Writing Advice from a Royal Literary Fund Fellow

A free, confidential service to help you improve your writing skills

RLF fellows are professional, published writers placed in universities throughout the UK to advise students on their academic writing.

We are privileged to have two RLF Fellows working with us here in SLD: Amber Dodd and Alex Nye.

Undergraduate and postgraduate taught students in any College can make an appointment with either Fellow to talk about their academic writing and editing.

Sessions are for 50 minutes and take place on campus during term time.

It’s best to visit the Writing Fellow some way ahead of a deadline, so you have time to apply any advice you might receive.

You may see a Writing Fellow as many times as you need, but only make one appointment at a time. 

Amber Dodd

I am the author of three critically acclaimed children’s novels. The most recent of which, The Thirteenth Home of Noah Bradley, has been translated into multiple languages. My short fiction has been published around the world and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. I have taught creative writing on the Oxford Prep programme and as a guest lecturer at the University of Chichester. I have also run creative writing classes across the UK and internationally.

I can help with many aspects of the writing process, including:

  • How to construct and write a persuasive essay
  • Discussing or framing an essay question
  • Creating your key argument
  • Structuring and planning your work
  • Revising and editing
  • Sentence structure and syntax
  • How to write for clarity and flow
  • Implementing references and footnotes

 

Please note, RFL Fellows do not spell-check or proofread work.

Whilst it is best to work on essays already in progress, we can discuss a starting point if you are really stuck.

Sessions are one-to-one and confidential. They can be booked by e-mail.

Alex Nye

Alex Nye is an award-winning writer. Her first novel, CHILL, won the Royal Mail Scottish Children's Award, and is still on the First Minister's Reading List. She has published seven novels to date, mostly historical fiction for adults, one of which is a novel about Mary Shelley. Her latest title, EVEN THE BIRDS GROW SILENT is a collection of narrative fragments told by Death Herself during an interview with a journalist.  Alex has spoken at many schools, libraries and book festivals. She has held many writer residencies throughout Scotland, is a Creative Writing Mentor and delivered a series of lectures at the National Library of Scotland to teachers on how to use archival material to inspire creative writing. 
 
She has a BD (Hons) in Theology from King's College London, and a PGDE from Jordanhill, Strathclyde. 
 
Alex can help with many aspects of the writing process, including:
  • building confidence in your writing
  • structuring an essay
  • discussing the essay question
  • planning
  • clarity of language
  • sentence structure
  • how to construct a paragraph
  • how to build paragraphs into an essay
  • strategies for improving your essay writing skills

Please note, RFL Fellows do not spell-check or proofread work.

Whilst it is best to work on essays already in progress, we can discuss a starting point if you are really stuck.

Sessions are one-to-one and confidential. They can be booked by e-mail.