Ref: SWE30059
Whether you are writing directly about your life or writing fiction, ultimately you base your stories on your experiences and those of others – the common human experience. This course will use life’s experiences as a source for your writing and will help you to bring them alive so that readers will want to keep reading.
You will consider the reliability of memory and use techniques to help you remember details from your past. It will look at the importance of observing with a writer’s eye in order to lay down rich memories in the first place, which will in turn provide inspiration for tomorrow’s stories. You will practise the skills needed to write about people so that they appear real and unique thus creating engaging characters. You will learn how to describe places you have visited or lived and use them as a source for your stories. Throughout the course you will practise writing in a way which makes your experiences vibrant and interesting.
Working in a supportive, encouraging environment you will explore each of these areas through class discussions and written exercises. Regular feedback and guidance will be provided by the tutor. There will be plenty of time for independent writing in and around the inspirational college and West Dean Gardens.
By the end of the course you will have developed an understanding of how life’s experiences can be used to write both fiction and non-fiction. You will have written and edited several pieces and leave with new ideas for using your experiences, increased writing skills, and have the confidence to write more.
Arrival Day - this is the first date listed above
Courses start early evening. Residential students to arrive from 4pm, non-residential students to arrive by 6.45pm.
6.45pm: Welcome, followed by dinner (included).
8 - 9pm: First teaching session, attendance is essential.
Daily timetable
Classes 9.15 - 5pm, lunch is included.
From 6.30pm: Dinner (included for residential students).
Evening working - students may have access to workshops until 9pm, but only with their tutor's permission and provided any health and safety guidelines are observed.
Last day
Classes 9.15am - 3pm, lunch is included.
Residential students are to vacate their rooms by 10am please.
(This timetable is for courses of more than one day in length. The tutor may make slight variations)
Ruth Brandt’s short stories and flash fiction have been widely published. She won the Kingston University MFA Creative Writing Prize, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Write Well Award and Best Small Fictions Award. Her short story collection No One has any Intention of Building a Wall will be published by Fly on the Wall Press in 2021.
Residential option available. Find out accommodation costs and how to book here.
Places available - Contact us
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If you’re looking to complete the first draft of a novel and learn about the publishing process. The two-year, part-time MA Creative Writing and Publishing is taught by professional authors and visiting industry professionals. Find out more