Language & Chaos For Beginners: A Lab For New Writers

Language & Chaos For Beginners: A Lab For New Writers

Do you ever feel like creative writing is unfamiliar territory, that your attempts at crafting prose are quickly cut short by self-doubt, or that––when it comes to language and story––you're stuck in frustrating patterns?

This workshop invites you into a space of experimentation—through games of chance, memory excavation, and playful dives into our own half-remembered myths, we’ll spark the creation of new language, scenes, and storylines. It’s particularly well-suited to those from visual arts backgrounds, offering intuitive, image-driven approaches to language and story. We are interested in the emergent: the ideas and worlds which appear in us regardless of our own beliefs about our writing skill. By loosening our grip on outcome and leaning into surprise, we’ll sidestep habitual thinking and discover unexpected access points into storytelling.

If you have no English literature background whatsoever, you’ll feel right at home; no prior literary training is assumed or required. Our approach is accessible and unpretentious, with an emphasis on creative exploration rather than jargon.

Our focus is on generative practices—approaches that forge a way into writing when you feel stuck, uninspired, or unsure where to begin. Game objects like dice and tarot cards will help us invite random chance and 'good chaos' into our work, encouraging surprise and spontaneity in the creative process. You'll collect a range of practical tools to carry with you: ways to jumpstart new projects, tap into unfamiliar voices, re-enter stalled scenes, and re-engage with memory. Curiosity will be our engine as we explore accessible, repeatable methods designed to move us beyond creative ruts and into fresh terrain.

You might walk away with the beginnings of something new—a character, a scene, an idea—but the real goal is to give you an experience of writing that feels alive and personally meaningful. This is a space to write without pressure, to get curious, and to let your creative instincts lead the way.

What to Bring:
- A notebook and pen (I strongly encourage this over a laptop, but of course bring whatever tools meet your needs)
- Things to make your seated area more comfortable, like a pillow or a blanket
- a coin, a 6-sided dice, and a tarot deck (only if you have them––we'll have extras)
- A favourite fairytale– no need for a physical copy, just have one in mind!

Arianna Reiche is the author of Warden / Star (Tangerine Press) and At The End Of Every Day (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster), and has been praised by The New York Times for her 'enormous gifts'. She was Founding Editor of The Wrong Quarterly, and her short fiction has appeared in Ambit Magazine, Joyland, The Mechanics’ Institute Review, Berlin’s SAND Journal, Feels Blind Literary, Lighthouse Press, and Popshot. She's written features for ArtNews, New Scientist, The London Fashion Week Daily, Fest Magazine, Vogue International, and Vice. She teaches on City University’s creative writing MFA programme, where she also carries out doctoral research on interactive narratives and metafiction, with a focus on multimodal, non-linear storytelling.