Aims of the course
- To give writers the opportunity to push their own creative boundaries in a structured way in a supportive environment
- To help writers of all genres of fiction for whom the 'Introduction to...' courses may be less appropriate
- To provide a community of writers with whom students can collaborate, co-operate and provide mutual support and peer review
Target audience
- Writers past the Introductory course stage
- Writers keen to upskill, to re-energise, refresh or re-engage with their craft
- Writers seeking an online community of writers with whom to engage and collaborate
Course content overview
Each week has a theme which relates to an area of literary production which writers can tap as a resource for their own writing. Tutor videos will encourage students to explore the theme through structured reading, discussion and writing prompts. Students will be encouraged from the beginning to engage with classmates. There will be a wide range of writing exercises offered each week – students are completely free to engage with as many or as few as they wish, and are only required to self-select one of their own pieces of writing each week to post in the ‘Gallery’ forum. The tutor will respond to this piece. This is to encourage students to try a variety of approaches with no pressure and decide themselves which piece arrives at the most successful outcome, and which would most benefit from feedback. It also enables students with minimum time available to complete only one exercise a week if they wish, whereas those with more time/energy/motivation will have a rich array of opportunities to explore their creativity.
Teaching week 1: Inspiration - what fiction writers can learn from non-fiction
Learning outcomes:
- To expand awareness of the resources available to participants - both in the world outside and around them, and in their own personal 'compost heap' (their own unique experience of everything they've experienced, felt, read, watched, etc)
- To encourage participants to look for inspiration everywhere and to view inspiration as coming from within, in their own unique response (their soul's 'answering echo' as Ray Bradbury puts it) to stimulus.
Teaching week 2: Poetic license - what fiction writers can learn from poetry
Learning outcomes:
- To appreciate what a small amount of material a poem can start from, and hence any piece of writing
- To learn from the concision and compression poets use and to appreciate the precision of language as they deploy it
- To take any fear out of approaching poetry and to encourage students to see it as an arm of literary production related to their own practise and available to them both as a resource and as a means of expression
- To understand the porous nature of the boundary between poetry and fiction (particularly flash fiction)
Teaching week 3: Spoken words - what fiction writers can learn from script writing
Learning outcomes:
- To appreciate how writing for performance has influenced the writing of fiction
- To understand what we can learn from writing from performance about the role of images in storytelling
- To learn from playwrights and screenwriters about effective dialogue, both in character building and plot advancement
Teaching week 4: The art of persuasion - what fiction writers can learn from political rhetoric
Learning outcomes:
- To alert participants to language as a persuasive mechanism, as a tool for affecting perception
- To equip students with rhetorical skills
Teaching week 5: Multi-tasking - how writers combine aspects of writing to produce effective, efficient and economical prose
Learning outcomes:
- To develop an understanding of how the most successful writing is almost always doing more than one 'job'
- to develop the ability to combine a number of functions in one scene
Schedule (this course is completed entirely online)
Orientation Week: 9-15 January 2023
Teaching Weeks: 16 January-19 February 2023
Feedback Week: 20-26 February 2023
Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours reading material, etc., although this will vary from person to person.
While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).
Virtual Learning Environment
Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (discussion boards etc).
Certificate of participation
A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.
What our students say
"Such an informative, stimulating, and well-designed course. I've benefited immensely from interacting with fellow aspiring writers and reading each other's work, as well as from Sarah's invaluable, thoughtful feedback. The course has equipped me with many valuable tools and techniques. But most importantly, it has given me the much-needed boost of confidence and courage to carry on"
"I have definitely benefitted from the variety of the course - it did what it said on the tin: getting us to try styles of writing that prose writers might not, ordinarily, bother with. The persuasive language section was surprisingly rich in techniques for making writing more commanding. I now feel ready to submit a short story or two to a magazine or competition."
"I have really, really enjoyed this course. The teaching materials are excellent and the challenges stimulating. I've never tried to write a script and would definitely never have attempted poetry, but now would rule neither out. I've learned lots from reading everyone else's submissions and comments and have greatly appreciated Sarah's weekly critiques - detailed, thoughtful and with specific suggestions for improvement . So, adventures in fiction indeed!"
"I found the course very stimulating. One thing which was particularly good was that no one style of writing was being promoted. I appreciated all the feedback on my work. It was also interesting to see the diversity of other people's writing."
"I have truly enjoyed this course, including the priceless interaction with fellow aspiring writers and the weekly meaningful feedback from our tutor. I have learnt a lot of new techniques and gained truth, tools and courage each week. Really grateful I signed up for this course, which is essential for any writer new to this journey of writing. The course was well structured, insightful and practical. The materials are excellent and I will continue to review them. I am motivated to continue this adventure, with the goal of achieving my dream of completing my writing and seeing my work published and circulated. It was wonderful getting to work with this group, reading their written work and getting their feedback. Very encouraging."
"A greatly stimulating course and my attempts at poetry etc. have surprised me in the devices and techniques that I can see can be transported back to any genre of writing. The week on great speeches I particularly enjoyed. The course materials and Sarah's videos are superb."
"I have enjoyed the variety of each week's content and I have gained a lot of new ideas for sources of inspiration. I think the material that Sarah provided was really useful and engaging. I liked the poetry and persuasive writing the most, and I think I will polish up some of my work using the tools I have learnt from these sections in particular. I also enjoyed reading other writers' work and seeing the varied ways of approaching the same task. It was nice to have that interactivity."
"It was so valuable getting Sarah's feedback each week, offering an expert opinion on changes we might want to make; to make our work stronger and us to be better writers. Also, the comments and interactions with the other students were always considerate and helped by providing different insights into whether our writing reads the way we intended it to. I was also appreciative of many comments (from both the tutor and the group) that offered suggestions or directions that never occurred to me. I wasn't so sure about all the different styles of writing when signing up for this course, but I have not been disappointed one bit - actually quite the contrary. Throughout the weeks the course has continued to help me understand my own voice and direction as a writer, and introduce me to new tools and devices to use as a writer. I never in my wildest dreams would've thought the poetry week would be my favourite."
