Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your career/published works or work-in-progress, including your Masters project(s)? 

For my Masters project, I wrote a collection of short stories called Trust Issues. I have been submitting them to magazines that publish speculative fiction, and I am pleased to say that several of them have been published. My favorite, “Pluto and Tavis D Work the Door,” will be published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF) in May 2023.

How do you think being part of the Manchester Writing School community has helped your writing career?

Working with the Manchester Writing School helped me take my writing seriously. Devoting two years of study to the craft and practice of writing was invaluable to my growth as a writer.

What did you find was your most valuable experience as part of the Manchester Writing School? What were the highlights? 

The programme is very freeing—you won’t be locked in a room reading old dead white men. Instead, you will read broadly, critique vigorously, and learn to think of your work as more than just words on a page. The Manchester Writing School doesn’t foist some predefined view of writing on you. Instead, they let you find your own path. That approach helped me form my own vision of a career, unfettered by what the establishment thinks. I came to be very grateful for that freedom.

What advice would you give to students looking at studying at the Manchester Writing School, or just starting out on the course? 

Consume all the stories you can, and don’t limit yourself to books and short stories. Look to newspapers, podcasts, songs, Twitter threads, street art, politicians’ spin, reality TV, podcasts, conversations you overhear in cafes—look everywhere. Seek them out and learn from them. Break them down. What works? What doesn’t? And how can you apply that to your own writing?
Workshopping your stories is one of the most powerful experiences you can have, but it may not come naturally at first. That’s okay. Stay open to criticism, don’t take it personally, and most important, if it won’t help your story, leave it by the side of the road.