Inaugural Writing Institute comes to town

Where better to have a Writing Institute than in a place with a history of writers, writer workshops - and a Readers and Writers Festival held just a week before?

The Milford Writers Conference was established in the mid-50s when Virginia Kidd, Damon Knight, and James Blish met to discuss and critique each other’s science fiction works. The interactive roundtable practice became known as “The Milford Method” and was often replicated in many writing institutes.

Richard Morais, founder of the Milford Writing Institute (MWI) launched the first one the week of Sept. 12, just on the tails of the Milford Readers and Writers Festival, so the attendees could get some inspiration from listening to and meeting the writers in the Festival. The town was infused with writers, books and literary talk. Morais even invited some of them to his home to meet with the attendees. This was the perfect precursor to the five days of the writing retreat that followed.

Morais’ background as both a journalist and a novelist makes him a good lead for the Institute. He was Forbes‘ longest-serving correspondent and European Bureau Chief, and is the author of three novels, including the international best seller “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” which was made into a movie produced by Stephen Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey. His non-fiction works include “The New Rules of Investing” (with Mark Haefele) and most recently, “Milford Moons.” He is also the editorial director and a board member of the Milford Readers and Writers Festival.

The target audience for the MWI is serious mid-to-advanced writers wanting to improve their skills leading to publication. The genres were fiction, memoir, and non-fiction. Morais has stringent requirements for admission to the MWI, as prospective attendees must submit a 20-page writing sample and have a Zoom interview with him. If accepted, they will then be asked to send the entire work in progress so Morais can read and digest their work before the retreat - and be fully prepared to be of help and value. A perfectionist and an extremely hard worker, he asks no more of his students than he would of himself. His exacting analysis proves to be invaluable to the attendees as the workshop enfolds.

During the retreat, mornings were devoted to group editorial discussions of issues such as plot development, character development, and tone or register. Afternoons were workshopped sessions with all attendees discussing each other’s work as well as in-depth, private, one-on -one master classes with Morais. The group had dinner together and Morais invited special writer/guests to talk to them about the business of writing and getting published.

Four attendees in the group with a variety of different backgrounds, different genres, and different stages in their writing were Michael Montoya (who is writing a memoir about his gender transition while teaching in a prison system); Isabel Voegele (who came from Switzerland and is writing a murder mystery about a London auction house art heist);

Kit Kleinow (who is writing a dystopian novel about a 16-year-old fighting for their sanity in a threatening world); and Nikhil Hutheesing (a journalist who is writing an historical novel about his grandmother, Krishna Nehru Hutheesing, the youngest sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, the former Prime Minister of India).

Often in writing workshops, the leader just talks about themselves, even reading from their own work as examples of the “right” way to write. Or, in many cases they intimidate attendees as they read from their work and turn them off completely. Sometimes it can get pretty vicious. Morais is very aware of this and works to set the tone for people to be respectful of one another.

“Some workshops destroy more writers than they make,” he said.

“The vibe and tone that Richard sets is just magical,” Montoya said. “He makes us feel safe.”

“Richard knows my novel better than me. He is so kind and always presents the positive first,” Voegele said.

“Richard built a level of confidence in me that I didn’t think was possible,” Kleinow added.

Hutheesing pointed out that Morais always gives constructive criticism. “He’ll say, ‘This is what you do really well. This is what you need to work on.’”

There will be three more master classes in the months to come, but the MWI made an indelible mark on everyone.