COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT

The 10 lessons (including a Special Project) are as outlined below:

Lesson 1. Introduction

• What is creative writing?
• What’s different about creative writing.
• Information and creativity.
• Creative genres.
• Forms of Writing.
• Form.
• Structure.
• Purpose.
• Creative Writing resources.
• What is needed for success.
• The business of writing.
• Getting published.
• Self-publishing.
• Vanity publishing.
• Terminology.

Lesson 2. Basic Creative Writing Skills

• Words and their proper use.
• Types of language - Informative language, Persuasive, Imaginative, Literal, Figurative, Formal, Colloquial language.
• Parts of language (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, plurals, possessive nouns and pronouns, gender, adjectives, articles).
• Common grammatical errors (fragmented sentences, run on sentences, comma splices, dangling modifiers).
• Run on sentences.
• Irregular verbs.
• Whom or who.
• Pronouns and Antecedents.
• Punctuation.
• Creating and critiquing.
• Generating ideas.
• Developing ideas.
• Narrative theory.
• Story line.
• Narrative structure.
• Settings or scenes.
• Mood or atmosphere.
• Time.
• Voice.
• Point of view.
• Creative reading.

Lesson 3. Writing Clearly and Concisely

• Making things clear.
• Slice of life fiction.
• Conciseness and Succinctness.
• Understanding ambiguity.
• Causes of ambiguity.
• Doubt and ambiguity.
• Hinge points and ambiguity.
• De-familiarisation.

Lesson 4. Planning What You Write

• Writing routine.
• Establishing a theme.
• Organising ideas.
• Paragraphing.
• Writing a synopsis.
• Titles.
• Developing objectives.

Lesson 5. Writing Fiction

• Elements.
• Clues.
• Signs.
• Common errors.
• Scope or Range.
• Theme problems.
• Authenticity problems.
• Tone problems.

Lesson 6. Writing Non-fiction

• Creative non-fiction, scope.
• Developing ideas.
• Narration.
• Story line.
• Deduction.
• Induction.
• Classical Development.
• Chronological development.
• Analogy.
• Cause and effect.
• Classification.
• Comparison and contrast.
• Definition.
• Analysis.
• Developing a profile.
• Interviews.

Lesson 7. Newspaper Writing

• What to write, scope.
• News values.
• Writing guidelines.
• Regular columns.
• Fillers.

Lesson 8. Writing for Magazines

• Scope of magazine writing.
• What publishers want.
• Magazine articles.
• Travel writing.
• Writing for public relations.
• Selling your work.

Lesson 9. Writing Books

• Themes.
• Consistency.
• Believability.
• Variety.
• Getting started.
• Getting a contract.
• Book publishing.
• Non-fiction books.
• Fact finding.

Lesson 10 Special Project

• Organising a portfolio to sell yourself.

WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS COURSE

Some of the activities and exercises that you will do as part of this course are: 

• Analyse three texts to identify their genres, describe their layout, and any key elements.
• Locate a vanity publisher and a well-known publisher and obtain information on their submitting requirements.
• Write part of a newspaper feature article in 3 different ways, using 3 different types of language to create different impressions.
• Critique a piece of your own writing (250 words or more), noting its good points and its weaknesses.
• Develop one short scene for three different storylines, letting the setting, characters, dialogue and action show what is happening, what might have gone before and what might follow.
• Make notes on two authors' uses of concealing and revealing (transparency and ambiguity) and analyse their effectiveness in each case.
• Describe a place or person in your life from two completely different perspectives.
• Rewrite an assignment in a different voice.
• Use de-familiarisation to make a common object appear mysterious, or dangerous, or alien.
• Discuss the organisation of texts, considering why the authors might have organised their texts this way, and discuss how the structures contribute to the overall effectiveness of the text.
• Write a first draft in 3 hours, without editing.
• Edit the draft for structure, clarity, flow of ideas, content, mood, voice etc.
• Edit 3 items of your writing (include one short story) for clarity and succinctness; explain your changes.
• Research likely publishers for one of your stories and submit it.
• Construct outlines of fiction stories using the first and last sentences of published works.
• List 3 possible non-fiction writing projects for specific publishers and explain your choices.
• Write three outlines for non-fiction pieces, modelled on the outlines of your three creative writing readings.
• Interview someone in preparation for writing a profile on that person. Explain why you think that person might be of interest to others.

