Writing Short Stories

Module 1: In the beginning

Learning to play

Making space for writing

The writer's dual personality

Fears

Writing dangerously

Practical aids

Researching your subject

Reading

Baking a cake

Aspects of writing



Module 2: Finding your story

Choosing an idea

Preoccupations

The setting

Jingles, rhymes, sayings, proverbs

Your cuttings file

Family objects

Stories of loss

Dreams

Fairy stories, fables, myths



Module 3: Finding your voice

Three kinds of voice

Permission to speak

Your writing style

Manufacturing a persona

The loudest voice



Module 4: Shaping the story

Getting there

Analysing a story

Repeated images

When does a story end?

Ways of beginning and ending

The question of the narrator

Epiphanies

Character-based plots

Non-linear narratives



Module 5: Creating characters

Relating to our characters

We are what we look like

We are what we do

We are what we say

We are how we feel

Relationships



Module 6: Showing, not telling

Showing or telling?

Using our senses

A child's-eye view

Rhythm and sentence-structure

Dialogue

Tell me a story ...



Module 7: Completing

Reaching your goal

Following (and breaking) the rules

Accumulating ideas

Writing strong sentences

Building paragraphs

Seducing the reader

Reading aloud

Reworking drafts

Final redrafting

The creative process: carving in stone

Publishing possibilities