Introduction to Creative Writing

Graham Greene said: ‘I have no talent. It’s just a question of working, of being willing to put in the time.’ Through supportive workshops, you’ll develop your fiction writing skills, crafting original plots and characters that come alive on the page. You’ll also explore how to structure a poem and produce brave, visual images. Finding your writing voice is a bit like finding your voice in life, and this course will help you let go of writing inhibitions and discover your individual expression. All writing is an act of faith, and on this short course you will gain faith in your ability, becoming a writer with imaginative flair. We’ll explore technical aspects of writing, so that you can confidently recognise and use devices such as point of view, voice, plot, poetic form, rhythm and imagery. In addition, you’ll learn how to read as a writer and be able to respond sensitively and critically to other people’s work. Over the course of this ten week programme you will also understand how to self-edit, produce finished pieces, gain commercial awareness of literary publication, and be able to transfer your writing skills to other fields. The first five weeks of the course will focus on prose writing, exploring extracts from a range of novelists and short story writers including David Foster Wallace , Alice Munro , Lorrie Moore and David Szalay. We will study writing techniques such as how to craft character, create a sincere voice, write surprising plots and original points of view. The last five weeks of the course will be dedicated to writing poetry, examining the workings of poetic logic, metaphor, form,