Session 1: Becoming a Writer – We’ll start by looking at how fiction writers work and how to develop your own creativity and discipline. Experiment with automatic writing and prompt exercises to help build a daily writing practice.
Session 2: Who’s Telling the Story? – Every story needs a narrator, so we’ll look at different viewpoints to understand who’s telling the story. Explore first-person (‘I’), second-person (‘you’) and third-person (‘he/she/they’) narrators, to work out which choices feel right for you.
Session 3: Compelling Characters – Learn the importance of developing memorable characters in fiction, where effective characters come from and how to make them feel believable. Try out some of the most effective techniques writers use to create convincing characters.
Session 4: Setting and Mood – We’ll focus on creating settings that lend atmosphere to your fiction and transport your reader through time and space. You’ll experiment with using your senses, precise observation and visual prompts to create different emotional responses, and write the opening of a story to share with the group.
Session 5: Story Structure – Thinking about beginnings, middles and ends, the different shapes a story can take, and simple ways to develop plot and pace in your writing. You’ll try some flash fiction, then develop a longer piece to share with your fellow writers in the forum.
Session 6: Pull it all Together – Apply the techniques you have learned to write a final longer piece of up to 3,000 words. You might rework a favourite piece you produced in an earlier session into a short story or the beginning of a novel, or write something new. There are writing warm-ups to get the creative juices flowing, practical ways to beat writer’s block, and editing tips to help you meet your final deadline. To round off the course, there’s a live ‘meet the expert’ Q&A Zoom session with a guest author.
