Creative writing: an introduction to short story writing

A Certificate of Participation is awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/learning activities for the duration of the course. This tutor-led, cohort-based online course is 7-weeks in duration and is made up of 5 teaching units. Unit 1: Event-Plot Stories? This unit will examine the questions - What is a short story?  What are its limitations? What characteristics do many short stories have in common? Why do short stories appear to punch above their weight? What is an event-plot story? How do they work? By studying this unit participants should have gained an understanding of why a short story is not just a story that is short, but a different kind of story. They will also recognise an event-plot story shape and have started to work with this model. Unit 2: Anti-Plot Stories This unit will examine the questions - What is an anti-plot story? Why is it variously called ‘formless’, ‘Chekhovian’ and ‘slice of life’? How is it different from the event-plot story? What characteristics do they share? What makes an anti-plot story different from a sketch? By studying this unit participants should be able to recognise an anti-plot story and what distinguishes it both from the event-plot story and from the sketch. They will have started to work with the anti-plot model. Unit 3: Variations (introducing magical realism and flash fiction) This unit will examine the questions - How useful are these distinctions in story types? Is it possible to combine the event-plot and the anti-plot story? What other kinds of short story are there? Are there genres and styles which are particularly suited to the short form? What is magical realism? What is flash fiction? Why are endings so important? By studying this unit participants should have an appreciation of sub-genres of short story and also an understanding of the limitations of, and opportunities offered by, flash fiction. They will have had experience fashioning a conclusion and gained an understanding of the role endings play in influencing the meaning of a story. Unit 4: Characterisation and Dialogue Regarding characterisation, what do we mean by ‘telling’ versus ‘showing’? What are their relative merits? What are the functions of dialogue? How can we use dialogue to advance plot? How can we use dialogue to reveal character? How can we give value to what is unsaid? By studying this unit participants should have gained an understanding of how to reveal character efficiently and economically and how to use dialogue both to develop character and to advance plot. They will have deployed these skills. Week 5 Narrative Voice and Point of View This unit will examine the questions - Who is telling the story and how are they telling it? What and where is the ‘centre of consciousness’? What are the respective advantages and limitations of first- and third- person narrative voice? What different kinds of third-person voice are there? What is an unreliable narrator and what is its effect? How much does the narrator ‘know’? By studying this unit participants should have a greater understanding of the significance of point of view and the range of possibilities for narrative voice. Taken together with last week’s exercise, they will now have experimented with both first- and third-person narrative voice.