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Narrator: What is fiction? Fiction is all about characters. Writing
- trying to find and create characters - can be full of surprises; a
person's imagination is a powerful force.
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Start Writing Fiction will help you to make the best use of what
you already have - and what you know.
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You'll be able to draw on your own experiences, and what
you've read - your observations and imagination, your language
and ideas.
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You'll come to discover - as you start to create stories - the best
rules and lessons for you, the best ways for you to create
characters - the best way for you to write.
What is fiction?
Fiction is all about characters. Make
the best of everything you already
have and know your unique material
and equipment for creating
characters:
your experiences (including your reading
experiences)
your memories and personal history
your feelings and desires
your language, imagination, observations
and ideas.
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Ways to write
Start Writing Fiction focuses on a skill
which is central to the writing of all
stories and novels creating
characters. Youll hear from a variety of
writers talking about how they started
and how they created their stories and
characters. Youll learn the benefits of
using a writers notebook or journal,
how to read like a writer and how to
edit, as you start writing your own
stories.
Derek Neale is your educator and guide
through the course. A novelist and short
story writer his latest novel is The Book of
Guardians Derek has recorded many
interviews with novelists, playwrights and
biographers about their approach to writing.
Hell introduce each week, reminding you of
what youve learned and mentioning the
highlights of the week ahead.
Each weeks work is designed to take about
three hours but if you want to develop
your skills as a writer you may well spend
longer than this. Even just a short paragraph
can take a while to get right though
sometimes, of course it can work more or
less immediately. How long you spend on
the writing exercises is up to you but you
will develop best as a writer if you recognise
that writing cant usually be done quickly,
its something you need to live with and
return to again and again. This course is
designed with that in mind.
How do you study?
The Open University would love to know
what you think of the course and how you
plan to use it. Were really interested in
hearing from you whether you plan to study
every week, take part actively in discussions
or sit back and watch how they unfold. Your
feedback is anonymous but will have
massive value to us in improving what we
deliver.
Take our Open University start-of-course
survey.
Introduction to
FutureLearn
Heres a run-down of features that have
been developed to help you study. The
course is designed to run on desktops,
tablets and mobile devices; however, some
of the material is quite detailed and using a
larger screen will enhance your experience.
Materials are best viewed running the most
up-to-date software available for your
device and using the most recent version of
the web browser.
Downloads
From time to time youll see downloadable
PDFs at the bottom of a page. These are
provided to help your learning. They include
extracts and information sheets that you
may want to save for future reference.
At the bottom of this page youll find an
overview of the whole course. This will help
you monitor your progress and track what
you have covered.
Quizzes
Youll come across a couple of quizzes to
test your knowledge. These are not scored
and are included purely to help you learn.
Comments and
discussions
There are plenty of opportunities to
communicate with other learners. Youll be
able to make comments at any point in the
course. Youll also notice discussion points,
which offer a more structured dialogue with
your fellow writers on key topics. Please join
in!
Why not introduce yourself now in the
comments?
Please be aware that there is a 1200
character limit (including spaces), which is
roughly 250 words, on comments and
discussion posts. If your contribution is
longer than this, we recommend using an
external tool or a personal blog and then
pasting the link as a comment or within the
discussion dialogue box.
Profile pages
You can view the profile pages of your fellow
learners, and follow them to keep track of
their comments. We recommend that you
follow the lead educator, Derek Neale and
the course facilitators, Jane Elmor, Shanta
Everington and Lucy Yates.
This will help you to keep in touch with the
Open University writers and educators who
have designed the course and help to
present it.
Peer review
At three separate points during the course
youll be invited to submit something youve
written to be reviewed by your fellow
writers. This process may seem daunting at
first but youll soon realise its value for your
development as a writer as you review other
work and receive feedback on your own.
We recommend that you save a copy of your
writing outside of the course, whether thats
on your blog, in your notebook or as a Word
document on your computer.
Evidence of your learning
At the end of the course, you will also be
eligible to purchase a printed Statement of
Participation, which provides a physical
record of your engagement in the course.
This eye-catching statement can be used as
evidence of Continuing Professional
Development, your commitment to your
career, or your interest in the subject.
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DEREK NEALE: Hello and welcome to Start Writing Fiction. I'm
Derek Neale and I teach creative writing here at The Open
University. I'll be your guide throughout the course and each
week, I'll let you know what's coming up. We're going to focus
on a skill that is central to the writing of all stories and novels creating characters. Through course you'll explore various ideas
and exercises to help you develop your own characters and
then reveal them to your reader. You'll hear from a number of
writers - including Michele Roberts, Alex Garland, and Louis de
Bernieres as they talk about their own experience of writing.
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And you'll have the chance to share comments and ideas with
your fellow writers while sampling how established authors
such as Toni Morrison and Graham Greene have written and
presented their characters. By the end of the course you'll have
learned tricks such as using a journal to generate ideas, the
importance of editing and redrafting and you'll have started to
read like a writer. You'll be writing throughout and towards the
end of the course you will capitalise on the tools you've picked
up by writing a more substantial story. So, welcome to week
one! To begin with we are going to look at how keeping a
journal can help you capture and develop your ideas.
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You'll explore the difference between fact and fiction and take a
look at some George Orwell and Zoe Heller characters. And
you'll hear from writers including Tim Pears and Abdulrazak
Gurnah talking about how they started to write. Most important
of all, you'll start writing yourself.
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