Writing about nature and place

Putting the natural world into words 

Join award-winning writer Malachy Tallack  online for a month, exploring writing about nature and place.

Over the past decade, the genre of nature writing has developed and expanded rapidly. Many writers today are inspired to tell their own stories entwined with stories about landscape, nature and the environment. If there’s a key piece of wisdom to be gleaned from this, it’s that we – as individuals, as communities and as a species – can’t be fully understood without understanding the world around us, to which we are intricately and intimately connected. Likewise, it is near impossible now, and some might say irresponsible, to write about nature without considering the damage that human beings are doing to it.

In these four workshops you’ll learn about nature and place writing, how this genre is changing, what works well (and what doesn’t) and what publishers are looking for. We’ll consider the two fundamental things a nature writer needs – rich detail and a strong narrative – and we’ll look at how to bring these elements together in prose that is beautiful and compelling.

Moniack in a Month: Writing about Nature and Place includes:

• a short introductory welcome session
• four stimulating online workshops, preceded by optional drop-in social time
• one 30-minute tutorial
• a Guest Writer event
• a final ceilidh session – sharing of work
• Contact and support from your community of writers via Google Classroom (optional)
• Drop-ins before each workshop to help you get to know your group (optional)
• Support from your Moniack Mhor host

Malachy’s workshops will focus on the following themes:

 Workshop 1 – Introduction 

What does it mean to write about nature and place today? In this rapidly-growing genre, how can writers find new and exciting ways to engage with the world around them, and to think about their own place within it?

 Workshop 2 – Noticing 

What you notice, the details you observe and record, are all-important in nature writing. This workshop will consider how to become a better noticer, and how to gather the raw material you need for rich and engaging prose.

 Workshop 3 – Telling 

Good nature writers are good storytellers. Whether it’s an essay or a book, getting the narrative right is key to holding your readers’ attention. We’ll examine what makes for a compelling narrative structure, and how memoir can be a key element of the story you tell.

 Workshop 4 – Showing 

Now you have your structure and your notes, what’s next? How do you bring your prose to life? This workshop will show how to craft sentences, paragraphs and pages that do justice to the material you’ve gathered.

 Guest Writer Event 

In an hour-long event that will also be open to the public, writer Noreen Masud will read from her memoir A Flat Place and be in conversation with Malachy Tallack and our online audience.