Writing Course: Believable Fiction

Writing convincing fiction is hard! It's what takes a story from words on a page to something you feel you can step right into... In this five day course we'll look at how different writers achieve this in their world and character building - and what happens when they don't! We'll have a go at writing our own worlds in a convincing way and write some things together.

You can book individual days or all five. Any day will be enjoyable for your child and they will be given materials so they can continue building their stories on their own.

Monday: We'll kick off the course by reading a short scene from our favourite stories where we feel we can step straight into the world. Have your child bring their favourite book and we'll share what makes the world living and breathing and the characters even more so!

Tuesday: We'll start playing some writing games together! These will focus world building and the smaller details of description that make something feel real.

Wednesday: We'll look at how to build characters realistically - with some help from passers by (not that they will know this!). Getting inspiration from the world around us is a great way to make fiction feel real. Perhaps your goblin sips their coffee in exactly the same way as that lady in the coffee shop across the road...

Thursday: We'll continue working on writing our worlds and characters. We will look at combining and building upon one world and experiment with building the world scene by scene. We'll also draw some maps to help us feel how realistic these stories are!

Friday: We'll finish writing our scenes and read them aloud - perhaps with an invite to the parents to come and listen in and be convinced by the worlds and characters we've created.

Sarah E Williams is an experienced creative writing tutor. For over four years she has been teaching creative writing to children an adults alike via online platforms and in person. Since moving to York last year she has been collaborating with The Blue House Bookshop in order to bring her love of writing to younger students. She brings excitement and enthusiasm to each class and helps every child believe that they can succeed in writing while enjoying the process.

Past student reviews:

I just wanted to thank you so much for the fabulous course at Blue House.
Rose came out of each session absolutely buzzing with excitement and she felt really proud of what she had achieved.
There was such a lovely energy and atmosphere in the room - I wish I could have done it too! - Bridget (Rose's gran)

Your class is the number one thing that Tom is looking forward to for the summer holidays! It's the ultimate highlight! - Leah (Tom's mum)

Host or Publisher Sarah Williams