Imaginarium Earth is a six month editorial programme for writers with an early draft wanting a new and supportive way of editing their work
Who’s it for?
Any writer, of any genre, any subject, looking for a new / supportive community alongside whom to edit / redraft a body of work*
who can commit to most of the fortnightly Monday night online sessions
who wants to go from being in the dark to having a clearer view of a particular project
who enjoys discussion and engaging with other people’s work as much as their own, seeing that as a way to enrich their own process
who has love and respect for the earth and is wanting to enfold that relationship into their writing / editing process.
You do not need to be writing a nature-based work, or refer to the natural world explicitly within the writing.
* A ‘body of work’ refers to a pamphlet or more of poems, a collection or bundle of short stories, a 20+ min script, a piece of prose 15k + words in length, or some other longer length work
Aims
Turn an early (possibly messy) draft into something more coherent.
Build confidence and joy in the editorial stage.
See the earth as a teacher of creativity, and build on the six elements for creative experimentation.
Keep the creative spirit alive and fresh throughout the redrafting process.
You will be invited to
Draw on the earth’s processes to guide your editorial process
Reset your perception of your work through a wider reset of perceptions towards the world you inhabit
Become a part of a small community of committed writers each editing their work
Hold an expansive view of your ideas, influences and processes, while making focused edits on your work
Format
We’ll meet fortnightly, online for 90 minute sessions. These will alternate between peer feedback and more wide-ranging discussions on process and keeping going
Interim worksheets / provocations full of questions and invitations
An inclusive hour long one-to-one coaching/mentoring session with me, which could be face to face (in Lancaster area), online or phone.
More info on the ethos of an Imaginarium is here
Session dates All sessions run 7-8:30pm, Monday nights, on zoom.
Intro session: 18th Dec;
Earth: 15th & 29th Jan;
Air: 12th & 26th Feb;
Space: 11th & 25th March
Fire: 8th & 22nd April
Water: 6th & 20th May
Consciousness: 3rd & 17th June
Cost
There are three self-selecting bands:
£270 full; £150 mid-range; £90 concs; 1 free bursary place is available.
This includes all sessions, resources and an optional one to one tutorial.
Please choose whichever band feels most affordable to your current situation
Expressions of Interest
There are 8 places. Unlike previous years I’m definitely capping at 8 (!)
If you’d like to join this Imaginarium, please email me sehymas [at] gmail.com
with:
1. A rough outline of the draft project, including its genre and subject matter, you want to work on between Dec 23 and June 24*
2. Which fee band you’ll be paying
3. Any access needs
4. Any questions
*This is not about me deciding how good your work is, more an ambition to create a mix of genres for the group.
Please send your interest by 16th November at the latest and I’ll get back to you asap.
2021 Ledbury Munthe Second Collection Prize for Poetry. Shortlisted. ‘melt’ 2020 BlackSunflowers Poetry inaugural pamphlet competition. Winner. ‘the hispering’ 2019AHRC-funded PhD. Liverpool University. ‘Becoming Ocean: On the Marine Lyric’ 2019UK Forward Prize for Poetry. Highly Commended. ‘Whale Bone Corset and Other Relics’ 2018 Ivan Juritz Prize for Creative Experiment. Shortlisted. ‘Recovery’ 2016Hinterland Inaugural Nonfiction Competition. Shortlisted. ‘This Wall’ 2016Dot Award New Media Prize. Shortlisted. ‘Ripple’ 2014International New Media Writing Prize. Shortlisted. ‘Tales from the Towpath’
Imaginariums offer a structured space to support your thinking, writing and experimentation. They rise out of my own creative practice and respond to other artforms and across genres in their aim to widen, stimulate and flex our imaginations. The creative sessions are reciprocal, sparking off what I am reading, writing and thinking and what participants are. No two sessions or programmes are the same, as they depend on how the projects of all involved chime with each other. This is what I love about them. A Writer’s Imaginarium is a community in which to share live ideas, processes and questions that feel current, of the moment.
To riff off what Richard Powers wrote in The Overstory: ‘liking and not liking [are] the rod and staff of commodity culture’: Imaginarums are not about writer feedback and creative criticism. They are places of incubation, a quiet resistance to rushing towards an end product, while holding a sense of momentum towards something, be that a particular form or aspiration for the completion of a piece of work.
