Creative Writing at Winchester
Having spent the last three years studying Creative Writing at Winchester, I believe I am qualified to say there is no better place to study than here. Walking into class every morning is a source of inspiration, from the flowers that bloom in spring to the moodiness of the graveyard opposite campus against the backdrop of orange leaves in autumn. Winchester High Street is brimming with intricate details and alleyways to spark ideas, and what better backdrop for writing than Winchester Cathedral? With the medieval architecture and years of history beneath your feet, words seem to crackle and spark through you faster than your fingers can type.
Beyond the gorgeous landscapes, the lecturers are incredibly experienced with a genuine interest in supporting you as a writer and ensuring you have all the skills you need to take you forward in your career. The course offers a wealth of opportunities to explore different genres and styles, and experiment with ideas that take you out of your comfort zone. Every lecture is a chance to stretch your creative energy, and collaborating with other writers means you always have someone to bounce ideas off.
Being given the space to try new things has helped me understand my own process for taking a piece from a jumble of mismatched notes to a fully developed assignment, and it’s wonderful to watch the confidence I developed throughout this process reflected in the quality of my work. Being able to give and receive feedback is easily the biggest advantage of this course, and it is through learning how to give feedback to others that my own writing has become better structured and considered.
Figure skating alongside my studies
When I’m not writing, I spend my time figure skating. I first started skating at 19 after a book inspired me to give it a try. It wasn’t long before I began learn-to-skate classes and purchased my first pair of skates. Everything continued to spiral from there. Now three years into my skating journey, my skating has developed just as much as my writing. I’ve won three competitions held at my local rink and recently competed at Adult Nationals in Sheffield, placing 12th out of 36 skaters from across the country.
I first wrote about figure skating in my first year Creative Non-Fiction module, detailing my experience of starting the sport as an adult and my goals for the future. As something that has been so tied to my journey through university, it felt only right that I return to the subject in my final semester. Like many writers, I love a full-circle moment, and combining my writing, skating, and dressmaking was the perfect way to tie up my university experience.
Writing and Skating
This Blue Dress is a short story that follows a young skater through three separate competitions and depicts her struggles with imposter syndrome as she advances within the sport. I was heavily inspired by the idea that the clothes we wear are tied to our memories and experiences, and wanted to physically represent that by writing the assignment onto the dress the character wears for her competitions. Revisiting skating was the perfect opportunity to expand on all the knowledge I’ve gained as a writer and skater over the last few years and bring my own experience competing into the piece.
While they might appear very different on the surface, writing and skating share many similarities, especially in mindset. Skating is a continual cycle of falling, getting up, and trying again, and repeating that action over and over, five days a week, makes it much easier to adopt that mindset in other aspects of your life. The first draft of a piece is never going to be perfect, and sometimes it can feel as though the story seems to be fighting against you. Bringing that same mindset to rewriting the same paragraph ten times until it's perfect makes the process much less frustrating. As I wrote This Blue Dress, it was really fun to highlight these similarities by paralleling the repetition of skating with the process of rewriting.
Now, as I look toward a future as an author and prepare to move up a level for my next competition in June, I feel confident that these last three years have prepared me to meet every challenge. Whether that be mastering those tricky double jumps or publishing my first book, my time at Winchester has equipped me with lifelong skills and friendships that will support me in every goal I choose to chase.
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