'Beautifully written...with a plot like a nest of seething vipers'Andrew Taylor, author of The American Boy
Summer Offer - until 31st July 2010
For just £149 (c€182/$222) get instant access to the premier interactive writing course:
- the Writing Forge on-line writing course of ten comprehensive modules
- detailed feedback on over forty exercises from your personal tutor
- professional advice on your own work
- access to members-only area
- on-line publishing on the Writing Forge site
After paying your one-off subscription please click the link to 'Return to Merchant.' You'll then be asked to give contact details to complete the registration process and activate your course membership.
Module 1. Getting started
Objective: To introduce the basics of creative writing
a. Finding ideas
b. Tools of the Trade
c. Getting fresh – the power of description
d. Active reading
Module 2. Finding Believable Characters
Objective: Understand the importance of strong characterisation
a. Get a life - the importance of character
b. The man in the bobble hat - markers
c. Psychological consistency
d. Transformation
e. Voice
Module 3. Point of View
Objective: Learn how to choose a viewpoint for your story
a. Look who's talking
b. It's my story - writing in the first person
c. Omniscience for beginners - using the third person
Module 4. What happens next – Plot and counter-plot
Objective: Understand how to construct and use plots
a. Deriving plot from character
b. Genre fiction – constraints and opportunities
c. Thinking ahead – how to avoid the deus ex machina
Module 5. “And then she said…”
Objective: Learn how to write captivating dialogue
a. An invented language
b. Angled reponses
c. He said, she said - speech attribution
d. Speech markers
Module 6. The Structure of Fiction
Objective: Understand how to use description, narrative summary and immediate scenes
a. 21st century fiction
b. The power of descriptions
c. Leave the past behind - narrative summary
d. Immediate scenes
e. Show, don't tell
Module 7. Where’s the cheese – Tension and Desire
Objective: Learn how to keep the reader's attention
a. Shaping the story
b. Don't go there - confounding the reader
c. Escalations
d. Managing Time
e. Flowcharting the Muse
f. Transactions
g. Where's the cheese - introducing tension
h. Narrative hooks
Module 8. Stepping Back
Objective: Become an objective reviewer and know how to revise your work
a. Stepping back
b. Reading yourself
c. Survival of the fittest - clichés and modifiers
d. Less is more - losing weak scenes
e. Silencing the author
f. Writing groups
Module 9. Bringing it all back home
Objective: Review previous modules and complete a short story
a. Characterisation Part 2
b. Another point-of view
c. Another Voice
d. Ideas
e. Plot Part 2
Module 10. Professional writing and writing for publication
Objective: To examine outlets for fiction and the role of agents and publishers
a. The market for fiction
b. The fiction industry – agents and publishers
c. Submitting your work
d. Style & format