Isabel_Ashdown_Short Courses at West Dean College

Isabel Ashdown


Isabel Ashdown is a novelist and creative writing tutor. Her debut Glasshopper won the Mail on Sunday Novel Competition and was listed among the best books of the year. She has a Masters in Creative Writing (distinction), and is currently Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Chichester. Her latest novel, Little Sister, a psychological thriller, was released 2017, and spent several weeks in the Amazon Bestsellers chart (Orion).

Describe your approach to teaching:
Students are encouraged to explore their writing in a relaxed atmosphere, and at their own pace. I hope to draw out students' best writing through individual and collaborative exercises, calling on their personal fascinations to create authentic voices and compelling fiction.

What inspires your work?
Characters - and relationships - are at the heart of my writing inspirations. Who are we? What are we? Why do we do the things we do? When we ask these questions, how can we ever run out of things to write about?

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