The emphasis is on improving writing skills which are essential to writing novels, short stories, memoir, family history and biography. Every day you will enjoy a wide variety of exercises which are fun to do and which will have you writing before you have time to question whether you can!

The creative writing course covers character, dialogue, plot, place and story construction. You will leave the creative writing course, as every participant has, with a short story or a piece of biographical writing which uses all the writing skills you have learned.

The creative writing course week:

Monday 9.30 a.m - 12.30 p.m.: Exercises to get you writing quickly and easily. These, amongst others, will include free writing, clustering and an observation exercise in the village of Martrin.

Tuesday 9.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.: Work begins on character, with exercises showing how you can recall characters from the past to use in your work and some ideas on creating new characters including those you will encounter in Martrin.

Wednesday 9.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.: Dialogue often seems daunting, both for beginners and for more experienced writers. We look at the characteristics of good and bad dialogue and do a number of exercises to produce realistic, lively dialogue which suits your characters.

Thursday 9.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.: Plot is the topic for today. What is the difference between plot and story? How do we construct plot? A practical method will help you to plot your own work so that you can sit straight down and write it.

Friday 9.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.: During this session you will continue to work on the short piece of fiction or non-fiction which you began yesterday. When you have finished, the session will include feedback on the piece and suggestions about how you might edit it. You will be surprised at the difference between the writing you produced at the beginning of the week and your writing now.

Throughout the week, sheets explaining some of the exercises and tips on writing will be handed out. We also use short stories by well known writers to analyse and illustrate particular aspects of writing.

Feedback is an essential part of learning to write well. All criticism is positive and unthreatening. The atmosphere is non-competitive and this is a wonderful opportunity to hear how your writing sounds to others and to learn from them.

Afternoons during the week are free of formal tuition and you can choose whether you want to continue with your writing or to explore the area.

The creative writing course tutor:

Sharon Colback is a fiction writer and course facilitator. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies. She is working on a collection of themed short stories set in France.

She was formerly a UK and international journalist who has lived and worked worldwide.

Sharon has facilitated writing courses in the UK and the USA and has, herself, attended numerous writing workshops in the UK and South Africa.  She knows what works and inspires and her course incorporates the best modern methods of teaching how to write fiction.