Writing Fiction 100 Hours Certificate Course

There are 8 lessons:

1. Scope & Nature of Fiction
   • Elements
   • Types of Fiction (Category/genre and Mainstream)
   • Characteristics of Category Fiction (strong plot, hero/heroine, motivation. Action, background/setting)
   • Characteristics of Mainstream Fiction (Strong plot, Action or intrigue, hero, heroine, romance, happy ending)
   • Book, play or short story
   • Categories (Fantasy, fairy tale, fable, myth, legend, science fiction, western, drama, romance, comedy, horror, crime, suspense, erotica)
   • Getting an Idea (using a fragment, philosophical approach, develop from a title or opening sentence)
   • Back story
   • Types of writing
   • Theme development
   • Write an Analogy
   • Writing a Balanced Theme
   • Are You Suited to Writing Fiction ; Imagination, Being Informed, Human Behaviour
   • Importance of Focus
2. Components of a Story - beginning, middle and end
   • Story Components
   • Story Structure
   • Theme
   • Plot
   • Characterisation
   • Settings
   • Developing your own Style
   • Aspects of Style.
   • Case Study
3. Technique: The Creative Process - conception, developing a plot,writing a Draft, Editing and rewriting; Method Writing
   • Conception (Characters, Settings, Events)
   • Write a Synopsis
   • Developing a Story
   • Examples of Plot Structure
   • Method Writing (Developing characters, changing characters, Appropriateness of characters, Revealing characters through crisis, names, stereotypes, creating dynamic characters)
   • Writing a Draft
   • Editing and Rewriting.
4. Conception and Research
   • Conceiving a Story
   • Parts of Conception
   • Making conception original
   • Types of research (Primary and secondary data)
   • Planning a formal survey
5. Drama
   • Writing a Dramatic Story
   • Common mistakes
   • Time Shifting
   • Transition between events
   • Dramatic conflict
   • Motivation
   • Dialogue
   • Point of View.
   • Representing Characters Speech
6. Fantasy
   • Science Fiction
   • Methods to develop Sci Fi
   • Fairy Tales.
7. The Short Story
   • Characteristics of Short Stories.
   • Length in terms of: the time frame; the number of characters; the number of events; the number of settings
   • Common Problems with Short story Writers
8. The Novel
   • Guidelines
   • Planning a Novel
   • Making a story Endure (Archetypes, etc)
   • Tips
   • Getting Started
   • Submitting a Manuscript.
   • Which Publisher