Kerri Andrews

Research for Writers of Creative Non-Fiction

Research is a key skill that helps bring authority, detail and clarity to your writing. For writers of creative non-fiction it is an essential component of persuasive and compelling prose: it is the bedrock of what we do. Well-developed research skills will enable you to move through complex material of all kinds, synthesise what you have found, and turn facts into compelling stories that readers will come back to time and again.

Each week we will look at an extract from a piece of creative non-fiction which we will then discuss in detail, thinking about what we can learn from the extract as both writers and researchers. Authors are likely to include Helen Macdonald, Rebecca Solnit, Robert Macfarlane, Polly Atkin, Fern Riddell, Stephen Moss, and Amitav Ghosh. We’ll consider the sorts of research that lie behind the writing in front of us and pull out ideas and tips that will be useful as you develop your own creative non-fiction pieces. We will also examine the extracts for what we can learn as writers using research as we think about narrative technique, ethics, voice, bias and more.

Each class will include some writing time using prompts based on the issues discussed. There is no pressure to share work in class, though there will be the opportunity to do so. At the end of the course you will be able to submit a piece of non-fiction (maximum 3,000 words) to me for detailed feedback.

Before the class begins you will be provided with a list of suggested resources for your research. It will help you get the most out of the class if you have access to at least one of those resources prior to the course start (the list will include free resources as well as those that require subscriptions; some resources, such as membership of national libraries, grant access to some subscription-only databases and are therefore well worth the effort of obtaining). These resources will be provided to you before 21 December 2024.

Learning outcomes:

• Learn about the research resources available to writers and how to navigate them
• Develop skills accessing and synthesizing materials from a range of sources
• Create compelling stories based on your research
• Use narrative techniques to build tension and bring your readers into your narrative
• Conduct thorough research and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and credibility
• Structure your narrative effectively using pace, voice, and authority
• Understand the relationship between your research skills and creativity

About the course tutor:

Dr Kerri Andrews is an author, researcher and teacher. She holds a PhD from the University of Leeds and has taught in UK Higher Education for twenty years. Her most recent researched edition, Nan Shepherd’s Correspondence, 1920-80, has been longlisted for the 2024 Saltire Book Award Research Book of the Year. She is the author of the best-selling Wanderers: A History of Women Walking and is the editor of the first-ever anthology of women’s writing about walking, Way Makers. Her new book, Pathfinding: On Walking, Motherhood, and Freedom will be published by Elliott and Thompson in March 2025.

Guest speaker: Polly Atkin

Polly is an English poet and nonfiction writer. Her nonfiction includes Recovering Dorothy: The Hidden Life of Dorothy Wordsworth, a Barbellion-longlisted biography of Dorothy’s later life and illness; and a memoir exploring place, belonging and disability, Some Of Us Just Fall: On Nature and Not Getting Better, Hunter Davies Lakeland Book of the Year 2024, and longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2024. She has published three poetry pamphlets and two collections: Basic Nest Architecture and Much With Body, a PBS Winter 2021 recommendation and Laurel Prize 2022 longlistee. Forthcoming in November 2024 is her love song to the owls of Lakeland, The Company of Owls. She works as a freelancer from her home in the English Lake District. In 2023 she and her partner took ownership of historic Grasmere bookshop Sam Read Bookseller.