WONDERING HOW TO START, OR WRITING ALREADY?

Join the new writing course with short story author and writing tutor, Rebecca Lloyd

The course is run by author Rebecca Lloyd, winner of the inaugural Bristol Review of Books short story prize, and takes place in the gallery once a week for 9 weeks with a small group in a supportive atmosphere. You don’t have to be someone who has already started writing. Each two-hour long session includes exercises, questions and discussions. During the course, students write one short story to read to the group who will critique it. Private ‘catch-up’ sessions are possible if two or more weeks are missed during the course. The course programme is as follows:-

1. COMMON PITFALLS FOR NEW WRITERS.
Exposition - use of adjectives - using characters’ names, - awkward words - cliché - jokes - use of parenthesis - expletives - detail anxiety - changing POV- number of characters.

2. EDITING
The importance of editing in fiction writing - a practical editing system.

3. DIALOGUE
How to make the most out of dialogue - different points of view.

4. CHARACTERISATION
Building and developing characters - psychology and dialogue - description - reader empathy.

5. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NOVEL AND SHORT STORY WRITING
What novel writing allows - what defines a short story - common problems with short stories.

6. SHAPE AND STRUCTURE
Literary versus non-literary stories - use of flashback - metaphor and symbolism - juxtaposing scenes – theme - balancing setting, character and plot to create the shape of the story.

7. STYLE
Wordiness - exposition - active and passive verbs - writer’s ‘voice’ - unfinished sentences - ‘stream of consciousness’ - obscure phrases - the sounds that words make.

8. GETTING STORIES PUBLISHED
Dealing with rejection - publishers’ terms - timing - format - response time - placing work - ezines, magazines and anthologies.

9. WRITING TIPS, SUMMING UP
Avoiding clumsy tags in dialogue - changing point of view - first paragraphs and titles, finding material – reading - rejections - submissions - starting new stories - throwing work away - different purposes of dialogue in story writing.