Fantastic Fiction: Writing Magical Worlds (2023)
Are you a writer that bends the rules of reality? Do you look to folklore, magic and the supernatural for inspiration in your writing? Join award-winning author Zoe Gilbert for a very special online course dedicated to writing that comes with a fantastical edge. Designed to focus on how to capture, develop and nurture the fantastical elements of a story, this is a playful course that applies to any genre, suitable for writers of all abilities, and comes packed with discussion, working examples and practical exercises to be taken away and applied to your own work.
This course includes:
- Five online sessions, 1.5 hours in length, and with a maximum of 20 students
- Practical workshops with takeaway exercises to be applied to your own work
- Writing exercises to put each session’s learning into practice
- Insight into the process of finding an agent and getting published
- Course materials available to view ahead of each session, including stories and excerpts to read, plus catch-up audio recordings
- A private online forum, to share discussion and writing throughout the course
Optional Extra: Bespoke Feedback. All course participants will have the exclusive opportunity to submit 2000 words to Zoe who will send written feedback on the piece back to the writer. This is entirely optional and comes at an additional cost of £50, with deadline details to be circulated ahead of Week 5.
Schedule
Week 1: From ideas to stories
Wednesday 1st November 2023
How do we get from an inspiring idea, or object, to an engaging story? We’ll use simple writing exercises to find the stories behind intriguing or everyday objects, and discuss how other writers have used the traditions of folklore and magic to develop story. We’ll also explore imaginary starting points for stories, and look at how magical creatures and transformations can speak deeply to us of change or individuality in fiction. How can we develop a creature, or a relationship with one, that brings symbolic meaning to a story?
Week 2: Characters and communities
Wednesday 8th November 2023
In week two we’ll focus on character development. How do we animate a character, and make them distinctive? We’ll explore how to develop characters that drive their own plots, and ways to bring them to life on the page. Then we’ll experiment with placing characters into communities, and see how their friends and foes become part of their story. We’ll also play with the power of names.
Week 3: Settings and magical landscapes
Wednesday 15th November 2023
In this session we’ll experiment with building rich settings that draw readers in. We’ll think about the kind of worlds your stories take place in, and how to describe these vividly. We’ll also learn about using settings to enhance the reader’s insight into characters, and how they see the world. Using maps, we’ll explore world-building, and guiding your readers through a magical place.
Week 4: Reading Week
Wednesday 22nd November 2023
In week four, there will be no workshop session. Instead, Zoe will set you a writing exercise to complete in your own time, as well as some optional reading to complement the course sessions.
Week 5: Voice, point of view and language
Wednesday 29th November 203
In this session, we’ll look at a range of voices and approaches for storytelling. We’ll consider the powers that certain points of view and tenses possess, and how can we use them effectively. Who is speaking and why, where are they speaking from? We’ll also look closely at language in our writing, and the power of careful world choice. We’ll experiment with narrative styles that express our characters and their attitudes, as well the world they live in.
Week 6: Plot, story and fate
Wednesday 6th December 2023
Stories need tension, conflict and choices, and characters pushed to extremes. In this session we’ll explore how things can go wrong for a character, and how to create tension when they do. What makes a strong story shape, that satisfies the reader? We’ll try taking inspiration from the skeleton structures of old tales. We’ll also try different methods for creating a story, from using archetypal plot shapes to throwing in unexpected twists and turns.
Joining instructions will be emailed to you ahead of the first course session, and can also be found below:
Joining Link for Week One: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84112058163?pwd=YjBQL01qTWd6WHhaanpPQlg3TWx1UT09
Meeting ID: 841 1205 8163
Passcode: 796350
For the first session, it would be great if you could have the attached pieces to hand during the session, and if you are able to read 'The Valley of the Demon' piece that would be great, but it's not compulsory!.
SLACK
We will be using Slack during the course, which is a free, easy-to-use platform that enables everything related to the course to be stored in one place. Please click on the below link to gain access to the Slack workspace that we’ve created for this course:
https://join.slack.com/t/fantasticfiction/shared_invite/zt-25jatmd5x-QSpZUTs3pJRKhSWVIS8CbA
When you arrive in Slack you’ll see the workspace is called ‘Fantastic Fiction’, with several channels within that workspace. A quick bit of guidance on how these different channels will work:
- Course Etiquette: We’ve put together some course etiquette guidelines. Please have a read and comment to confirm that you’ve seen them.
- General: This is a general discussion board. Zoe, James and myself will all have access but it’s mainly a space for you guys to chat amongst yourselves, discuss, share advice and book recommendations! A great way to start would be to introduce yourselves, share info about your writing journies so far and let the rest of the group know what you’re working on and why you’re here.
- Recordings: We will be recording every class and will post the links to these recordings here.
- Writing Course: We will be sharing the homework in here each week for your reference.
Everyone involved in the course will have access to all channels by default. It’s therefore important to make Slack work for you, so please take a bit of time to manage your notifications. You can do this by right-clicking on the channel and then selecting ‘Change notifications’.
We will also be sharing recordings of each session and homework by email, but this is a space for you guys to connect with each other and build your writing community. Myself and James will also be available via email so if you’d prefer to reach out to us via email then please do get in touch.
