Diploma in Creative Writing

Course details

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of creative writing, specifically in the area of prose fiction and the short story. While it may be true that we all have stories to tell, writing and telling that story in a compelling way demands certain skills and knowledge of the craft of writing – and it will be these elements that will be studied and taught over the ten week period. The joy of writing and the passion for writing, on that other hand, can be only be encouraged and guided, but it is hoped that all students will bring their own unique experiences and perspectives on the world into the group and be enthusiastic about sharing and exploring them. In this course the practice of ‘free writing’ and the use of writing prompts will be given in the early weeks with which the writers can then use as the possible basis for their later completed work, or if students already have ideas for short pieces of fiction or extracts from longer works these too can be submitted for peer critique in the workshops. Over the ten weeks through a combination of reading material and written exercises we will look to deepen our understanding of character, setting, tone, point-of-view, structure, narrative-voice, dialogue and language.

Course Outline

• Being Good Readers – introduction to close and critical reading
• ‘Free Writing’ and Writing Prompts Workshop – students generate ideas for longer works
• Elements of a Story – students read seminal short stories and discuss them
• Realism, Fantasy, and Surrealism – students are introduced to the breadth and depth or alternative styles of writing
• Structure, Editing and Beginning, Middles and Ends – students submit rough drafts of their work for feedback
• Workshop of Students fiction begins – classes will be focused on group discussions of students work submitted.
• Writing Workshop – as arranged students will submit their stories for feedback from the group.
• Writing Workshop
• Writing Workshop
• Writing Workshop