Sian Prior

We are living in the age of ‘reality hunger’. The reading public has an insatiable appetite for well-crafted true stories. This six week online course will introduce you to some of the essential skills required to write publishable works of creative non fiction. From essays and memoirs to biographies and autobiographies, from personal columns to informative and self-help books, the ingredients remain the same: well-planned and focussed research, a consistent and convincing voice, a clear understanding of the ‘stories’ you want to tell about the ‘situations’ you’re describing, and an ability to ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ your readers what you want them to know. You will also learn how to structure and write a persuasive book proposal to send to agents and/or editors. The course involves two ‘live’ contact hours (via Zoom) per week, 7 pm to 9 pm on a weeknight, and some homework writing and reading tasks. You will also receive private individual feedback on some of your writing.