TUTOR: Kerry Hadley-Pryce is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton and the editor of The Blackcountryman magazine. Her first novel, The Black Country, published by Salt Publishing in 2015, was part of her MA Creative Writing at the Manchester Writing School, for which she gained a distinction and was awarded the Michael Schmidt Prize for Outstanding Achievement 2013–14. She is currently a PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University researching Psychogeographic Flow and Black Country Writing. She has had several short stories published in various anthologies and online at Fictive Dream and The Incubator. Her second novel, Gamble, also published by Salt Publishing in June 2018, was shortlisted for the Encore Second Novel Award 2019.

Next course starts on 29th September 2021 – 1 place remaining

Note: We are currently experiencing a high demand for our online creative writing courses. We therefore recommend that you book early to avoid disappointment. 

(If you signed up to an Intermediate Course with Nikki Sheehan, commencing September 22nd, this course is still going ahead as scheduled. We just removed it from the site as it was full and to prevent overbooking.)

Price: €150

Duration: Six weeks

You don’t have to be based in Ireland to take the course. We accept students from around the world.

You don’t have to be online at any particular time or day. The course is carried out through email correspondence, so you can read the notes whenever you wish. There will be weekly notes and assignments over the course of six weeks. Your tutor will read each assignment and provide written feedback.

Note that this is a course for adults.

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.

To find out more about how the online courses work, or if you have any further queries, you can check out our Frequently Asked Questions or email us at info@creativewriting.ie

Our cancellation/refund policy may be viewed here.

PAYMENT/REGISTRATION: Please note that we do not require you to fill out a registration form. Instead, please click on the ‘Check Out Securely’ button below. During the payment process you can input your name and email address which we will use to register you on the course. If you’d prefer to use another email address for the course correspondence or if you’re paying on behalf of another student, when you have processed the payment, please send the relevant email address and name for the course correspondence to info@creativewriting.ie. Once you have processed the payment, we will email you within 24 hours to confirm receipt.

 

BANK TRANSFER/LODGEMENT: if you don’t have a card to pay for the course, you can pay through bank transfer or bank lodgement. Please email us at info@creativewriting.ie for our bank details.

POST: We no longer accept cash, cheque or money order payments by post.