How to Write Fiction with Dr David Wharton

10-week Part-time Creative Writing Course

Do you have a novel in you that’s bursting to be written? Not sure where or how to start?

How to Write Fiction is a 10-week online creative writing course covering approaches and techniques for short stories, novellas and novels. This course is suitable for those who hope to achieve publication and for those who simply enjoy writing as a leisure pursuit.

Guided Creative Writing

You’ll be guided through the key elements of fiction: character, situation, setting, story, plot and prose style. Practical exercises will help you reflect on material from the classes and apply them to your own writing. We will also consider broader issues such as research techniques, the challenge of redrafting, sustaining a long writing project and overcoming writer’s block.

Please note that this course is closely focussed on prose fiction and doesn’t cover playwriting, screenwriting or poetry. However, if you’re looking to write a creative nonfiction project, such as an autobiography or memoir, you may still find it valuable.

During the course, you’ll also have opportunities (if you wish) to share and discuss your work in supportive group critique sessions with other students and the tutor.

About the Tutor: Dr David Wharton

I started writing fiction on a course very like this one. It changed my life, leading to a PhD in Creative Writing, and the publication of my debut, Finer Things – one of the “best crime books of 2019” (Sarah Hughes, i newspaper). I’m now finishing off my third novel. As a writer, I’m still learning all the time, and I’m really looking forward to sharing that knowledge with students.

David Wharton

As well as writing fiction, David brings considerable teaching skills to the course. He was previously an English teacher with twenty years experience in schools, colleges, and adult education. He has taught Creative Writing in various contexts. Currently, he works as a lecturer in education studies at the University of Leicester.

David’s acclaimed first novel, Finer Things (Sandstone Press, 2019), drew together the disparate worlds of Art School Bohemia and East End crime in early 1960s London. He is currently completing his second novel, the story of a short-lived and unsuccessful indie band.

Course Themes

Because students’ interests and backgrounds vary, the tutor will take a flexible approach responding to the group’s needs. However, the basic course outline is:

1. Being (or becoming) a writer; working with your imagination
2. Turning situations into stories
3. Building believable characters
4. Writers’ workshop 1
5. Settings, world-building and research
6. Story structure and plot
7. Writers’ workshop 2
8. Writing prose – words, sentences, paragraphs
9. Approaches to editing and redrafting
10. How to reach readers/publication

Times & Dates

The course will be held on Tuesday evenings between 18.30 and 20.00 over 10 sessions. It will be taught online over Zoom rather than face to face. If you would like to take this course but cannot do it at this time, please let us know.

Part-time Course Schedule: Term 1

• Week 1: Tuesday 23 Feb
• Week 2: Tuesday 2 Mar
• Week 3: Tuesday 9 Mar
• Week 4: Tuesday 16 Mar
• Week 5: Tuesday 23 Mar
• 2 Week Easter Break

Part-time Course Schedule: Term 2

• Week 6: Tuesday 13 Apr 
• Week 7: Tuesday 20 Apr 
• Week 8: Tuesday 27 Apr 
• Week 9: Tuesday 4 May
• Week 10: Tuesday 11 May

Creative Writing Resources

There are no set texts. You will be given a reading list, recommending books of interest to support your development as a writer, but no purchase of additional resources is required.

Course Assessment and Entrance Requirements

There are no entrance requirements. No prior study of writing or of literature is expected. If you are interested in writing fiction and (most importantly) enjoy reading fiction regularly, you should find this course suits you.

There are no transferrable credits and no mandatory assessments. At the end of the course you may submit one piece of writing (up to 1000 words), for detailed critical feedback from the tutor. This is not compulsory.

Questions About this Creative Writing Course

If you have any further questions about this part-time creative writing course, please send us a message using the Contact Us page.

Registration