Our Course Programme

We will look at published novels and identify a range of genres.  Through group and individual work, you will discover how plot works in a novel, will create characters and begin to identify how to use character in fiction, and will start to write dialogue and recognise some of its uses in novel writing.  These sessions will include discussion, handouts, worksheets, short writing exercises and shared feedback.

This more advanced course will further develop your knowledge and skills, and you will be encouraged to start writing your own novel.  The course will offer a mix of structured learning and interactive workshop sessions.  These are designed to support you in building writing skills and in offering and receiving feedback on work-in-progress, rewriting and editing.  There will be advice on preparing for publication.

Are you passionate about children’s books?  This useful first module is suitable for beginners or those who have already started writing but would like advice, support and encouragement.  There will be a brief outline of the history of children’s publishing and a resume of the state of the market today.  Then we will look at some key children’s books and ask ourselves why they are successful and what can we learn from them.  We will look at practicalities – how they are formatted, how many pages.  (You will be asked to read some books for homework and discuss them.)  There will be short written exercises in creating character, plot and vivid description.

This module will give students the chance to develop their own book, with more classroom exercises and lots of encouragement to read and write in the genre at home.  You will be able to ‘workshop’ your own texts for feedback in a supportive atmosphere.  There will be a session on how to prepare your manuscript for publication and approach publishers and agents.

Join John again to experiment in finding ever new and imaginative directions for poetry and ways of presenting it.  There will be an opportunity for the group to develop their own poetry performance/happening/exhibition and to showcase this.

Recognised worldwide as a pioneering ‘dub’ poet, Jean will share with group members her considerable skills in creating poetry especially for stage performance.  You will learn to invent this different genre of  poetry, note it down, and  strut your stuff confidently to an audience, moving them to laughter and to tears.  You will learn how to support your words with the drama skills needed for delivery in a theatrical setting.  The course will include an opportunity for performance.

(No meeting on 19th Feb – halfterm)

Many authors and academics see the short story as the pinnacle of fiction writing.  We will explore in-depth this demanding and rewarding narrative form through class exercises, discussion, homework and workshops, analysing some of the past and present masters of the short story and your own work.  We will look at characterisation, structure, theme and genre and will explore commercial aspects, markets (home and abroad) as well as writing for competitions.

You will be asked to produce in the first half of the term an original short story of 1,000 words on which you will receive constructive criticism.  In the second half of the term, we will focus on a few competitions and markets for you to target with your own work.  This will be through group discussion, class readings of your work and homework.  We shall also look at editing and preparing work for submission.  There will be one-to-ones and by week 9 you will be encouraged to submit a completed story ready for submission to a market or as an entry in a competition for final comments and suggestions.

September - Easter

Where do ideas come from?  How can we stimulate our creativity and broaden the range of our ideas?  This course will focus on techniques to spark ideas for new pieces of writing and provide tools that can be used again and again to boost creativity.  Suitable for all, from beginner to more advanced writers who sometimes experience a 'block'.  The session will include writing exercises that use lateral thinking, constraint, memory and stimuli material from other art forms, and will encourage experimentation and shared feedback in a supportive environment.