OOC DTP Writing Retreat for 2nd years

10 February 00:00 to 15 February 00:00
Charney Manor, Charney Bassett, Wantage OX12 0EJ

It’s difficult to think of any lesson this week that hasn’t been profoundly transformative. … I know already that our discussions on the joy and possibilities of writing have made me see my thesis as a living, rather than a dead, thing.

(Student who joined one of our retreats in 2022)

Second Year Writing Retreat - 'Academic Writing the Creative Way'

Led by two tutors, for up to 12 second year doctoral students:

This five-day immersive retreat will take you off-campus to focus intensively on your PhD in the company of two professional writers and a group of peers.

Each morning there will be taught sessions, largely tailored to the needs of the group – to which end you will be invited to submit work in advance of the retreat. The afternoons are reserved for private writing time, except when you have a tutorial. Each participant will be offered two separate tutorials over the course of the retreat. In addition to receiving detailed feedback from both tutors on your work and the specific writing challenges you face, you will be given an entire ‘tool kit’ of creative writing skills that will help you pull your thesis into final shape, so that it possesses a strong argumentative through-line and a distinctive narrative voice.

…thank you for the amazing tutorials, which have really allowed me to approach my writing in ways I never could have imagined and re-sparked my enjoyment with my project.

(Student who joined one of our retreats in 2022)

Each retreat is designed in response to the writing samples we receive; however, the following will give you a broad outline of what to expect day by day from the group sessions.

 

Sample Content, mornings: (NB the running order may vary):

 

  • Day One: We meet the students as ‘writers’ and discuss the challenges that all writers face. And we look to focus, pitching and personal investment as essential orienteering: in other words, to discovering your own ‘true north’.
  • Day Two: This day is all about Voice. We pick apart what this elusive quality actually consists of, and how it can be used to lend your PhD layering, depth and originality. We also talk about what we call Connective Tissue – structure at the micro level.
  • Day Three: Story Telling and Structure. Having looked at the weaving and linking that’s part of keeping the reader with you and getting your voice onto the page, we balance this by focusing on the macro level of narrative structure, using various techniques including working on the wall and other kinaesthetic methods.
  • Day Four:  This morning is all about Questions and Obstacles - how you keep driving forward your argument when you think you cannot go further. We believe that interrogation at exactly this point leads to greater depth and nuance and to new insights: how do you capture your breakthrough thinking?
  • Day Five: How to take these lessons home and continue to access your best creative state. We remind students what they’ve learnt during the week and hand out a True North glossary of all the tropes we’ve taught them. The morning is capped with an ‘observational walk’ which is all about making the best use of language.

 

Note:

We sometimes invite a mid-week guest to deliver an evening session on a writing-related theme. Often we invite professional writers, or bloggers, or early career researcher, but we’ve also invited and life coaches and NLP experts.

 

This retreat has been pretty life changing for me in terms of opening my eyes to my own potential as a writer both in academia and outside. I’ve been challenged by so much of what you’ve said to be a better writer. And you’ve been so affirming and encouraging as well. At this stage of my PhD where things have got so intense and crazy, this retreat has been an oasis and an antidote to the chaos.

(3rd year PhD participant)

By the end of the course:

  • You will have strengthened the solid spine of your thesis, and identified all its major points of articulation.
  • You will know exactly what to cut and what to boost to pull your thesis into a coherent work that sings.
  • You will have learnt how and where to place your most far-reaching ideas, so that your work resonates with meaning for your readers.
  • You will better understand the nature and scope of your contribution to your research field.
  • You will have experienced the transformative benefit of immersion in your work - away from all the distractions of your everyday life, and in the company of a peer group of students who are on the same journey.
  • You will have a clearer sense of who you are as a writer, and of how to access your own best creative state.

To book

We will notify you via email when booking is open for this retreat. Once available. please book your place via Inkpath as soon as possible. Places are likely to fill up very quickly so we encourage early registration.