This course is an introduction to writing speculative fiction, from sci-fi, fantasy and mythology to alternate history, ending with the completed first draft of a short story.
You will learn how to develop ideas and concepts into a finished piece of writing; techniques for world-building and peopling different realities; imagining utopias, dystopias and alternate futures; how to write plot and character, and develop a narrative arc; and how to make the worlds you create believable, vivid and real. We will also look at editing, and how to take the next step with your writing by approaching agents and publishers.
Following in the creative footsteps of writers like Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood, we will examine how speculative writing plays a deeply subversive role, destabilising ‘the way things are’ and allowing our imagination to break free of its bindings. Imagining different pasts, and futures, enables different realities.
The course will combine teaching, writing exercises, group work and feedback sessions. Whether you are a published author or simply a curious beginner, all you need to bring is a notebook and your imagination.
You can find out more and book your place here