Online Writing Course

Writing Using Visual, Musical and Drama Technique

Online // 

26th April 2025
2-4pm GMT+1

When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. It is only after a sort of ‘get acquainted’ period that I see what I have been about … the painting has a life of its own – Jackson Pollock.

From the visual arts we’ll examine tools like mind-mapping, and Russian cinematic collage montage technique to help us juxtapose, complement or amplify hybrid elements. From music, we’ll highlight jazz and discover how improvisation works to help us understand the rhythms of language, the use of a riff, and listening to our work. From theatre, our workshop will focus on specific improvisation/performance techniques, and an understanding what happens when we spontaneously write. From each artistic practice we’ll learn specific practical writing tools, and hear from leading musicians, actors, and artists on their use of creative thinking and how it relates to writing (guest list to be confirmed).

In this 2hr session we will:

  • Look at ‘creative thinking’ practices inspired by visual art, theatre and music and apply this to our writing practice as seeing, embodying, and hearing
  • Use writing exercises from visual arts, theatre and music to generate material
  • Look closely and try out the 3-step creative thinking writing model
  • Q+A with author, lecturer and clinical arts therapist, Susannah Crossman

This session welcomes beginners and experienced writers, poets, essayists, novelists, short story writers as well as teachers.

Tickets

This event will be recorded for the purpose of sending to ticket holders who can’t make the event, and those who require the recording to meet their access needs. Tickets purchased after the event takes place, will give access to the session recording for two weeks.

You can purchase an individual £20 ticket for this event, or a combination £70 ticket which includes Susanna’s other sessions in this series:

Course dates

26th April 2025
2-4pm GMT+1

Course location

This is an online course

Cost

£20

Further Info

The course will run with a minimum of 15 participants and a maximum of 90. Any questions at all, please drop us a line at info@londonlitlab.co.uk and we’ll be happy to help!

About the tutor

Susanna Crossman is an essayist and award-winning fiction writer. Her memoir, Home is Where We Start, was published by Fig Tree, Penguin, in 2024. Her new novel, ‘The Orange Notebooks’, will be published by Bluemoose Books in 2025. She has recent work in Aeon, The Guardian, Vogue,  Paris Review, and more. She regularly collaborates with artists and film-makers. She studied Drama, and worked as an improvsiational actress. Currently, when she’s not writing, she works internationally as a lecturer and clinical arts-therapist. Susanna has run writing and creativity seminars on three continents: at Sarah Lawrence College (NY, USA), Kangwon National University (South Korea), University of Botsawna, Université Rennes 2 (France), EDF, the Festival Mythos, CHU d’Angers and more… Born in the UK, Susanna Crossman grew up in an international commune and has lived in France for over half her life. For more: https://susanna-crossman.squarespace.com

Writing Using Visual, Musical and Drama Technique