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f**king about

&

START

writing

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New for your brain

Coming up

Tuesday 30 June
The Write A Novel Festival Wrap Up & What Next
Friday 19 June
Edinburgh Writers’ Retreat Big Weekender
Wednesday 03 June
Writing Science Fiction: Who are we? What can we know? Why are crystalline entities so awesome?
Wednesday 24 June
The Historical Novel with Lindz McLeod

Write with us in actual real life

People, not pixels! 

Sunday 07 June,
 10:00 am GMT
Edinburgh Writers’ Retreat
With Veronique Kootstra
Learn more
Sunday 07 June,
 10:00 am GMT
Bradford Writers’ Retreat
With Tabitha Bast
Learn more
Saturday 13 June,
 10:00 am GMT
Leeds Writers’ Retreat
With Jem Henderson
Learn more
Saturday 13 June,
 10:00 am GMT
Walthamstow Writers’ Retreat
With Alice Slater
Learn more
Sunday 14 June,
 10:30 am GMT
Birmingham Writers’ Retreat
With Mara Livermore
Learn more
Sunday 14 June,
 10:00 am GMT
Chichester Writers’ Retreat
With Allegra Chapman
Learn more
Saturday 20 June,
 10:00 am GMT
Brighton Writers’ Retreat
With Paul Macauley
Learn more
Saturday 27 June,
 10:00 am GMT
Brighton Writers’ Retreat
With Anika Carpenter
Learn more
Saturday 04 July,
 10:30 am GMT
Birmingham Writers’ Retreat
With Mara Livermore
Learn more
Saturday 04 July,
 10:00 am GMT
Brighton Writers’ Retreat
With Anika Carpenter
Learn more
Sunday 05 July,
 10:00 am GMT
Bradford Writers’ Retreat
With Tabitha Bast
Learn more
Saturday 11 July,
 10:00 am GMT
Leeds Writers’ Retreat
With Jem Henderson
Learn more

Non-stop writing joy every goddamn day

The incredible Writers’ HQ community offers an inclusive, welcoming, supportive, step-by-step environment, away from tiresome literary snobbery and grammar pedantry, for the many writers out there who feel as though they don’t fit.

We know what you’re dealing with – the joys, the frustrations, the research rabbit holes, the endless urge to procrastinate. And we’re working on our stories right alongside you.

With thousands of WHQers all over the world, you can get writing, grow your skills, learn your craft, swap work for critique, swoon and flail, and be caught by other writers who just get it, 24 hours a day. Oh yeah – we put the mm in community!

Join monthly
Join annually
  • Weekly write-alongs
  • Monthly Q&A support group
  • Monthly online retreats
  • Monthly live masterclasses with guest authors
  • Over 25 mammoth creative writing courses
  • Always-on workshop library
  • Flash Face Off and Flash Face Off Live
  • Monthly festivals and challenges

Latest and greatest writerly workshops

A screenshot of Marion Lougheed with headphones on running the Zoom workshop Using Anthropology for Worldbuilding
Using Anthropology for Worldbuilding with Marion Lougheed
Anthropology is a treasure trove of worldbuilding ideas. In this workshop, we'll talk about how you can dig into this wealth of human creativity.
Learn more
Getting Short Stories Published with Alice Slater
Publishing! It's not as scary as you think! Getting your short stories out into the big wide world is not the big white whale you...
Learn more
Editing Short Stories with Alice Slater
From adding layers of rich detail to trimming the fat, walk through how to go from a messy idea to a meticulously crafted short story.
Learn more
The April Writer Support Group with Sarah Lewis
What to do when you don't like any of your ideas, can't stop doomscrolling, and your ADHD is spannering your ability to plot.
Learn more
Writing Parallel Lives: Untravelled Roads with Sage Tyrtle
What if, on another path, you made a different choice? There are powerful storytelling possibilities that exist in the space between chance and choice. Explore the compelling concept of parallel lives, roads not taken, and how we craft narratives that ask "what if?".
Learn more
Soilpunk and Queer Ecologies in Short Stories with Sarah Royston and Tractor Beam
Genre-smashing, inspired by scientific innovations, and subversive to the core, what if our brightest hope wasn’t in the stars but in the earth beneath our feet? A playful, trope-busting approach to sci fi, dystopian/utopian fiction and eco-writing.
Learn more

A blundred bazillion creative writing courses

Start straight away. Work at your own pace. Share, learn and create with the best community of writers this side of the Internet. 

Covering everything from how to get writing, writing a novel, writing short stories, and writing flash fiction.

Get me writing

Everything you need to kick your writerly butt into action and develop a writing practice that is joyful, sustainable, and all round bloody lovely.

