Sian Prior

Ahoy, writers! My next Advanced Creative Non Fiction online course begins on April 18th - Thursday evenings for six weeks - all welcome! Course content includes: MAKING YOUR PERSONAL ESSAYS RESONATE Great personal essays are pieces of creative non fiction writing, often written from the ‘I’ perspective, in which we can all recognise our own humanity because of their universal themes. We look at how to make sure your personal stories will resonate with a broad readership. WRITING AUTHENTIC DIALOGUE Dialogue is a fantastic writing tool, especially when it comes to moving the ‘plot’ along, revealing important aspects of character, and ‘showing’ rather than ’telling’ your reader what’s going on. We will look at some examples of effective dialogue in non fiction writing. PLAYING WITH FORM AND CONTENT Creative non fiction offers many avenues for being playful with form as a way of reflecting and communicating content. Found texts, redacted texts, listicles, collage, fantasy, braided and discontinuous narratives are just some of the forms we explore in this class. HOW TO BEGIN AND HOW TO END Finding an engaging opening for your story is sometimes the hardest part of writing. You probably only have a paragraph or two to get your reader’s attention and/or engage them emotionally in your story. We will look at some techniques you can use to work out the best way to start – and the best way to finish.