Improve Your Creative Writing Skills

This course is for anyone with an interest in creative writing – a flexible course for new writers and more experienced writers.

For the first session students will need; All materials provided. Additional Costs; Pen, paper, laptop/iPad if preferred.

The course will cover:

Week One: Introduction to Creative Writing Course – what do you want to gain from a course like this, exploring why you wish to write.

Week Two: Character…Vibrant fictional characters and how to write them. Techniques used when crafting ‘character’ in stories.

Week Three: Plot and Structure. How to craft a story narrative looking at historical development of plot, and examples from literature.

Week Four: Descriptive language – using sensory language. The technique of ‘show don’t tell’ – with examples from literature. Active/passive writing

Week Five: Dialogue. What makes realistic, engaging and purposeful dialogue when writing fiction. Who are some of the best authors (from classical and contemporary fiction) with examples from great literature

Week Six: Setting – why is setting so important to story. How to create an immersive, living setting in stories. We will look at various classic settings from literature and examine the techniques used.

Week Seven: Point of view – what are the different perspectives used by authors – from first person ‘I’ to third person ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘they,’ etc. Which POV fits a narrative most successfully.

Week Eight: Some meta techniques: Voice, Tone, Style, Pace…Comparing different writers’ styles in fiction, non-fiction. What is your style and how can you develop it.

Week Nine: A recap on the skills, techniques, and ideas covered over the course.

Week Ten: Showcase – An opportunity for class members to share any of their writing in a safe enabling 

By the end of the course students should feel a developing awareness of their individual writing voice and an ability to express themselves creatively by applying the writing techniques learnt over the course. We will look at a range of extracts over the term – from classical literature to contemporary short stories, from poetry to memoir. We will also look at websites that encourage writers – competitions, places to submit writing, local festivals and creative writing events.