Creative Writing 101

Course Content

1. A SHORT SUMMARY AND OVERVIEW ON THREE FAMOUS BOOKS AND THE STYLES IN WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN

These novels will include:

• Agatha Christie – Then there were none.
• Stephen King – Salem’s Lot.
• Donna Tartt – The Secret History.

2. A PRACTICAL APPROACH FOR HOW TO PLAN OUT, SIT DOWN and WRITE YOUR BOOK OR SHORT STORY

3. HOW TO GATHER IDEAS AND FIND CREATIVE INSPIRATION 

5. CREATING STORYLINES

6. HOW TO CREATE CHARACTERS – APPROACHES THAT SUITE YOUR STYLE

5. SHOW, DON’ TELL

6. EVOCATION

7. PROFLUENCE / PACING

Further insights into the course content

SHOW, DON’ TELL:

One of the most commonly discussed aspects of writing style. We will discuss this and then try some examples. Starting with some basic ‘tell’ sentences and then developing them to see how they can be improved. In this session, there will be around four or more sentences that will be given to the group for jumping-off points. Some time will be allowed for the group to chat and come up with suggestions for how the sentence(s) can be developed.

E.G.

– ‘John walks down the street to his grandmother’s house.’

Nothing wrong with the above sentence, but it is not engaging with the reader.

Instead, try writing:

– ‘Every step was like walking through mud, as sweat rolled down his cheeks and an impending feeling of doom saturated John’s mind, for he knew that soon he will be at his grandmother’s house.’

EVOCATION:

Evoking emotions. This is a sure-fire way to engage with your audience. There are many ways to do this and (perhaps worryingly at times) newspapers or websites often do this with great effect even though they are not writing fiction. Creating an impulsive or engaging feeling that draws in the reader. This can be subtle or have a great effect. We will discuss examples and ways of how to do this. Ways to do this could be show injustice, love, vengeance… etc… We will also create a paragraph and use that to evoke emotions.

PROFLUENCE / PACING.

In fiction, moving your story forward and keeping the reader engaged can be done in a variety of ways. It is also one of the trickiest parts of writing a novel or story, for even if you have a lot of detail, it may be so engaging to the reader that it flows quickly. Thus meaning just by having less detail doesn’t mean your story will move faster. Although varying sentence length, using short sentences and snappy description does speed up the pace. The key here is above all else pay attention to plot and when you first write your story don’t worry about pacing. Bare it in mind, but once you have the plot you can see the structure and where it can be improved.

FIND OUT MORE:

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