Creative Writing Workshops
About the Workshops
Having written for publication for over fifteen years, I am pleased to now offer my skills to others, both experienced and inexperienced, to help you tap into your creativity and find and explore the writer within.
I believe in a fun and imaginative approach, and endeavour to bring a fresh light to the art of writing through playful techniques and activities which are designed to engage the individual, and encourage spontaneity, curiosity and out-of-the-box thinking. I aim for everyone to leave my workshops with a spring in their step and feeling inspired.
I have a range of developed workshops in both poetry and haiku which can be adapted to meet the needs of all ages and abilities. I have an up-to-date Enhanced DBS certificate, enabling me to teach children unsupervised where necessary. In working with children, I can also provide workshops in fiction writing, journalism and editing. Please read on to find out more about my experience and qualifications in this area. I am also available for one-to-one workshops with both adults or children and private hire for events and community groups. If your class or group is exploring a certain subject or theme in your learning, I can tailor my workshops to fit your current area of learning. Similarly, if your child is home-educated, I can provide a session at your home or mine, and this can be bespoke to their needs.
References
"R.C. Thomas has now been into City College Plymouth to deliver a poetry workshop to Access to Higher Education students (Level 3). His workshop was tremendously successful with the students and the member of staff that attended. Students have told me it was an accessible introduction to writing poetry and was immensely valuable when writing their upcoming assessments. His workshop content covered both the creative aspects and elements of publishing poetry and marketing creative writing to an audience. The activities and visual elements were all pitched at a fantastic level for adult learners returning to education. Richard was incredibly engaging and enthusiastic, with a personable approach. He stepped into the role of a lecturer very naturally and has been fantastic to work with over the last month. The Access team at the college are very much looking forward to having Richard back to continue to deliver creative writing workshops."
- Marham Barnett, Programme Manager for English, City College Plymouth
Please get in touch to find out more.
More About Me
My poetry has been published online and in print journals and anthologies internationally, including Tears in the Fence, Poetry Salzburg Review, Orbis, Gutter, Meniscus, Frogpond and Modern Haiku. I have published two books of poetry, The Strangest Thankyou (Culutred Llama, 2012) and Zygote Poems; one book of haiku and illustrations, Faunistics (2024), and one book of micropoetry and mixed media artwork in collaboration with author Hifsa Ashraf, Infinity Strings (2025). Find my full list of publication credits here.
I was selected as one of the 'Top Creative Haiku Authors' in 2021 and 2022; I recived joint first place in the Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest 2022 and first place in the Third Maya Lyubenova Haiku Contest; I had a 'Selected Haiku Submission' in the 13th Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest, and my haiku 'silver lining' was shortlisted for the Haiku Foundation's Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems. My short story 'Wendy-Ellen Was My Third Wife' received an honourable mention in the Globe Soup Open Short Story Contest 2022.
I am currently working on a short story collection and I have various poetry manuscripts in circulation with publishers.
I have also worked as an editor (Symmetry Pebbles, poetry e-zine), editor-at-large (Tribe Media Arts, online publication), co-editor (Thief, creative writing e-zine) and managing editor (INK, Plymouth University's creative writing journal). I have experience writing music, comedy and literature journalism, and I wrote a piece for Huffington Post UK.
Finally, I previously ran Richard Thomas Copywriting which received a Small Business Sunday Award from Theo Paphitis (Dragon's Den, Ryman), and now work as a proofreader and copy editor under R.C. Thomas Editorial.
Qualifications
BA (First Class Honours) in Creative Writing, Plymouth University
Best Creative Dissertation Award, Plymouth University, 2014
PGDip in Creative Writing, Plymouth University
Level 4 Diploma in Proofreading and Editing, College of Media and Publishing