Plot Twist – Writing Adventure – Across Scotland and Yorkshire – Sept. 2026
Plot Twist: a writing workshop and carefully curated creative adventure across Scotland and Yorkshire, September 7-13, 2026
Write the mystery, thriller, or suspense novel you never knew you were going to start, while we gallivant for a week across Scotland and Yorkshire being mentored by a Random House and Sunday Times bestselling crime writer. We’ll stay in an opulent gothic castle, a chic boutique hotel, and a Baronial-style lochside lodge inside a Scottish national park. We’ll ride first class on a train route included in The World’s Most Scenic Railway Journeys, and we’ll also be inspired by dark history, dungeons, castles, moats, idyllic landscapes, and a decadence of food.
No matter your writing genre, you’re invited to join us and start work on a terrifying thriller, or cozy mystery, or page-turning suspense novel—pick your poison. Whether you’re a published author or hoping to be published, this is a chance to be daring, and spontaneous, and try new methods of working in alluring settings while having far too much fun.
*Small group of 14 participants
Plot Twist is hosted by Writers’ Expeditions and Exploring York
“Gallivant: go around from one place to another in the pursuit of pleasure or entertainment.” Oxford Languages
Click here for full itinerary and prices
(Photo of Edinburgh, Scotland, by Peter Swan)
David Mark, your mentor, is back to lead this workshop again: Before writing twenty-seven acclaimed books, including the internationally bestselling Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy series, David spent more than fifteen years as a journalist—and for seven of those years he was a crime reporter with The Yorkshire Post. This man knows murder, and you can tell when you read his books, which aren’t just page-turners but are superbly crafted works of literature that engage all your senses.
David is a sought-after author, performer and public speaker at literary festivals, but the fourteen of you have him all to yourselves for an entire week.
(Photo of bestselling novelist David Mark taken by Plot Twist participant Megan Allyn Dulin)
Val McDermid (Scottish crime novelist) describes David’s writing as having “more twists and turns than a corkscrew through the eyeball.” The Financial Times declares, “Aficionados of the grittiest, most trenchant fare love Mark’s copper Aector McAvoy.” Daily Mail’s Geoffrey Wansell says that David Mark’s work is “Dark, compelling crime writing of the highest order.”
(More about David and a link to his books at Penguin Random House can be found after the itinerary with the hosts’ bios and prices)
Itinerary
Monday, September 7th
York, England—founded by Romans and loved by Vikings
(Clifford’s Tower, Medieval-Norman castle keep, York, England)
From Inspiration to Publication: We’ll meet Monday morning at our boutique hotel (Victorian Yorkshire meets Parisian chic) for a warm-up writing romp in the lounge or garden (weather depending) followed by “From Inspiration to Publication,” a conversation with David Mark. It’s time to start thinking about what kind of thriller or mystery you want to write, and David will discuss them all with you.
Click here for full itinerary and prices
To see all our new expeditions please click home page.
All of 2025’s expeditions are sold out, but if you would like to be on the list for a possible cancellation, or to be notified when 2026’s itineraries are available, please do contact us at writers-expeditions@mail.com. We have two new exciting creative adventures being planned for September 2026.
Vlad Dracula Expedition Halloween Romania 2025
Posted by Kirsten Koza in expeditions, writers’ expeditions | 5027 Views
You’re invited to join our annual Vlad Dracula Expedition, a seven-day dinner party and Halloween celebration through Romania which includes our private dinner on Halloween night in the room where real-life Vlad Dracula (Vlad the Impaler) was born (inside the medieval walled town of Sighisoara), and it also includes the ultimate costume party at Bran Castle (“Dracula’s Castle”) celebrating Romania’s Day of the Dead.
2025 Expedition Dates: October 28 through November 3
One small group of 16 participants: This expedition is currently sold out at 16. If you’d like to be emailed in case of cancellation, just contact us at writers-expeditions@mail.com – for full itinerary click: Dracula Expedition 2025.
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Plot Twist – Writing Adventure – Across Scotland and Yorkshire – Sept. 2025 (sold out)
Write the mystery, thriller, or suspense novel you never knew you were going to start, while we gallivant for a week across Scotland and Yorkshire being mentored by a Random House and Sunday Times bestselling crime writer. We’ll stay in unique boutique hotels and a lochside lodge inside a Scottish national park. We’ll ride first class on a train route included in The World’s Most Scenic Railway Journeys, and we’ll also be inspired by dark history, dungeons, castles, moats, idyllic landscapes, and a decadence of food.
No matter your writing genre, you’re invited to join us and start work on a terrifying thriller, or cozy mystery, or page-turning suspense novel—pick your poison. Whether you’re a published author or hoping to be published, this is a chance to be daring, and spontaneous, and try new methods of working in alluring settings while having far too much fun.
Details for 2026 coming soon. To see 2025’s full itinerary click: Plot Twist
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Both 2024’s and 2023’s expeditions were sold out.
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Extraordinary Expeditions 2019 and 2020
Decency Be Damned, 2020 – SEE FULL ITINERARY
Writers of any genre of fiction and nonfiction: You are invited to leave your safety nets at home and join us for a rollicking week of writing across Yorkshire, where you’ll be encouraged—and enabled!—to go beyond the bounds of decency. You’ll acquire techniques and exercises used by actors on the stage and apply them to the page. With your pen or keyboard, you’ll improvise, method act and perform dangerous feats. Inspiration will be gleaned from the activities we’ve planned and places we’ll stay. We’ll brave a ghost walk in Europe’s most haunted city, devour an orgasm of chocolates, and hunker down in the very hotel where Agatha Christie hid during the national manhunt for her. We’ll plot mayhem at the Guy Fawkes Inn, sample beer made by sixth generation brewers, and feast on the exploits of the Vikings and Romans—of course, all the while, delighting in English countryside, seaside villages, and stately homes.
Writer’s block be damned! Decency be damned! This workshop is a daring adventure of storytelling and writing!
Maximum group six is just 10
Expedition Dates: May 25 – May 31, 2020
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The Annual Vlad Dracula Expedition – Romania – Halloween – 2019 – SEE FULL ITINERARY
Maximum group size 12 (we were sold out but had a cancellation and can take just one more – if you are travelling as more than one and you’d like to be put on the waiting list in case of a cancellation, please just let us know. We’ll be running this adventure again in 2020, as well.)
The Dracula Expedition 2019 (a seven-day Halloween party in Romania)
You’re invited to join the Writers’ Expeditions annual Vlad Dracula Expedition – a seven-day dinner party through Romania celebrating both Halloween and then Day of the Dead, as we explore the life of Vlad the Impaler!
Expedition dates: October 28th – November 3rd, 2019
We’ve made the reservations–you just need to pack a costume and your inner child (or demon) for this howling Halloween party across Romania. Our seven-day (small group) expedition includes dining on October 31st in the chambers where real-life Dracula, Vlad Drăculea (known as Vlad the Impaler), was born in 1431. We’ll be sleeping that night, across the street, in an inn of similar vintage, inside the (UNESCO) medieval walled city of Sighisoara. We were the first to ever host a dinner party in the room where Dracula was born, last Halloween, and our group didn’t even make it through cocktails before we were regaling each other with spine tingling experiences from our lives. We’ll also be guests at the ultimate costume party at Bran Castle (known as Dracula’s castle, built circa 1377) which was owned by Vlad’s grandfather (Mircea the Old) and was possibly attacked by Vlad in 1460…. Full itinerary: http://kirstenkoza.com/expeditions/vlad-dracula-expedition-romania-halloween-2019/
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