Course details
Tutors
Aims
This course aims to:
- introduce you to the techniques of writing fiction and enable you to use these skills to improve your own writing
- explore a variety of novels, stories and films – including fantasy, horror and historical fiction – and to experience with a variety of form and genre in your own writing
- develop your own writing style and find your “voice”
- overcome writing blocks and be able to write with enjoyment and ease
Course content
The aim of this unit is to introduce you to the challenges and delights of writing longer fiction. The novel will be the main focus, although examples from novellas, short stories, films and TV will also be employed. You will be invited to explore a range of works to employ the necessary techniques to enable you to write your own; both the ‘literary’ novel and the more ‘commercial’ variety. These will include: structuring a story; evoking time and place; inventing convincing and compelling characters; conveying point of view; using dialogue to convey emotion with particular emphasis on subtext; describing different geographical and historical settings; sustaining suspense and creating drama; writing arresting openings and providing satisfying conclusions. There will be an emphasis overall on ways of using language effectively, and on developing an individual writing style.
What to expect on this course
This week-long course will be taught through a series of informal seminars. You will use close reading, discussion and practical writing exercises to explore different approaches to long fiction in learning to write with ease and clarity of style. Each class is designed to expose you to new ideas or techniques and to encourage you to experiment in a relaxed, supportive and friendly atmosphere.
Course sessions
Brilliant beginnings: how to hook the reader We’ll study a variety of dramatic story openings – focusing on the “Five W’s” – and examine how you can best start a story to ensure that your reader will want to read on.
The Art of Telling We’ll look at how to write effective character description so that it won’t seem obviously “telling” and we’ll also examine how to reveal character through example of “showing”.
Un-skippable description Description in novels are the paragraphs readers most often skip; and yet it’s essential for creating atmosphere and mood. We’ll examine six essential techniques to make sure your readers don’t skip your descriptive passages.
Employing the five senses: taste Novels need to employ the five senses in order to create a fiction that feels real. We’ll look at taste, touch, sound and smell – in addition to sight – to bring richness and depth to your fictional worlds.
Employing the five senses: touch, scent, sound Novels need to employ the five senses in order to create a fiction that feels real. We’ll look at taste, touch, sound and smell – in addition to sight – to bring richness and depth to your fictional worlds.
Style and rhythm Virginia Woolf said: “Style is all about rhythm and rhythm goes far deeper than words.” We will examine how you can create rhythmic prose with language as lyrical as poetry.
The beating heart of the novel There are many key elements to writing a successful novel and finding a central conflict is perhaps the most essential. We will explore how to situate your protagonist within a compelling plot, giving them an external desire and internal need that will see them (and the reader) through from beginning to end.
Realistic dialogue We’ll study dialogue in novels and films and examine how to write dialogue that is realistic, while also being gripping; and how to reveal exposition through dialogue while also moving the plot forward.
Writing to scare Paying particular attention to films (and novels adapted into films) we will examine the three key elements to writing stories that will scare your readers.
- The elements of fairy-tales Writing fairy-tales involves breaking all (or most) the rules of traditional creative writing. We will study this brilliantly effective form and go onto experiment with writing our own fairy tales.
Learning outcomes
As a result of the course, you will gain a greater understanding of the subject and you should be able to:
- identify key techniques in writing fiction
- demonstrate the ability to employ these techniques effectively in your own writing
- apply the strategies you have observed in action to your own fiction writing
Required reading
van Praag, Menna, The Sisters Grimm (London: Transworld, 2020)
van Praag, Menna, The House at the End of Hope Street (London: Allison & Busby, 2025)
Carter, Angela, The Bloody Chamber, (London: Victor Gollancz, 1979)