Welcome

This course mainly focuses on a skill which is central to the writing of all stories, novels and screenplays – creating characters. You’ll hear from a variety of writers talking about how they started and how they created their stories and characters. You’ll learn the benefits of using a writer’s notebook or journal, how to read like a writer and how to edit, as you start writing your own stories.

Quizzes

You’ll come across a couple of quizzes to test your knowledge. These are not scored and are included purely to help you learn.

Comments and discussions

There are plenty of opportunities to communicate with other learners. You’ll be able to make comments in the forum at any point in the course. You’ll also notice discussion points, which offer a more structured dialogue with your fellow writers on key topics. Please join in!

Peer review

At separate points during the course, you’ll be invited to submit something you’ve written to be reviewed by your fellow writers. This process may seem daunting at first, but you’ll soon realise its value for your development as a writer as you review other work and receive feedback on your own.

We recommend that you save a copy of your writing outside of the course, whether that’s on your blog, in your notebook or as a Word document on your computer.

Acknowledgements

This course has been adapted from a variety of courses from UK universities and online learning organisations, including The Open University (FutureLearn), Reading University, the University of East Anglia and Buzzword.  All copyrights are relative to their respective organisations and where a Creative Commons Licence is applicable, it is shown.