Imaginarum Change is a six month online programme based on the classic format of working around a project, with the added focus on writing as change-maker. Info here
Imaginarum Solo is for those of you who’d rather work alone at your own pace. It’s a pdf with guided provocations in online audio recordings. More info here
Imaginarium Summer is a nontutored month-long laboratory into the art of writing without writing*. Provocations and inspirations are sent to you through a single month, with a blog forum for discussion, and a one to one at a time of your choosing. Even if you are based in the southern hemisphere, the intention is to spread some warm sunshine ease through your writing process. More info here
That is the true magnificence – if you can live in a culture that is so destructive as ours is, one that keeps you down and discouraged and broken-hearted and if you can still sing your song, dance your dance, cook your food and speak your mind, then you’ve won. — Alice Walker
The Spirit of the Imaginarium
Each Imaginarium, whatever its form, explores how writing isn’t necessarily fast acting: either in its creation or in how it is received. Imagining operates on different timescales to our daily work/life, home/office, inside/outside worlds. It resists our consumerist culture and refuses to be commodified. It does not follow expected narratives. Imaginariums relish the joy, struggle and complexity of creation. They share a love of communication, expression, bewilderment, confusion, chaos, disruption and whatever else you unearth. Each Imaginarium is provocative: changing one thing into another, or at least how we see one thing into another (which might be the same thing).
Who might come to a Writer’s Imaginarium?
Any one who is writing, or wants to write, something, short story, novel, creative prose, poetry or something more hybrid, is welcome to participate. You do not need to have much experience of writing , or you could have three novels under your belt. Imaginariums are for the curious; writers who are interested in how they might develop their writing and thinking around writing .
Imaginariums are tailor for those who already have an idea, half-fledged, in scribbles in notebooks, an image lodged in your memory. It needn’t be fully formed or fleshed out, just an itch you want to scratch. I do ask that you commit to all the online group sessions (whilst being aware life happens).
I have an application process to ensure each Imaginarium contains writers of different genres, at similar stages in a project, if not their writing life. So you can learn from each other and how our work, ideas and interests may cross-fertilise. It is an open space in which to discover what can happen where different imaginations meet.
The applications are not looking for any particular style of writing or seeking to impose a qualitative stamp on your work.
What previous participants have to say
A Writer’s Imaginarium was an incredibly powerful structure that enabled me to explore a new creative question with depth, nuance and openness. That Sarah managed to continue and grow an incredibly meaningful creative course during a uniquely challenging time (early pandemic) speaks volumes about her skill and knowledge as a facilitator, and also her integrity and heart. I strongly recommend the Imaginarium course to anyone considering a writing project that looks impossible, that feels overwhelming, or that appears to be hidden from view. Sarah is is a wonderful guide. She will provoke you and support you as you unearth your creative work.
A safe space to be an unsafe writer – to push beyond your comfort zone, write stuff that doesn’t matter, chop it up, turn it round and then realise it’s like nothing you’ve written before, and that that does matter. What it entails – better trusting the innate potency of the intangible to assist with your writing – writing, re-thinking time, colour, shape, ownership, associations, triggers. It allows you to write as your synapses actually fire, more than as society wishes your mind to work. Uncolonised writing.
It made me think about writing in a more physical way.
Such a generous and kind tutor … love your bubblin joyousness and playfulness…so infectious.
It opens up what process is … taking you outside of your usual or imagined self. I wouldn’t say out of your comfort zone because it felt like a very safe and supportive space, but perhaps that, in terms of what you imagine your writing or practice to be.
I liked the inputs and reading you give us and the crazy exercises, not just writing and reading out. A group on imagination has to be imaginative after all
A melting pot of thoughts, discussions, ideas, views and useful writing exercises for all genres.
I found the one-to-one to be invaluable. Talking to someone about it and some of the problems I’m facing with it helped me to see it more clearly and gave me something of a different viewpoint on it, which was good.
This is very different from more conventional writing workshops and might particularly suit people who are not so much wanting very specific writing support but more interested in exploring their own and others’ creative process.
Pulls you out of your writing and into yourself, then pushes you out of yourself and into your writing.
*The Art of Writing without Writing acknowledges its debt to Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragonand the ethics of nonviolence and nonseparation.
About my workshop practice
I have been creating spaces in which to think, write and experiment across the community for over thirty years. I draw on my practice as a poet, performer, artistbook maker and collaborator. I devise the sessions from my own writing processes which have resulted in work for print – in books, journals, and artistbooks – multimedia exhibits, dance videos, lyrics, pyrotechnical installations, on stage and radio. I have written books: Host, my first poetry collection, was published by Waterloo Press (2010), andmelt came out December 2020. Between the two collections I have also co-written site-specific immersive stories, told through geocaching, augmented reality, micro-print & performance. I also work as a coach, mentor and editor.
My collaborations and interactions with the visual, digital and sound artists, musicians, scientists, writers and makers all play a part in influencing the creative and fluid space of my workshops.
Have a rootle around the website to find out more about me.
How can writers of different genres learn from each other? How might the work, ideas and interests cross-fertilize? What happens in that space where different imaginations meet? Read more about my thinking of the imaginarium here
If you have any questions, then get in touch sehymas [at] gmail [dot] com
I was editor of Flax, Lancaster Literature Festival’s publishing imprint from 2006-2011.
