The perfect course for story-tellers who want to get published!  

Learn the skills needed to write saleable stories - plus how to stretch your imagination and stimulate your writing creativity! You'll also receive dozens of tips about where and how to sell your work as a professional writer.

COURSE DETAILS:

1. 8 writing exercises (assessment and feedback on each); each is a 1500-word short story
2. 1 full-length story for possible publication (assessment and feedback)

TUTOR:

Ginny Swart has sold over 400 short stories to women's magazines all over the world. On any day of every month she has at least 15 stories out there on editors' desks. Her more serious work has appeared in literary publications in New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and on the Web. She is also the author of three romance  novels.

In 2003 Ginny won the esteemed UK The Real Writers' Prize from over 4000 entrants.

MODERATOR: Penny Alexander has been writing for UK woman's magazines for the past 10 years and runs a writing group in Northamtonshire, England. She has worked as a teacher for many years and has an Honours Degree in History. Currently, Penny is writing a serial for People's Friend.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

CURRICULUM:

Module One: Getting Started

Writing Exercise: Write a warm-up1500-word story, in response to a given prompt. (20)

Module 2: Characterization

• Different ways to introduce your characters and make them believable
• The importance of the “back story”
• Making use of all the senses
• Writing a three-dimensional character 
• The importance of the right name

Writing Exercise: In two parts. Part One: A 100 word “back story” about one of the characters mentioned. Part Two: 150 words of dialogue between the two characters. (20) Complete the story (1500 words) for feedback from your tutor.

Module 3: Dialogue

Writing Exercise: 500 words of conversation between mother and son after the son has crashed the family car, taking into account the different age and character of each person. (20) Complete the story (1500 words) for feedback from your tutor.

Module 4: Point of View

Writing exercise: Read one girl’s account of something that happened in the office. Then re-write this as seen through the eyes of two other people concerned. (20) Complete the story (1500 words) for feedback from your tutor.

Module 5: How to plot your story

Writing Exercise: A ten-sentence synopsis of a plot, choosing a character and a situation from the lists provided. (20) Complete the story (1500 words) for feedback from your tutor.

Module 6: Setting and story structure

Writing Exercise: Think of a story line and write the opening paragraphs. The setting must be seen to affect the story that will follow. Write the story. (1500 words) (20) Complete the story (1500 words) for feedback from your tutor.

Module 7: Editing your story

Writing Exercise: Read a 360-word excerpt from a story and edit it down to 230 words without losing any of the important features. (20) 

Module 8: Writing purely for personal satisfaction, not financial reward! 

Writing Exercise: 500 words. Decide on a character. Try to become that person and record his or her thoughts and observations so that the reader has a deep insight into the state of mind of your protagonist. (20) Complete the story (1500 words) for feedback from your tutor.

Module 9: Marketing and submitting your story

Writing Exercise: Write a 1500-word short story of any genre aimed at That's Life magazine. The final assignment will also be marked by an outside moderator. (80)

HOW DOES THE COURSE WORK?

The course consists of nine modules. Detailed class notes covering the content of each module are e-mailed to students, or students can download these off the site.

At the end of each module, students will be required to complete a writing exercise. In total, the course includes eight short writing assignments, all of which count towards the final result of the student and one 2000-word short story. However they are welcome to turn each writing assignment into a short story for critical feed back if they would like to do so.

Once the writing assignment has been completed, and e-mailed to the lecturer, an assessment and feedback will be sent to the student, and the module will be considered complete. The next module will then be e-mailed to the student.

Please note: Assignments should be returned as attachments, not in the body of the e-mail.

CONDITIONS OF CERTIFICATION:

Students will receive an NZ Writers' College Certificate upon successful completion of the course, provided they meet the following conditions: 

MINIMUM ESTIMATED TIME COMMITMENT:

There is no research required for this course, just planning and writing. The speed at which you work is entirely up to you.  After studying the modules, the exercises should take around two hours to complete. A completed story could take longer.