Date/Time
Date(s) - Thursday 8 Oct - Friday 30 Oct, 2026
7:00pm - 9:00pm
An introduction to the craft and skill sets needed to write non-fiction in its many forms – travel, reportage, biography, memoir and nature writing – the better to tell stories.
The need to tell a clear, compelling story is a central concern of nearly all good literature. This course looks at how to write engaging, informative narrative non-fiction that inspires and connects with readers.
Perfect for people either at the start of in the midst of a project, Dan’s online course will explore exciting texts which exemplify the broad range of possibilities this hybridic genre affords.
By means of writing exercises, in-depth conversations, the reading and analysis of other writers’ work and approaches, you will gain a better understanding of how to articulate and set down your story.
Moniack in a Month: Non-Fiction includes:
- a short introductory welcome session
- four stimulating online workshops, preceded by optional drop-in social time
- one 30-minute tutorial
- 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
Dan’s workshops will focus on the following themes:
Workshop 1 – Reading / Possible approaches
The course will begin by looking at a range of writing and writers who epitomise the best in the broad church of ‘non-fiction’; touchstones who will inspire and guide us through the coming weeks – authors like John Berger, Teju Cole, M.F.K. Fisher, Samantha Harvey, Christopher Neve, Alice Oswald, Judith Schalansky, and Francis Wilson.
By examining how these authors balance personal experience with factual fidelity, history and dialogue; how they deploy their research and use such tools as tense, voice, perspective, evocation and backstory, we will begin to build a toolkit with which to craft and hone our own projects.
Workshop 2 – Research
In the second week of the course we’ll consider how to build the thesis for a non-fiction venture before discussing the ways to underpin and furnish such outlines with facts.
There are many ways to research a long-form writing project – archival investigations, pilgrim trips to places important to our subjects, journeys that follow in the footsteps of those we wish to chronicle.
How best to go about tracking down potential sources? What moral questions arise from such approaches? How to prioritise and order one’s research? How to know when to stop!?
Workshop 3 – The Author as Character and Curator
In week three, we will look at structure and the writer’s place within the work. Are you present on your own pages, or are you an unseen authorial presence? Building on the ways of telling discussed in weeks one and two, we’ll look at who we choose to feature in our work and why. How might we construct and frame our narratives to best explore and unpack the stories and events which compelled us to put pen to paper in the first place?
Workshop 4 – Putting it all together
By the fourth week we should have the makings of a plan, a structure, an introductory chapter, perhaps a new approach to an existing enterprise.
Having teased out the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your project, plotted the places we might need to go to bring the stories to life – trips to see artwork, hear music, speak to distant relations, engage with landscapes, decode faded handwriting in monastic record offices – in this final session I’ll aim to embolden and galvanise everyone in the cohort with a troubleshooting session to send you away with an exciting book, article or essay in the works.
Timetable
Week 1 Thursday 8 Oct 18:30–21:00 Welcome Session and Workshop 1
Week 2 Thursday 15 Oct 19.00-21.00 Workshop 2
Week 3 Thursday 22 Oct 19.00-21.00 Workshop 3
Week 4 Thursday 29 Oct 19.00-21.00 Workshop 4
Week 4 Friday 30 Oct 19.00-21.00 Ceilidh
Tutorials
Your one-to-one tutorial with Dan will be scheduled when the course starts and will most likely take place in weeks 2 or 3.
Tutor
Fees
The full fee for this online course is £360. A deposit of £100 is required to secure your place, which is non-refundable after a 14-day cooling-off period. The balance payment of £260 is due six weeks before the course begins.
Bursaries are available, and you also have the option to pay in instalments, please email online@moniackmhor.org.uk to enquire.
All activity takes place on Zoom, and workshops include a short break. Moniack Mhor staff will be on hand to support you during your course.
For more information please email online@moniackmhor.org.uk.
Access
Please let us know in your booking form if you have any access requirements when working online so we can do our best to support you. For more information about access to our courses, please visit our Access page.
Terms and Conditions
Please read our Terms & Conditions before booking.