CHILDREN'S WRITING COURSE

		PROSPECTUS CREATIVE WRITING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Available by correspondence or email INTRODUCTION This Creative Writing Course for Young Writers, via correspondence or email, is in response to the many enthusiastic young writers who want feedback on their writing and a chance to learn more about the writing and editing processes. Quite often these young writers are not sufficiently encouraged in their writing at school, and parents are frustrated when it becomes apparent that there are far too few creative writing courses available for their talented child. Students undertaking the course will be encouraged by their tutor to enter writing competitions and to submit their work to magazines for publication. A manuscript service is available for young people who produce writing independant of the module assignments. As students successfully completed each module they are awarded a certificate of achievement. ABOUT THE COURSE
CLICK FOR PRINTABLE APPLICATION FORM (Opens in new window) Email Di Bates		Lesson module assignments have been prepared by a professional children's author who has conducted hundreds of creative writing workshops with students of all ages, from ten years upwards. During the course, you will be instructed in aspects of creative writing via your lessons and also by your professional tutor who will guide you every step of the way. Once you enrol, you will receive your preferred lesson module with an attached assignment. The module can be read, then the assignment undertaken at your leisure. Your tutor will comment in depth on your submitted exercises and/or writing. You may then, if you wish, undertake a second, third or subsequent module. You are invited to contact your tutor at any time via mail or email with any questions you have on any aspect of your writing. ABOUT YOUR TUTOR Dianne (Di) Bates is the author of over 90 fiction and non-fiction books for children and young adults, including The New Writers' Survival Guide (Penguin), Revise, Edit and Re-Write (Scholastic) and Wordgames: Activities for Creative Thinking and Writing. (Longman). Di has worked on the editorial teams of the NSW Department of School Education's School Magazine and Penguin Books Puffinalia magazine. she has taught hundreds of creative writing courses for children in schools throughout NSW and at Mitchellsearch (for gifted and talented children), at the State Library and the NSW Writers' Centre, and is well known as an Accredited schools' performer. Among Di's published books are Grandma Cadbury's Trucking Tales, the Bushranger series, Big Bad Bruce, The Boy Who Loved Chocolate. Her latest children's books are The Shape (Allen and Unwin) and Cinderfella (Penguin). Di is married to children's author, poet and playwright, Bill Condon. They live in a northern suburb of Wollongong, NSW. CONTACT: Di Bates, PO Box 2116, Woonona East 2517 or email: HERE COURSE MODULES GETTING IDEAS & GETTING STARTED How to find ideas. Starting an ideas' book. Keeping notebooks. How to read as a writer. Getting started. Brainstorming. Organising material. Marathon writing. The writers' circle. Assignment. CHARACTERS & DIALOGUE Create a character file. How to "collect" characters. Naming your characters. Start with a character. Characters from situations. Major and minor characters. The importance of motivation. Three dimensional characters. The protagonist. The antagonist. Describing your characters. Character tags. Famous characters in literature. Assignment. WRITING SHORT STORIES Short story elements. Plotting. Characters. Motive. Confict. The opening sentence. Resolution. Titles. Why is setting important? Using the senses. How to make setting part of the background of a story. The importance of story design. Focus. Style. Sequence of events. Continuous and discontinuous marration. Narrator. Bias in viewpoint. Tense. Literature s tudy. What is "genre fiction"? Different types of fictional stories. Genre "rules". Assignment. EDITING What is editing? using a thesaurus. Finding the right word. Be specific. Make every word count. Remove vague words. Replace repetitive words. use compact words. Replace overworked words. Write with nouns and verybs. Improve verbs. Improve nouns. Use precise adjectives and adverbs. Use the active voice. Don't be ambiguous. In other words. Focus on facts. Create word pictures. Add phrases. Show, Don't Tell. Develop imagery. Similies. Metaphors. Develop the senses. Join short sentences. Vary sentence length. Vary sentence structure. Sentence modelling. An edited story. Assignment. WRITING POETRY What is poetry? Getting started. Creating poetic images. Drafting a Poem. Rhythm. Rhyme. Other poetic devices. The shape of a poem. Poetry forms to experiment with. Free verse. Common faults in beginner's poems. Submitting a poem. Advice from published poets. Some poetry topics. Assignment. OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG WRITERS Advice for the ambitious. Magazine markets. Opportunities for young playwrights. Writing competitions. Youth mentorships. Writing Workshops. Writers' Centres. How to find commercial publishers. Other helpful resources. Writers who published when they were young. How to present a manuscript. Assignment. CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT. On successful completion of each module, students will receive a certificate of achievement. OUR GUARANTEE Our guarantee is that if, for any reason, a student is not satisfied with a module received, his/her money will be immediately refunded. Contact Di Bates PO Box 2116, Woonona East NSW 2517 Email: Click for printable application form HERE (Opens in new window)

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CREATIVE WRITING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE