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Short Story Writing Course
 Summary: |
Short Story Writing Course. |
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 Type: |
One to One Email Correspondence. Beginner/Intermediate. |
 Duration: |
10 weeks. |
 Fee: |
£240 |
This course covers the basics of good short story writing, including dialogue, editing, styles of writing, as well as practical
tips and suggestions for writers looking to get published.
How does this course work?
- Having enrolled on the course, the student completes a simple
questionnaire in order to provide the tutor with an idea of what the student
wants the course to achieve and the prefered timescale.
- The tutor responds with a summary of the anticipated course structure, based on the student's requirements.
- When both parties are happy to proceed, the tutor sets the first task.
- The student returns the task by the agreed time and receives feedback and a new task.
- The process repeats
- Tasks may be writing exercises, or they may be based directly on the student's work, for example, suggestions as to how to rework a passage.
- Throughout there is the opportunity for dialogue via e-mail – the course is
intended to be interactive and personal.
Tutors
Areas covered
Topics covered include:
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1.COMMON PITFALLS FOR NEW WRITERS.
Covering: exposition, overuse of adjectives, over and under-use of characters’ names, use of awkward words, cliché in phrase and dialogue, using jokes, addressing the reader, use of parenthesis, unnecessary expletives, main characters and readers’ empathy, ‘detail anxiety’, changing POV, too many characters, long fight scenes. (One exercise on cliché).
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2.EDITING
Characteristics of un-edited work, what does editing mean, and how do you learn it? The importance of editing skills in short story writing, a system for approaching editing, Over-editing. (Three exercises).
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3.DIALOGUE
Elements of good dialogue, what to avoid in dialogue, point of view: the use of third person, (intimate and remote), first person. (Three exercises).
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4.CHARACTERISATION
Tips on building a strong character: keeping psychology and dialogue consistent for your character, using description, subtle ways of developing a character, engaging the empathy of the reader. (Three exercises).
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5.THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NOVEL AND SHORT STORY WRITING
What novel writing allows the writer to achieve: (different points of view, many characters, complex plot), what defines a short story? Common problems with short stories: (‘ordinariness’, MC too boring, slow beginnings, lesser character more interesting than MC, overlong time spans, story lacking credibility). (One exercise, two games).
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6.SHAPE AND STRUCTURE
Literary versus non-literary stories, the short story’s relationship to poetry, use of flashback, metaphor and symbolism in story writing, juxtaposing the different scenes, ‘theme’ in short story writing. (No exercises).
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7.SHAPE AND STRUCTURE CONTINUED
How to destroy the shape of a short story, getting the right level of setting, character and plot: (‘what do I want the reader to think, feel and reflect upon?’), pouring a story onto a page, balancing different elements to create the shape of the story, more on points of view. (Two exercises).
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8.STYLE
What is style?, wordiness, exposition, active and passive verbs, the writer’s ‘voice’, imitating other writers, the unfinished sentence, ‘stream of consciousness’ and ‘inspiration’, obscure words and phrases, the sounds that words make.
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9.GETTING SHORT STORIES PUBLISHED.
How to deal with rejections, how to keep track of your work, terms publishers use, getting the timing right, word number and page format, response time, knowing where to place your work, when to withdraw it, online magazines, anthologies.
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10. WRITING TIPS, SUMMING UP.
Avoiding clumsy tags in dialogue, changing point of view, extra copies, first paragraphs and titles, finding material, reading, rejections, sending submissions, starting new stories, throwing work away, different uses of dialogue in story writing.
Materials
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This is essentially an on-line, individually-tailored course. We will not burden you
with weighty manuals and reference books. The tutor may from time to time supply useful materials
and references, which the student is free to utilise
in
any way best suited to promoting the aims of the course, including printing
out and keeping material.
Duration & commitment
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10 weeks, within a maximum period of three months.
The course is structured as a series of tasks with feedback and comment from the tutor between each task.
The tutor will allocate one hour on an agreed day each week to comment on and respond to work,
and to set new tasks. We estimate that you should allow between 2-4 hours per week to really get the
most from your course. We reccommend taking the course in successive weeks to ensure focus is maintained.
Where this is not possible, the 10 weeks can be spread out over a maximum period of three months if required.
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