I’ve been doing a bit of dabbling recently, in my modern version of the seven (or is it nine?) circles of hell - you know: technology, market research, promotion…
Well, what didn’t kill me probably has made me stronger and I’ve emerged not only unscathed but with improved pitches, social media, website (and even a bit more confidence in it all) – and a bundle of new services under the WriteRight umbrella.
I’ve already written about my take on Writing Courses, and as many people know, I’ve spent the last seven or eight years tutoring creative writing online and face to face - and being a student in others. So with the lovely and very supportive Marianne Wheelaghan taking a break from providing the Edinburgh Online School, I’ve developed my own little cluster of writing programmes.
These aren’t group classes – I’m not sure my tech skills will run (yet) to an online community platform – rather, they are one-to-one courses that run over 6 or 10 weeks via email. There are weekly notes and writing assignments, feedback and recommendations, so if you want to get to grips with writing short stories or you’ve an idea for a novel, but would like a bit of structure and are desperate to get some real words written down, Writing Shorts or Novel Writing 1 might be for you.
Equally, if you’re in the middle of a novel (or series of stories) but would like more tutor-led interaction than editing or even mentoring might offer you, then Novel Writing 2 is an option.
Over the last few months, I’ve had a few authors working their way informally through the programmes – and they seem to work well. Everyone has met their goals, has written some fine words and, most importantly of all, has enjoyed the experience and pronounced it useful.
The proof of the pudding?
Amrita took a 5 week course, bespoke to her, and says:
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'Thank you so much for you advice and guidance! I now have a plot and a reasonable start with my Young Adult fantasy story, and will be working on it hard, as I had aimed for at the beginning of the course!' |
Warren chose the 10 week novel-writing course, and has these words:
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‘All I had was an ambition to write a novel, a few vague ideas and very little experience at creative writing. I am so thankful that I found Anne Hamilton and embarked on her novel writing course. Through the ten weeks of the course, Anne set me weekly assignments. She teased out my half formed ideas, and then helped me develop characters and scenes at various points in the story. She helped me improve my dialogue and set the pace of the novel. I developed a plot structure, a beginning, a middle and an end. Through all of these assignments Anne would offer support and constructive criticism. She managed to get the balance of these absolutely perfect for me so that I felt I was improving in my abilities and confidence week by week. By the end of the course I had a discussion with Anne in which she encouraged me to carry on alone and I am now working to the plan I developed with her help. When I finally I have a fully drafted novel I am happy with, I will go back to Anne and use her editing services. I would encourage any aspiring novelist/writer to make use of Anne’s services.’ |
Kate completed the 6 week short story course, with this:
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‘I’ve now got four stories in progress. Two are finished and I’ve even sent them off to competitions, and I have so much knowledge now to get the others to the same stage. I can’t believe it! I wanted to write for ages but didn’t know I could. I can! Thank you.’ |
I’m looking forward to working with more authors taking the courses, and to developing other programme as interest arises. Do click over and have a look at the Services and Fees pages of the WriteRight website and see what you think.
I know time and money are tight for most people, so I’ve tried to address both – and really hope these courses provide great value for both. With that in mind, if you decide to choose a course and book it before the end of October (to start at your convenience) I’ll give you a 25% discount – just mention this blog post in case I forget!
Anne x
