Develop Your Fiction (18-week course)

Module one – Getting Started and Beginnings

In this module, you’ll not only explore how and where writers get ideas from, you’ll also discover how you can collate and use them to their best effect. You’ll look at what technology can do to help in the early stages of ideas generation and capture, and you’ll also embark and maintain a writers journal (evidence from this will form part of your final assessment at the end of the course). This module will cover the practical elements that affect all writers, including finding the time to write, and you’ll discover the methods and tricks other writers use. You’ll also look at how to begin a longer piece of fiction, and your assignments throughout the course will invite you to submit a piece of writing either based off a prompt from the tutor or from an existing work in progress.

Module two – Characterisation and Dialogue

This module will introduce you to some of the different character types that are used across fiction, including non-western literature. You’ll look at the ways the conflict and obstacles a character experiences create the plot of your story and you’ll get to know you characters better. You’ll compare character-driven to plot-driven narratives and you’ll take inspiration from the world of script and screen writing to create compelling dialogue.

Module three – Perspective and Setting

In this module you’ll look at the ways perspective and setting impact the way the reader views the narrative, and you’ll also work through the different points of view available to you as a writer. Within this, you’ll discuss how what is noticed can depend on who is noticing, and the power dynamics within this. You’ll also play with perspective in your writing.

Module four – Defamiliarisation, Getting Unstuck, and Style

This module will cause you to make strange the familiar, helping you to unlock your writing and prevent writers’ block. You’ll also look at the ways research can aid your writing, and the ways in which other writers can support your work. In this module, you’ll also take a deeper look at your own writing style, the language you use, and the ways this impacts on the stories you tell. This module will contain a 1-1 tutorial with your tutor.

Module five – Plot and Structure

You’ll discuss the different types of structure available to you as a writer in the module, paying particular interest to the structures which are most common across cultures. You’ll look at plot and consequence in your own writing and discuss movement and progression in your narratives. You’ll also read examples from short stories and novels which use non-standard or innovative structures, as well as ‘plotless’ novels.

Module six – Revision and Ending

In this final module, you’ll hone in on the trickiest part of writing fiction: rewriting and self editing. You’ll learn the difference between a structural edit and a line edit, you’ll pair up to exchange work with your fellow writers of feedback, and you’ll discover the tips and tricks that writers use to edit their own work.