Alongside designer Martin Chester and then Anat Kaivanto, we produced 29 publications that ranged from pdf pamphlets of poetry and prose, illustrated posters, ebooks, films and walking tours. We launched all the publications in one way or another, celebrating the coming together of great quality work.
A sample of our work is below. You can see more on the Flax page of ISSUU
Walking in Circles – poetry walks
Seed Haiku
Another collaboration with Maya Chowdhry
http://vimeo.com/25316376
I continue to edit anthologies created in workshops and with fellow writers.
Most recently, Solstice, with Rebecca Bilkau.
An anthology of hours. Twenty four poems clocking the twenty four hours of the longest day in 2012. This ‘hinge’ of the year is tracked by transience, evident in the views of street lamps, hedgerows, cafes, the rising light, swallows, rain, and ultimately the growing dark, its rituals, noises, pathways disappearing ahead.
Poems from Helen Ivory, Andrew McMillan, Wayne Burrows, Jane Routh, Seni Seniviratne, Maya Chowdhry, David Tait and many more.
Between the mentor and the mentee is the work. As a mentor my interest lies in working with you to achieve your writing goals.
I will be a thorough and careful reader of your work; a supportive and empathetic communicator. Your work is yours – and my approach is to enable the growth of your work as you envisage it.
Maybe we won’t always work on the writing, focusing instead on your writing self, on your process, practice and resilience. I hope to help you learn to negotiate tricky periods in your writing life, so you feel more confident in your work and creative processes.
In the main, the mentoring meets will be monthly, face to face or virtually, to discuss your writing (the amount to be arranged between us) and if applicable other aspects of your work, such as time management, motivation, confidence, goal-setting etc.
At the end of the mentoring, you will have a clear idea of what you have achieved and a plan of where to go next.
What does it Cost? and Other Answers
In the spirit of inclusiveness, my fees range between £30-£70 per hour, depending on your financial situation. The higher end of the range enables me to offer subsidised rates. Pay it forward, if you can.
Our meets can be for either an hour or two hours with some preparatory time for me to read your work.
I’m based in the North West of England and if you can travel here, we can meet in person. If that’s not possible, for the same price I offer distance mentoring by email, phone or Skype / zoom.
I recommend monthly meetings, but this is up to you.
I am also happy to advise you if you want to apply for ACE funding to support a mentoring project. Again, just get in touch.
Meeting and consultations cancelled with less than 48 hours notice are non-refundable. I’ll issue you with a contract before we begin.
I have led writing workshops in adult education, prisons, primary schools, with undergraduates, for the Continuing Education Department at Lancaster University, on an annual week-long residential at The French House Experience, for the National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) and The Poetry School (online) and many other short term and individual projects.
My particular interests lie in life and poetry writing. I have also led workshops on performance skills, writing from the body, self-publishing and editing.
I believe all workshops provide fertile ground for ideas and discussion and don’t expect people to produce final drafts or even work they may want to share. The workshop is precisely that: a place to explore, chisel and glue ideas. They offer the chance to hear what other writers write, read or think, to play and dip you toe into new waters and with any luck to leave stimulated, thinking thoughts you’d not had before, and confident in writing more.
What other people have said
Thanks for the talk. You were brill. All the students really enjoyed it and benefited a lot. So did I! It was really good to think about things in terms of what works for you individually.
Excellent tutor, fascinating subject!
One of the best managed/facilitated courses I have ever attended. Enhanced my listening to and respect of other people’s voices enormously.
I thought Sarah did a great job of keeping us on track and not preventing diversions. She clearly knows her stuff and how to deliver it.
Thank you, it has changed my life.
Sarah really is a genius. The way she got such a mixed bag of people to unlock their inner creativity was amazing.
Sarah, from the start, put everyone at their ease and used an amazing array of techniques and games to allow us all to tap into our own creativity.
Sarah was organised, approachable and clearly knowledgable about all aspects of creative writing and, importantly for me, the processes of creativity. I was inspired by the way she encouraged us to write for ourselves, be decisive and find our own meaning, rather than following rules, or relying too much on the opinions of writing groups.
Sarah Hymas is ingeniously clever as a creative writing tutor, and I thoroughly enjoyed her series of intense tasks and more informal parlour games, each a mind manipulation intent on making one use your imagination and freedom of expression. For me, Sarah was the perfect choice of tutor at the French House Party Experience mini break, and would undoubtedly be equally ideal for all other such workshops.
Get in touch if you would like to discuss ideas for a workshop.
Email: sehymas at gmail dot com
My guiding principle when working with others is to keep myself out of the frame. The work is what is important.
As a coach my aim to enable you to clarify exactly what it is you want and how you can best achieve it.
As a mentor or workshop facilitator my job is to help you write what you want – and in the best way to suit you.
As a producer of live literature events my focus is on creating
engaging, vibrant and inclusive occasions, introducing new writing and writers. I want to share and spread the imaginative reach of performed poetry and prose.
