Developing your creative writing

What is the course about?

This course will provide an encouraging and imaginative environment to help you improve your creative writing skills and sustain a commitment to your work. You will read and discuss your work with the class, explore various techniques of writing and develop confidence in giving and using constructive criticism. If you wish to work towards publication, this course will help you do so.

What will we cover?

- How to develop and improve your writing
- Exploration of aspects of writing, according to your and other participants' needs and interests. For example; how to sustain a piece of writing, narrative tension, structure, point-of-view, character, dialogue, voice, genre, poetic form, language, imagery
- Giving constructive criticism
- Evaluating, revising and editing your own work.

This course supports several kinds of creative writing, including prose fiction, poetry, reflective writing and memoir, whether they are finished pieces or works-in-progress. It is not suitable for people interested in journalism, informational or academic writing. We recommend that those interested in writing for stage or screen consider Ways into playwriting or Ways into screenwriting respectively.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

- Respond to, and assess, pieces of writing with sensitivity
- Identify and demonstrate understanding of some key technical aspects of creative writing
- Write more confidently and effectively in your chosen form
- Evaluate, revise and edit your own work.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This workshop is for writers with some experience of creative writing. It is ideal if you have completed our Ways into Creative Writing course or a similar introductory course. Students should have a work-in-progress or ideas for a piece of writing they want to work on. This course is only suitable for those with reading and writing fluency in English.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

You will be taught through interactive tutor presentations, writing exercises, prompts and games in class, along with analysis and discussion of published texts. You will also be expected to share your written work for feedback from your peers and the tutor. The tutor will also set short homework assignments.

All writing courses at City Lit will involve an element of workshop. This means that students will produce work which will be discussed in an open and constructive environment with the tutor and other students. The college operates a policy of constructive criticism, and all feedback on another student’s work by the tutor and other students should be delivered in that spirit.

For classes longer than one day regular reading and writing exercises will be set for completion at home to set deadlines.

City Lit Writing endeavours to create a safe and welcoming space for all and we strongly support the use of content notes in our classes. This means that learners are encouraged to make their tutor and classmates aware in advance if any writing they wish to share contains material that may be deemed sensitive. If you are unsure about what might constitute sensitive content, please ask your tutor for further clarification and read our expectations for participating in writing courses at City Lit.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

You should bring paper and pens or pencils.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

You are welcome to continue developing your skills by enrolling in another term of Developing your creative writing, or an intermediate course in a specific form such as Writing fiction, Short story writing, Developing your poetry, or Creative non-fiction. If you feel ready to submit your work for rigorous constructive feedback you are also welcome to enrol in an advanced level course, however we recommend taking a form-specific course at intermediate level first.

All students are invited to join us at Late Lines, our regular performance night for City Lit writers. Students are also encouraged to submit their work to Between the Lines, our annual anthology of creative writing. For the latest news, courses and events, stay in touch with the Department on Facebook and Twitter.