Draft a Short Story

Join writer and facilitator Sarah Davy to write the first draft of a short story. Perhaps you are thinking of submitting to an award or a journal, and you are looking for the catalyst to get an idea or an image from your head onto the page.

You’ll look at award winning stories before sketching out your own ideas, settling on a theme and creating an outline. Then you’ll let go of your inner critic and write, aiming to complete a speedy first draft of a brand new short story.

Suitable for anyone interested in the short story form. All you need to bring is your preferred writing tools.

About the tutor

Sarah Davy is an award-winning writer, facilitator and mentor living and working in rural Northumberland. Her short fiction is published online and in print and her short plays have been performed in Newcastle, Manchester and London.

Sarah won the Mairtin Crawford Prize in 2025 for her short story The Flitting, and was awarded the Finchale Prize for Short Fiction at the Northern Writers Awards in 2023. She was commissioned by Hexham Book Festival, and won the Women On The Wall flash fiction competition, judged by Natalie Haynes. Sarah was also artist-in-residence at Field Shelter, where she worked on her short story collection set against a backdrop of climate change.

She currently works for Hexham Book Festival, sharing her love of reading with young people and adults across Northumberland.