Nest: Our Upcoming Epistolary Project

Have you ever, by chance, found a nest?

Nest is our upcoming epistolary project, written collaboratively by students and staff to be published as a series. Starting mid-November, we will be publishing bi-monthly letters of fiction. The writers will not communicate with each other about the writing process, but they will be responding to each other’s letters. Universes, settings, time frames, characters: these will be up to them.

What links these letters together is the prompt: ‘someone finds a nest.’ So, read them as stand-alone pieces or as a part of a bigger story, it’s up to you.

Come and read our first letter on 9th November, written by the brilliant Amy Lilwall. She is also the author of The Biggerers, her debut novel set in a dystopian future. Her letter will be followed by those of Falwriting’s core writing and editing team:

·         Amy Hardman (30 Things to Know about Getting Published, Wuthering Heights, Life and Growth)

·         Honeysuckle Troublebridge (Diary of a Student: Reflecting on my First Year)

·         Abigail Martin (Where to Find the Best Writing Prompts, Perfect Writing Spots in Penryn and Falmouth)

·         Melissa Saryazdi (Writers in Cornwall: Virginia Woolf, Fanfiction Grows Up)

·         Lauren Webb (Lead Editor)

·         Daniella Ferguson-Djaba (How Malorie Blackman's Noughts & Crosses Changed My Life, Stepping into a Dream | An Interview with illustrator Antonia Glücksman)

As a feature writer for Falwriting since her second year, Dani is thrilled by Nest. She tells us:

“I’m really excited to see where the Nest project goes. This is the first time Falwriting has done anything like this, a collaboration on this scale, and I’m honoured to be a part of it. As a writer for the site, our focus is usually on writing articles, so being able to take a more creative route with this project and branch out a little from what the site is known for is great! I can’t wait for you all to see.”

Last but not least, our lecturer Sherezade Garcia Rangel will also be writing a letter for Nest. Not only is Sherezade a writer and content story specialist for LumiraDx Care Solutions, she is also the mastermind behind Nest’s conception. She reveals her intentions while conceptualising it, and where she hopes it takes us by the end:

“One of our lecturers, Kym Martyndale, used to have a nest on her desk. I always meant to ask her where it had come from and the idea remained in my mind. This is where the prompt, someone finds a nest, comes from. When I became part of the Falwriting staff team, I knew I wanted to do something collaborative, and the idea of an epistolary, serialised project began to take shape. I discussed it with Amy and David who helped me articulate what it might be. The epistolary form would give room for writers to have their own style. To allow for new pieces to come in that might not be related to others, and for pieces a long way down the line to connect to the first ones. We wanted this flexibility, and the serialised way of publishing ties us to both the digital and to the great tradition of serialised publishing in literature. Combining these two elements in one collaborative project is a really exciting formula and we can’t wait to see what happens.”

We hope you take as much pleasure reading our work as we will creating it. Who knows, you might end up contributing as well.

Expect letters. Expect quirky stuff. Expect nests.

Nest, coming in four days!