Jan Moran Neil
Jan has been teaching Creative Writing since 1989. She founded Creative Ink for Writers in 2000, providing group tutorials and assessing the work of writers. Many of these writers have gone on to be successfully published.
In 1994, Jan won the BBC Writers’ Short Story Competition with 'Death by Pythagoras' which was broadcast on Radio 4. Her poetry collection: Red Lipstick and Revelations (available on Amazon and Amazon Audible) is published by Indigo Dreams and she tours her one woman show with her poetry. Her poems have been published in anthologies and commended in national competitions, most notably Oxford University’s Four Corners international poetry competition judged by Mimi Khalvati. She won Bloomsbury Publishing’s Sonnet competition in 2016 with 'Silver Surfing' judged by Ruth Padel and this was published in the Royal Society of Literature’s Review.
She has had work published in Reader’s Digest, School Leaver, Mother and Company and has sourced writers and contributed to Chic Chat and Chiltern Living interviewing a number of celebrities including James Corden and Anita Dobson. She currently contributes to Writing Magazine. She was a founder member and editor of Rhyme & Reason, an award-winning charity anthology, and is a regular judge of poetry and short story competitions for schools and writing groups.
Jan trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and National Youth Theatre before teaching Voice at the Dome Theatre in Montreal and has run her own theatre companies including Creative Ink for Actors. She has worked extensively in voice over and radio work and made two short films with Mike Leigh. She last featured as Olive in Daisy Jacobs’s Oscar nominated film The Bigger Picture, which won 26 awards including a BAFTA.
Her first play, Blackberry Promises was staged on the London Fringe, received outstanding reviews, was voted reviewer’s choice and published by New Theatre Publications. The novel is available on Amazon. Brave Hearts & Baggage and The Deadly Factor have also been performed to excellent reviews,published by New Theatre Publications and are now with Stagescripts.com. Her one woman play A President in Waiting … was performed at the Masambe Theatre, Baxter, Cape Town as part of the Zabalaza Festival. She has a Masters’ Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge.
Her novel Shakespeare’s Clock is published by Cranthorpe Millner and available at all good bookshops and Amazon.
Jan tutors the following courses: Article Writing and Freelance Journalism, Make the Most of Your Life Experiences and Poetry.
For more about Jan, visit her website here
What Our Students Say
As an ongoing student of Writing Magazine courses (Scriptwriting is my fourth course), I have found them all invaluable. But this present course with Jan Moran Neil has been a true treat. Not only has she helped me with the basics of formulating a film script, she has encouraged me to believe in and understand my characters, story and the essentials of a good script. Her constructive criticism has never put me off, it simply inspires me to improve my script writing. Cheers Jan!
I found Jan’s feedback on my theatre script [full critique] to be encouraging and very helpful. It made me want to redraft straight away, rather than boo hoo and throw it in a bin. I have picked out a few relevant phrases: Jan pointed out that I had 'a real feel for dialogue' and a 'wonderful scenario', but I needed to be 'more aware of the practicalities of theatre.' My main problem was 'too many switches of settings.' Jan then helped with a solution. At the end of a comprehensive report she added further encouragement saying she felt the play 'had real potential.' There are, of course, a number of things to address but I’m keen to do so. So, good value for money. I will return.