Next Start Date: To be confirmed
Time: 18.30-20.30 GMT
Duration: 10 weeks
Level: Beginner
Open the door to your creativity with author and experienced creative writing tutor Priscilla Morris.
Course Summary
Much loved, successful fiction writing course for adults. The aim of Creative Writing for Beginners is to generate ideas and get you writing! Delivered via Zoom, we’ll focus on a different aspect of the craft each week, such as character, plot, place, point of view and style. You’ll do writing exercises in class and at home and there’ll be ample opportunity for reflection and discussion. By the end of the ten-week course, you’ll have produced a short story or a section from a novel, on which you’ll receive detailed feedback.
Is this course right for you?
This course is for adults who want to learn how to write fiction. No experience of writing is necessary. False beginners (those who have written before but have never studied the craft) are also very welcome and will gain a lot from this course. Proficiency in English is required.
Who will teach you?
Priscilla Morris, whose debut novel Black Butterflies came out in 2022, studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. She’s taught creative writing at U.E.A., Kingston University, City Lit, the Irish Writers Centre and University College Dublin. Her classes are supportive, enabling, inspirational and dynamic. (Image: At the launch of Black Butterflies, Daunt Books. @matthewgammonartist.)
Course Details
Format: Two-hour Zoom class once a week for ten weeks.
Materials: You’ll be emailed a dossier of short stories, novel extracts and writing exercises at the start of the course.
The first half of the course explores different ways of generating ideas while focusing on the two essential elements of fiction: character and plot. During the weekly class, there’ll be plenty of opportunity for discussion as well as idea generation exercises and writing activities. You’ll do writing exercises and read short stories in your own time. You’ll start to develop one of your ideas into a story.
The second half of the course continues to examine a further aspect of the craft each week. You will submit a story or a section from a longer piece of writing to be ‘workshopped’, i.e. read and constructively critiqued by your peers and Priscilla. You will develop an awareness of what is successful and what needs work in your writing, and start to engage with the art of editing.
Example Course Outline
Week 1 Generating Ideas: Automatic Writing – Developing a Writing Routine
Week 2 Generating Ideas: Using the Senses – Showing and Telling – Journals
Week 3 Character: Creating Characters from Questionnaires – Introducing a Character
Week 4 Character: Developing Characters and Situations from Real Life
Week 5 Plot and Structure: Writing from Experience – The Iceberg Principle
Week 6 Plot and Structure: The Five Stages of Narrative Arc – Group Writing
Week 7 Point of View – Workshop
Week 8 Place – Workshop
Week 9 Language and Style – Workshop
Week 10 Style, Revising and Editing – Carrying on and Getting Published – Workshop
For testimonials from past students, see here.
Sign up for CREATIVE WRITING FOR BEGINNERS and start writing!
If you have any questions, would like to discuss your writing experience and needs, or would like to receive news of future writing courses and events, please get in touch below. If you want to reserve a space on CREATIVE WRITING FOR BEGINNERS, drop me a line below. I look forward to hearing from you!
For inspirational reading on the art of fiction, see here.
If you’ve already completed a beginners’ course, you might be interested in a more advanced course. See CARRY ON WRITING .
If you’re interested in one-to-one writing consultations, a manuscript assessment or proofreading service, please visit here.
PRISCILLA MORRIS 