Creative Writing Level 2 with Kerry Hadley-Pryce

Start Date: 11th February, 2025
Duration: 6 Weeks
Fee: $350
3 places remaining

Course Outline

Week 1: Character & Story Structure

Building on some of the warm-up exercises and character-building techniques you might have used in earlier courses, this module introduces ideas about character and empathy even further by considering how questions of conflict and ‘what if?’ can develop your characters and lead to a satisfying resolution for your reader.

Week 2: Time & Pace

This module explores the different aspects of ‘time’ in a short story or a novel. It considers how techniques such as creating a timeline, flashbacks and flash-forwards work in a narrative, and how, in any narrative, time is a crucial and complex factor.

Week 3: Juxtapositioning

What happens if we bring together two or more often disparate ideas or images? Here in this module, we look at how this kind of ‘splicing’ can bring a story to life, and how playing with connections and clashes sparks and develops narrative ideas.

Week 4: Editing and Flash Fiction

This week’s module tackles what to cut and what to keep. Revisiting and re-writing is an important part of the writers’ craft, and perfecting the skill of ‘flash’ fiction is an excellent way of fighting back the urge to overdo description, and to recognise the power and effect of the short narrative.

Week 5: The Museum of Emotion

The importance of engaging emotionally with readers cannot be overstated. A. L. Kennedy said: ‘Fictional characters whose interior lives don’t hum and gurgle with this or that emotional tone can’t be expected to compete with the genuine and complex human beings against whom they are constantly being measured.’ This module will explore how we can integrate our emotions and all of our senses into our writing to create original narratives.

Week 6: Symbolism and Suspense

Literary symbolism can create different and sometimes ambiguous meanings. Taking your writing to another level, this module encourages you to take chances with your use of language, and to experiment with new ideas to find not just your ‘voice’ , but the many ‘voices’ you might have.