Is it any good?
We listen to Squad Writers so we can improve what we offer and shape it to their needs. We are also committed to tracking Squad writers for the next ten years. After all, we get a lot of money from the tax payer for this project and while we are convinced it works, we want to be able to prove it.
In our first big evaluation, with got a response from 17 of the 35 writers we have worked with so far, here's some of what they said.
About the email group
Community within the squad v. useful in bouncing ideas off each other - friendly warm environment and helpful feedback/advice from other young writers as well as squad tutors.
I first heard about the BBC Northern Exposure competition in one of the emails. I entered and finished top 5.
It kept me up to date with events, the squad, the literary scene, competitions, books, film, tv and music. It was cool just to be in touch with people you could discuss writing with as well as all the other crap we talked about!
The highlights of Squad days
The chance to meet practicing professionals and to realise that there really is a living to be made through writing in various guises; learning some of the more practical aspects of both the writer's craft and trade.
The relaxed, unpressured atmosphere is good for putting people at their ease; makes it easier to interact and share your work.
They really have helped me, and I'm more confident about my writing than I was a couple of years ago.
The immersion in it, I always come out high. I love squad days.
Thoughts about the One to Ones
It's very useful just to have someone to talk to about what you're writing where you're going with it and what you're struggling with.
It is nice to feel that someone genuinely cares about your progression as a writer.
They make the squad, really, being supported as a professional writer is spot on.
I always felt encouraged and inspired after them, the advice I was given was constructive and helpful.
And about the experience as a whole
I have loved every minute of it. The squad has given me support and confidence in my writing. It makes you feel as if you're working to achieve a real and tangible aim rather than scribbling weird words on a page.
The Squad helped me improve my confidence both in writing and public performance. It also helped me get onto my university course, gain a greater awareness of the industry and gave me valuable experience.
It's helped me have more of an idea of how and where to market my work, which I don't think I would have had without attending the squad.
The squad was just such a positive impact on my life in general as it helped me focus on what I wanted to do creatively and as a writer, and helped me build up the confidence and skills to do it. As well as giving me the chance to meet people and be part of the book we published and the writing squad readings we did.
The feedback has helped me focus on the things I feel interested in - it's just given me a sense of restraint, of knowing when I need to trim something down or when to expand something I had thought of as perhaps a little perfunctory. Before the squad I struggled massively with re-drafting my work, but I really do think that the tutorials (and of course the workshops) have helped me a little in being able to remove myself sometimes and think a little more objectively about things I often struggle with, e.g. structure, movement and so on. So, thank you.
I feel everyone in the squad is valued for who they are.
In general writing squad has shown me that there are people whose lives revolve around writing, to whom it is valued, which makes me feel I'm not just messing around with my notebooks, that I could actually achieve something and that writing might be more than a weird hobby. Looking at what the older squaddies have done has been pretty inspirational.
