When asked what it was about, he said "I'm not quite sure yet, but I know where I want it to go. I love books that when you finish them, you feel a sense of emptiness in your life for a little while, like you've said goodbye to a dear friend - I want this to be such a book".

 Nothing like a bit of ambition then?

 His ghost story, Boo!, can be read in the Kindle anthology Things That Go Bump In the Night.

 

 Tracy Phillips

 

 

In November 2011, Tracy story, Danny's Special Project was included in the Kindle anthology Things That Go Bump In the Night.