COURSE AIMS

• Describe elements and forms of creative writing.
• Develop skills that will help a writer generate, evaluate and communicate ideas in creative writing.
• Discuss the functions of clear writing, and the art of revealing and concealing in writing.
• Establish theme and structure as planning tools.
• Identify and discuss various forms of fiction writing and publishing opportunities.
• Analyse different non-fiction genres to determine key elements and strategies.
• Analyse different forms of creative writing commonly found in newspapers.
• Analyse magazine articles to determine what makes a good feature article.
• Discuss the main elements of book writing, including theme, organisation, and weaving different narrative threads into a unified whole.
• Prepare a portfolio of creative writing ready for submission and of future ideas. 

What Are the Advantages of Studying Writing with ACS Distance Education?

• You can start at any time to suit you.
• The courses are self-paced.
• You can study when and where suits you. They are flexible to fit in around you and your lifestyle.
• Keep up to date on your learning.
• Update your CV.
• It is not just a course, it is a package of learning that includes – course notes, tutor feedback, self-assessment tests, research tasks and assignments.
• Our tutors are all experts in their field, with years of experience in writing.
• They are also keen and enthusiastic about their subject and enjoy working with students to improve their knowledge and skills.
• Courses are also updated regularly to meet the demands of the changing needs for knowledge and to keep our courses up to date.

HOW TO WRITE CREATIVELY

People often struggle with creative writing. Getting started is the hardest part of the task.

Try following these guidelines: 

• Relax before starting. It is difficult to write if you are stressed physically or mentally.
• Go for a walk or do some other exercise; make sure your body is fed and hydrated (don’t overeat though). Clear your mind of any distracting thoughts (Some people watch TV; others have a sleep or meditate). Find what works for you and use it to clear the mind before writing. Be in the best physical condition, and your mind will be in the best position to write.
• Sit down at your desk and don’t get up until you have written something. It is better to develop a habit of writing poor material, then work on improving your quality; than developing a habit of never getting started.
• Write about what you know. This is important when you first start. As your experience and confidence builds, you can move onto other things.
• Capitalize on your passions. It is always easier to write about things you are passionate about. This may be people, pets, experiences, places, experiences, causes or something else.
• Let emotions and imagination run free. Creative writing becomes more creative when you loosen up your thinking, become more radical and less constrained by rules of writing. You can always tidy up grammar and spelling (or anything else), later.
• Visualize what you want to communicate. Close your eyes if need be and imagine what you are writing about; then write what you imagine.
• Have the right mindset. Both your conscious and sub conscious mind need to be viewing anything you write as a “work in progress”. Creativity is easily diminished when you are trying too much to produce “finished” work.

What do our students say?

Dan Read, a student in our Creative Writing course has recently had an article purchased for publication.  He said of the course - "I feel that the course has given me the tools and confidence necessary to make this possible."

Dilys said -

"I found the course to be extremely helpful. It has given me the confidence and skills to present my work to publishers."

Here’s what Jo had to say -

"I commenced the Creative Writing Course with the ACS having had no prior experience in this field whatsoever.  Having always been in accounting or payroll jobs, I decided to give the course a go. The course demonstrated to me what I enjoyed writing about, the types of writing I was good at, and not so good at. It broadened my horizon to show me what was out there to write about. It gave me knowledge and confidence. I have continued to write, and in the future want to commence with the next course, but in the meantime, I have submitted various articles of mine to some magazines and have had nothing but positive feedback from all the editors and some of my work is to be published!! Which I personally feel is fantastic as I have only been doing this for a year or so. Thank you for opening up a whole new world of creativity to me which I can only enhance upon!"

WHERE CAN THIS COURSE LEAD?

Learning to write well can help with every aspect of your life.  It can get you out of sticky situations, help you to better express your views and improve your employment prospects.

ARE YOU KEEN TO WRITE?

The pen is indeed mightier than the sword!  If you are keen for a change of career or simply wish to nurture your creative side, then this Creative Writing Course is for you.

What Next?

You can enrol today by clicking the “Enrol Now” button above.

Or

Click here to contact a writing tutor.

Or Request a Prospectus Here.