WRITING SALON: Stop Protecting your Heroes

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 March 17th join host Mark Heywood as we explore the often-overlooked minor characters and flip the narrative on the protagonist.

There are no minor characters, only characters we have chosen to neglect. Every story distributes attention, and attention is power. It decides who is granted an interior life and who is reduced to utility. Some figures are allowed contradiction, history and the dignity of change. Others are asked to explain, to soften, to obstruct, to suffer, or to disappear. We smooth this hierarchy over because it keeps the structure stable. A single dominant arc is easier to control. A protected protagonist is easier to defend. But the real story is rarely in the centre. It is in the fracture, in the moment when a supposedly secondary figure resists, judges, or exposes something the narrative would prefer to keep contained.

This month at The Writing Salon we will explore those fractures. We will examine how the characters at the edge of the frame often carry the deepest moral tension, and how allowing them independence and resistance can destabilise and strengthen the entire narrative. The question is not how to make minor characters more colourful. The question is what happens when you stop protecting the hierarchy and hero of your own story.

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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