Alchemy of Storytelling

The Alchemy of Storytelling is an exploration of your inner world through creative writing.

Like alchemy, the process is about transformation: taking something ordinary (a memory, emotion, experience, dream, question, resistance or obstacle) and transforming it into something new.

In this workshop, you'll explore the symbolic language of your imagination and learn how to turn personal experiences into fictional or symbolic material. You'll experiment with metaphor, mythology and meaning, and use creative writing as a way to see familiar experiences from a completely different perspective.

Sometimes, this might mean turning an experience into a fictional fable. Sometimes, an obstacle becomes a character. A feeling becomes a landscape. A resistance becomes the antagonist. A question becomes a quest.

Rather than trying to analyse an experience directly, you'll learn how to translate it into story, allowing your imagination to create new associations, perspectives and possibilities.

What you'll learn

• The symbolic language of your imagination — learning to recognise the images, metaphors and associations that emerge when you stop trying to think your way through an idea.

• Transforming experience into fiction — turning memories, emotions, challenges and personal experiences into fictional stories, fables and symbolic narratives.

• Metaphor, mythology and meaning — exploring how stories can give shape to ideas and experiences that are difficult to express directly.

• Creative transformation — using narrative to turn resistance, obstacles and stuck points into something you can explore from a new angle.

• Seeing differently — using the distance and perspective of fiction to discover new interpretations, possibilities and ways forward.

This isn't a workshop about writing plots, character arcs, dialogue or conventional storytelling technique.

It's about learning how to use storytelling as a tool for imagination, perspective and transformation.

You'll be introduced to techniques for taking something from your own life and transforming it into a fictional fable. Whether you're an experienced fiction writer or have never written a story before.

Do I need to be an author?

No. Definitely not.

You need to be willing to write, but you don't need any previous experience writing stories.

If you already write fiction, you'll learn techniques for transforming personal experiences into fictional fables, symbolic stories and imaginative material.

If you've never considered yourself a writer, you'll simply need a notebook, an open mind and a willingness to follow your imagination somewhere unexpected.

About the teacher

This workshop brings together professional expertise and a lifelong love of story.

Your teacher Mollie is a trained hypnotist and NLP practitioner who has used these techniques both in her work with clients and in her own life to transform challenges into new perspectives and possibilities.

Mollie is also an avid reader of fiction and fantasy — and, as it turns out, has been experimenting with this kind of storytelling since she was five years old, when she intuitively used the process to write a story that went on to win a writing competition.

The Alchemy of Storytelling is the meeting point between that professional experience, personal exploration, and a lifelong fascination with the power of story.