Creative Writing Lessons

Robin Saikia gives lessons in creative writing. The posts below give some idea of his interests and approach – click on the images to see more. Robin can also review and edit fiction or non-fiction works you have already completed. If you would like to take one-to-one lessons or discuss your work with Robin, please email: scholartext@gmail.com.

Learn from Marcel Proust: how to write something original about an overwritten subject (in this case, Venice).
Learn from H. H. Munro: how to write a brilliant short story in only 1000 words.
Learn from Jack Kerouac: how to write effectively about musical performance.

Learn from John Milton: imagery, rhetoric and repetition in prose.
Learn from John Irving: how to write about childhood.
Learn from Oscar Wilde: how to create an entire story by overturning a simple and widely-held premise.
Learn from William Plomer: how not to produce the kind of bad writing that results in rejection letters from publishers.
Learn from F. Scott Fitzgerald: how to use the ‘catalogue’ technique in description.
Learn from O. Henry: how to create a thoroughly memorable character in a short burst of dialogue.
Learn from Jane Austen: how to use Comic Relief.

About Robin

Robin Saikia is a British author and lecturer. He was born in 1962 and educated at Winchester College. His published work includes The Venice Lido,  Blue Guide Literary Companion London, The Red Book: The Membership List of The Right Club, Blue Guide Hay-on-Wye, and Blue Guide Italy Food Companion. His most recent work is A Very Fine Cat Indeed, a dramatic monologue in which Samuel Johnson celebrates his favourite cat, Hodge. He has also recently published The Saikia System: 23 Exercises for Teachers and Students of Standard British English.

Robin is a Fellow of The Royal Asiatic Society. Other memberships and affiliations include The Johnson Society of London, The Johnson Society (Lichfield), The Wykehamist Society and The Oxford Union.