WRITING SALON: Failure as structure: Stories that refuse to win

The Writing Salon is unlike any other event for writers.  It seeks to draw inspiration from unlikely places as it dissects genre and narrative, explores fiction and non-fiction, and dives into all forms of storytelling.  Through a mixture of video, audio, theory, practical exercises, interviews with guests, and a very social and engaged membership it will make you feel energised about your writing. Everyone is welcome, as well as all writing genres and formats. Some members have no previous writing experience – others write regularly for stage, page and screen.  Whatever your level, you’ll get a warm welcome.

On May 19th, join host Mark Heywood as The Writing Salon turns its attention to a quietly subversive idea: what if stories aren’t meant to succeed? We’ll explore narratives that refuse the expected arc. Stories that loop instead of progress, or collapse instead of resolve. Through film, television, and literature, we’ll look at characters who don’t change, systems that can’t be beaten, and endings that deny closure, from the cyclical frustration of Inside Llewyn Davis to the unresolved silence of The Sopranos, and the hollow “victory” of The Graduate. These works don’t fail despite their structure, they endure because of it.

Rather than focusing on plot mechanics, we’ll examine something more elusive: how repetition can generate tension, and how inevitability can replace suspense. We’ll ask where a story truly lives when nothing is fixed, and why narratives built on failure often linger longer than those that neatly resolve. This is less about breaking rules and more about questioning whether those rules were ever necessary in the first place.

Writers will leave with practical ways to rethink their approach to structure: how to build stories that don’t rely on traditional arcs, how to write characters who cannot or will not change, and how to craft endings that resonate without resolution. In the second half, we’ll put this into practice, experimenting with loops, unwinnable situations, and the unsettling aftermath of getting exactly what a character wants. Some stories entertain, some resolve, but the ones we return to again and again are often the ones that refuse to do either.

There will be a practical section, so grab your pencil cases, and we’ll see you there.

The session starts at 7pm but please feel free to book a table at the Club from 6pm to enjoy a bite to eat, or arrive a little early in order grab a drink before we begin (you can also book a table for 9pm to have your supper afterwards!)

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