Do you want to write a great story so much that putting the words down is daunting? Do you find yourself waiting for the muse? How can you find that exciting, vital essence that will make the story in your head sing from the typed page? This course is all about writing your way to the good stuff: digging up the sand, and the gravel, so that you can sift through it to find the gold.
On this course, award-winning short story writer and journal editor Ruby Cowling will guide you through the process of writing your way to the treasure. Each week you will write 2,000 words against the clock, no matter your mood or how ‘good’ the words are. Ruby’s assignments will help you mine those words and discover the glints of promise for the next stage of your story.
While you write energetically and uncritically, the assignment exercises and set reading will guide you toward more coherent drafts as you prospect for the best material in terms of ideas, characters, plot and theme. There will also be live writing sessions (via Zoom – see below) to help you get the words down. Towards the end of the course, you will be able to pull together an advanced draft of up to 2,500 words and submit it to Ruby for detailed feedback.
Energetically getting words down can work like dynamite, blasting away any procrastination or perfectionism that stands between you and your treasure.
This course is aimed at all writers who want to get the words down and work towards a finished short story.
Course outline
- Four assignments, each designed to help you reshape, extend and keep believing in your story draft
- Intensive writing periods to help you hit your word count target, supported by optional (but recommended) live Zoom writing sessions
- Detailed feedback from Ruby on a final submission of up to 2,500 words
- Peer feedback from a fellow writer on the course
- An online writing community, lasting beyond the end of the course
This course is six weeks long and asynchronous (so you can log in and add to the discussion whenever you want). During the course, you will write 2,000 words per week for the first four weeks. Ruby will provide assignments each week to guide you as you revisit and extend your work, discovering and building in meaning. The assignments will include brief reading material to discuss, and lessons focusing on ideas, character, plot and theme. There will also be optional live writing sessions, to help you get pen to paper/fingers to keyboard.
In week 5 of the course, you will submit a piece up to 2,500 words long; you’ll receive detailed written feedback on this from Ruby, as well as peer feedback from a fellow writer on the course, in week 6.
Course timetable and content
Week 1 assignment: “Where do you get your ideas from?” – what’s original and what isn’t? How do you know what’s a good idea? Plus: write 2,000 words
Week 2 assignment: “Who’s this then?” – get to know your main character, their voice, the other forces acting on them. Plus: write 2,000 words
Week 3 assignment: “Tough enough?” – make your story compelling by giving your protagonist a hard time. Plus: write 2,000 words
Week 4 assignment: “Why did this seem like a good idea?” – bring the meaning and themes of your story to the surface. Plus: write 2,000 words
Week 5: submit a final piece up to 2,500 words for feedback
Week 6: receive detailed written feedback from Ruby; give and receive peer feedback on final submissions
Optional Zoom Live Writing Sessions
You can join Ruby for as many (or as few) of these as you like. It will be at Ruby’s discretion to add further sessions if these times and dates don’t work for you – just let us know.
Thursday 3rd November, 7.30-8.30pm
Thurs 10th Nov 7.30-8.30pm
Sun 13th Nov 11am-12pm
Thurs 17th Nov 7.30-8.30pm
Sun 27th Nov 11am-12pm
Learning Online
The course will take place online, in a closed group on a platform called Slack. You’ll need to have internet access, but not at any set times (except for the live Zoom writing sessions) – you can pick and choose when you log in. Slack is easy to use, and we’ll provide you with full instructions and guidance before the course starts. On Slack, we won’t have scheduled live chats. but there will be plenty of opportunity to interact with Ruby and the other course participants in discussion threads, throughout the six weeks.
Time Commitment
You should allow up to 6 hours per week for this course, for reading, writing and assignments.
Ruby Cowling has been writing and studying short fiction for ten years, and worked as Managing Editor of Short Fiction journal. She regularly reads for international and UK competitions, and her own short fiction has won awards including The White Review Short Story Prize and the London Short Story Prize, as well as being shortlisted in competitions from Glimmer Train, Aesthetica and Wasafiri. Her collection This Paradise (Boiler House Press, 2019) was longlisted for the 2020 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and shortlisted for the 2020 Edge Hill Prize. She is passionate about the short story form and keen to unlock its joys for as many other writers as possible.
You can book a place on this via the London Lit Lab website: https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/course/short-story-gold-rush-write-your-way-to-the-treasure/
