Creative Writing For Beginners Online Short Course
Course description
Course overview
Through in-class exercises, take-home assignments, readings, workshopping and plenty of constructive feedback, you will explore the basic elements that will encourage you to dust off those unfinished short stories or dive into something completely new.
This course will enable students to flex their writing muscles and find their writing voices in a fun, focused and supportive environment. The focus will be firmly on fiction (short stories and longer prose) as well as narrative non-fiction (memoir and essays). This is the perfect class in which to dip your toe and test the writing waters.
By the end of the course students will have produced their own pieces of creative writing and will leave with practical advice and notes on how to get their work out into the world. This is an unmissable opportunity if you want to take the first steps towards writing compelling and successful fiction.
Who this course is for
The course is suitable for beginners looking to develop their creative writing skills. There are no entry requirements apart from an interest in developing creative writing skills and a very good command of the English language.
Key information
Topics covered
- Discussions on technique, with particular emphasis on point of view, characterisation, dialogue, structure, and the process of editing
- The course has a strong workshop component, which will enable students to become comfortable with reading and sharing work
- Students will benefit from feedback from both the tutor and colleagues
Learning outcomes
- Have produced own pieces of creative writing
- Receive practical advice and notes on how to get your work out into the world
- Receive a digital badge and certificate of attendance
Materials
Please have the following materials to hand for the first lesson:
- Your favourite book
- Pen or pencil and paper
Please see our Guide to taking online short courses
Tutor
Joanna Pocock
Joanna Pocock is the 2018 winner of the Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize for 'Surrender', her book-length memoir and meditation on the American West, its land and its people. 'Surrender' has been compared to the writings of Rebecca Solnit, Lauren Elkin, Garnette Cadogan and Iain Sinclair and described as a 'necessary read for our times'. The book has been published in the UK, US and Canada, and been translated into French and Spanish. Joanna is an Arts Foundation Fellow, a 2021 winner of the Arts Foundation Prize in Environmental Writing and has been recently shortlisted for the Nature Chronicles Prize in Nature Writing. Her writing and photo essays have been published in a variety of outlets in the UK and US, most notably The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Orion, The New Statesman, The Spectator, The Times Literary Supplement, Granta, Dazed & Confused and Tank Magazine. She has been teaching creative writing, both fiction and non-fiction, for two decades and brings a wealth of writing, editing and publishing experience to her classes. When she isn't writing and teaching, Joanna works as an editor at the Dark Mountain Project and for Verso Books. Her next book, 'Greyhound', is being published by Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK) and Soft Skull (US) in Summer 2025.
Book a course
Loading