Developing your writing style

Description

Developing your Writing Style: Evocation and Show, Don’t Tell – Short Course

One of the key aspects of fiction writing is developing and using an adept, concise style of writing. There are many elements that go towards this, but for this workshop, we will concentrate on two of the most important areas:

1. Show, Don’t Tell

2. Evocation

3. Cultivating your own paragraph (as part of this course – please write down and bring your own paragraph. It can be on any idea or point, and will be discussed and constructively critiqued.

This session will delve into these key elements that go towards an effective writing style.

This session is 2 hours long.

WHO’S IT FOR?

This session suits those new or just getting started with fiction writing, but it could also be useful for experienced writers who are looking for a refresh or discussion on these topics.

THE BENEFITS

At the end of this English course you can expect to:

• See great improvements at articulating your ideas and thoughts in creative writing.
• Improved confidence in your writing.
• Engaging with the reader and keeping them hooked.
• All-round improvements in your writing style.

COURSE CONTENT

• 1. Show, Don’t Tell (Detail/Specifics).
• 2. Evocation (Evoking emotions).
• 3. Cultivation of a Paragraph (as part of this workshop please write down and bring your own paragraph).
• 4. Discussion and questions answered.

SPECIFIC DETAILS

1. 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.’

2. 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.

3. YOUR PARAGRAPH:

As part of this meet-up please prepare a paragraph on any subject you wish. (I will bring along one to discuss as well).

Then bring this to the meet-up and at the end of the workshop as a group we will look at this paragraph and discuss how (if possible) it can be built upon.

You don’t need to print this out and can just read it out from your phone or laptop.

FIND OUT MORE:

• If you have any questions or want to find out more about this course please use the contact page and drop us a message. You can also join our discord forum or see our WT.Social page here

• When booking on to this course are you also agreeing to the terms and conditions.
• Once purchased or before purchase, this course is arranged for the most convenient dates/times that suit both the student and tutor.