See all get writing courses >>

Write a novel

It’s time to extract that novel from your veins. Start, plan, plot, write, edit. Fuck yeah!

See all novel writing courses >>

Write short stories
Learn the fundamentals of short story writing, refine your skills, master your craft, and write all round banging stories.

See all short story courses >>

Write flash fiction
Discover how to write teeny tiny stories with a mammoth size gut punch.

See all flash fiction courses >>

See all courses

Who’s awesome? We’re awesome!

Well. You’re awesome, actually. You do the hard work, we just provide the warm embrace of swearing and tea and pep.

After hanging around as a freebie member and completing the free courses, I was so convinced by the improvements to my writing – and amused by the emails! – I signed up for three months… I’m still here, months later! I’ve learnt so much, from courses like Plotstormers and The First Draft, and from fellow WHQers, I would rather give up cake and chocolate than let my membership lapse! Love you WHQ!

Jan M

Writers’ HQ has honestly been life changing for me! After doing the 14 Days to a Solid Writing Habit course, which gave me a great kick start, I have been doing Plotstormers II to help me edit my novel. How do I say this without swearing? Fuck it, it’s been sodding amazing! It’s helping me so much to edit my novel. I’ve also been doing the Flash Fiction course and a piece of mine is on the Welkin Prize shortlist!

Agnes H

I cannot imagine life without WHQ
I’ve been a subscriber since April 2019 and I now cannot imagine life without WHQ. It’s like my inner sanctum and I bang on about it to everyone all the time. They must get sick of me. In the past when I’ve had to knock other subscriptions on the head because of money, there was never any question of me doing the same for this wonderful organisation.

Lauren P

WHQ is fantastic! I did a free writing course with WHQ at the start of the pandemic and joined up straight after – since then I have had over twenty pieces published, been long and shortlisted in various competitions and won one at the beginning of this year – the tutors, and the encouragement of the forum members, are fantastic.

Claire

A wonderful community. Before I joined WHQ I never dreamed of submitting my work to magazines. Since becoming a paid-up member 5 months ago, I’ve had 6 flash fictions and 2 poems accepted for publication – entirely thanks to the inspiration and support of this wonderful community.

Sarah K

Join the most word-writing, tea-drinking, story-slinging, biscuit-dunking, productivity-boosting, super supportive writing community this side of the internet

Freebies

  • Two creative writing courses
  • Flash Face Off and Flash Face Off Live
  • The Secret Retreat forum
  • That's it
  • If you want more you have to upgrade, sozzzz
  • See you on the inside mwa mwa mwa
Come on in

Glorious Writing Beasts

  • Weekly write-alongs
  • Monthly live masterclasses with guest authors
  • Monthly Q&A support group
  • Monthly online retreats
  • Over 25 mammoth creative writing courses
  • Always-on workshop library
  • Flash Face Off, Flash Face Off Live and Introduction to Flash course and workshop
  • Monthly festivals and challenges
Join monthly (£20)
Join annually (save £50)

Read this before going to the forum!

The widget that lets you sign into the forum with your WHQ login has given up. 

We are trying to coax it back into existence. So far neither bribery, begging or crying has worked. We are currently trying shaking our fists at the sky and going ‘grrrr’.

You can still get to the forum though! Do this:

  1. Click the button below
  2. On the forum login page, click reset password USING THE SAME EMAIL YOU USE FOR WHQ
  3. Click the link in the email and reset your password

IMPORTANT: This means you will have TWO (2) passwords/logins. One for the WHQ main site and one for the forum. It’s a pain in the arse. We’re sorry. It is temporary, but at least you can dick about on the forum again. OKAY BYE. 

Click here to go to the forum

Once you hit the button, you’ll get a confirmation email, and we’ll send you the Zoom link an hour before the event. 

We’ve sent the Zoom link to your inbox and we’ll send it again one hour before the event. 

If you don’t get an email, check your spam fist and then wang us a line on help@writershq.co.uk and we’ll leap into action with keenness and speed. 

EVENTS CALENDAR

All our writing events in one place

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FREE ONLINE EVENTS

Online Writers’ Retreats
Spend a whole day writing with us!

Flash Face Off
Prompts every week, live reading every month

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GOLD STAR MEMBER EVENTS

Do Things Series

Submit 2025 Series

Community Series

Couch to 5k Words

Plotstormers Lite

Write A Short Story Festival

Write A Novel Festival 

Writing As Resistance Festival 

Write November

Five Days of Write-mas

Bag your Gold Star Membership now and write your heart out

Gold Star membership

REAL LIFE WRITING RETREATS

Birmingham Writers’ Retreat 

Brighton Writers’ Retreat

Edinburgh Writers’ Retreat

Gold Star Members get 15% off all real life retreats. Sign up now >>

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