- "I was... astonished at your easy way of clearing the fog, and your
intimate knowledge of so many authors and their works. Add to that your
generosity in sharing your experience and knowledge, and it all adds up
to my perfect moment."
- "Best workshop of any sort I have ever attended."
- "...we all shared the huge privilege of spending this special time with Christopher. No-one was unmoved or uninspired."
- "Christopher('s) practical advice on how to put a manuscript together, who to approach,
and how to cope with rejection, was invaluable."
- "The workshop was definitely a highlight in my year and I’ve become a Christopher Hope groupie."
- "four wonderful days with some of the most textured and interesting people I have met in a long time."
- "This was not a learning course; it was more than that – it was a mind-opening course."
This is what the May Attendees said...
Since Christopher's workshop I've been inspired to write for 3-4 hours
per day - virtually every day - and have drafted, re-drafted and re-
re-drafted over 30 000 words. Even if each of those words eventually end
up in the dustbin, I've had enormous pleasure communicating with myself
via my computer. The group was wonderfully creative and supportive and
we all shared the huge privilege of spending this special time with
Christopher. No-one was unmoved or uninspired.
Mary Faure
Stimulating, intellectually invigorating and enlightening. Christopher's
literary intellect, talent and practical skills releases latent and shy
creative writing ability that inspires writers with the confidence and
excitement needed to carry on writing. His gentle enabling style draws
everyone together to participate fully in discussion, learning and
listening. Best workshop of any sort I have ever attended.
Felicity Jarvis
Thinking back, I'm not sure you actually 'taught' us anything, yet you
seemed to weave something that left everyone better off.
I was, like all the others, astonished at your easy way of clearing the
fog, and your intimate knowledge of so many authors and their works. Add
to that your generosity in sharing your experience and knowledge, and
it all adds up to my perfect moment.
I have much to do to 'come right' and have decided to go back to my
first, much rusted and neglected language of Afrikaans, and I thank you
for the insights and the courage that led me to that.
Kalahari assures me that several of your books are on their way to me
and I look forward to cold, wet Greyton evenings by the fire, with a
good wine and an author whom I consider to be the one John Irving would
have liked to be.
All the best to you, and please come back soon.
Dave Jackson
The Christopher Hope Writers’ Workshop held in Greyton during mid-May
this year was all we expected it would be. What made us sign up in the
first place? We both love reading, we both have to write as part of
our jobs, and yet we needed to take time off to listen and to learn from
others, particularly someone who has published as successfully as
Christopher.
It was extremely valuable to meet others who came with similar
expectations, and to hear excerpts of what they had written in the past,
or what they presented as synopses or chapters of what they wished to
write. I think we all had a common wish to be heard and to receive
feedback from others, not only Christopher, on our own personal work. I
am sure that we all, one way or another, exposed ourselves, at the same
time sharing experiences with an intimacy that bonded us.
One of the most important parts of the Workshop for the two of us was
learning how to “show, not tell”, of creating atmosphere and approaching
a subject from the side instead of head on, and listening to examples
of how this is done by celebrated writers both past and present.
Christopher is a talented raconteur, clearly an avid reader, his
recollection for quotations is unsurpassed. His practical advice on
how to put a manuscript together, who to approach, and how to cope with
rejection, was invaluable. He touched on the importance of
self-criticism and ruthless editing, something I suspect we may have
difficulty in achieving!
We came away inspired and refreshed – above all, with what we feel are
realistic goals to accomplish.
Carol and John Hanks
The workshop was definitely a highlight in my year and I’ve become a
Christopher Hope groupie. But I couldn’t have told you EXACTLY what I
learnt until....
I got onto the plane back to Johannesburg and decided to haul out
chapter 1 of the Manuscript I am working on about COPE. Of course
they’ve really buggered up my ending with their latest shenanigans and
my title will have to change to something along the lines of Lannie’s
‘Hoe ek my gat gesien het in Frankryk’ - ‘Hoe COPE sy gat gesien het in
Suid Afrika’. Anyway, I took out a pen and started to re-read and edit.
After 5 pages of scratching, hacking and deleting the gentleman on my
left asked if I was a school teacher. I told him that I’d just been on a
writers workshop and continued. Then the lady on my left asked whose
work it was that I was marking. “My own” I said. To which she replied
“Ag shame man, don’t be so hard on yourself”.
My mantra each morning along with the egg timer ritual is Christopher’s
“Show up, press on, gag the children.” The last bit is my own. I love
them dearly and my writing would not be the same without them.
Thank you again for arranging four wonderful days with some of the most
textured and interesting people I have met in a long time. Mind you,
I’ve been spending much time in politics so that’s not hard.
Look forward to another Workshop sometime. Hopefully by then some of us will be published or just plain old ‘better writers’.
Viv Laverge
This was not a learning course; it was more than that – it was a
mind-opening course.
To go there expecting to be “taught” is setting off on the wrong foot.
We went to school to learn and then acquired very little that stuck.
This was more to open our minds and eyes to the possibilities.
Rather a wonderful opportunity to step away from the everyday, step up
to new minds and interact with people who believed they had something to
say, but were seeking confirmation of their “voice”.
I am still waiting to tap into my “book voice”... ...But would
nonetheless say I both thoroughly enjoyed it, would do it again and both
knowingly and subliminally I feel I learnt a great deal. I will finish
my first book and it will be a better piece of work for having been on
the course.
Jon Voigt
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