My Writing course

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My course is called The 60 Minute Writer, and is online. Each week, for eleven weeks, we cover a different aspect of creative writing. I ran the course in January, and I will give a few examples of what we covered. I am running the course again next January, but I will be doing different areas, so that anyone who took the course last year will still benefit from doing it again. I haven’t finished preparing the new course yet, but here are a few things I’m considering:

• Playing with time and sequence, eg writing the ending first;

• Epistolary writing;

• Acrostics and other tricks;

• How to create atmosphere.

Last time I included topics such as:

• Choosing the exactly right word (using work by David Foster Wallace as an example);

• Using dialogue to tell the story (using work by Gay Talese as an example);

• Employing cinematic techniques (using work by Truman Capote as an example).

Each session lasts only an hour, so it’s ideal for busy people. The way I structure the hour is along these lines:

1. Discussion of a reading I gave out or sent earlier.

2. Discussion of the homework;

3. Prompt.

4. Writing for at least 20 minutes.

5. Sharing in twos and threes.

Everyone enjoyed the course, and especially appreciated that I gave feedback on every piece of work people submitted.

Here is that link again:

The 60 Minute Writer