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Creative Writing 101

RAN WALKER

Creative Writing 101

RAN WALKER

$579.99

10/10/2024 - 01/02/2025

Enroll Now

Are you one of those people who have thought, “I’d like to write a book someday, but I don’t know where to start”? If yes, then this is the course for you. All you need is to open yourself up and allow your ideas to flow, plus a writing implement to capture those ideas.

You may have hesitated to start writing your story before because of confusion about what to say, where to start writing, and how to shape your ideas. That should no longer be an issue. Let’s start by saying that there is no wrong way to write. While there are lots of tools to help with writing, as well as a plethora of methods and books, you should focus on what works for you. Use whatever method of writing is comfortable, motivating, and inspiring. Make your writing routine as simple and as convenient as you can.

However, there are a few key elements of good storytelling to learn that help the writer develop the story and meet the expectations of the reader. A good story also contains strong character development. The protagonist is the key to every story—who your protagonist is, what the protagonist wants, and the enemy the protagonist is fighting against. It is important to create a character that you want to get to know and look forward to writing—a character that your audience will care about what happens to him or her. Writing interesting characters is half the battle, which is won by learning how to get to know your character.

Creative Writing 101 combines teaching the key elements of storytelling with developing the protagonist. Once you understand who this character is and how to make sure you’ve included the key story elements, you are well on your way to writing that book you have been squelching.

$579.99

10/10/2024 - 01/02/2025

Enroll Now

Are you one of those people who have thought, “I’d like to write a book someday, but I don’t know where to start”? If yes, then this is the course for you. All you need is to open yourself up and allow your ideas to flow, plus a writing implement to capture those ideas.

You may have hesitated to start writing your story before because of confusion about what to say, where to start writing, and how to shape your ideas. That should no longer be an issue. Let’s start by saying that there is no wrong way to write. While there are lots of tools to help with writing, as well as a plethora of methods and books, you should focus on what works for you. Use whatever method of writing is comfortable, motivating, and inspiring. Make your writing routine as simple and as convenient as you can.

However, there are a few key elements of good storytelling to learn that help the writer develop the story and meet the expectations of the reader. A good story also contains strong character development. The protagonist is the key to every story—who your protagonist is, what the protagonist wants, and the enemy the protagonist is fighting against. It is important to create a character that you want to get to know and look forward to writing—a character that your audience will care about what happens to him or her. Writing interesting characters is half the battle, which is won by learning how to get to know your character.

Creative Writing 101 combines teaching the key elements of storytelling with developing the protagonist. Once you understand who this character is and how to make sure you’ve included the key story elements, you are well on your way to writing that book you have been squelching.

Course outline

Course outline

Each session includes required reading, a written lecture, and a writing assignment to turn in for personalized feedback from your instructor.

Meet the instructor

Ran Walker

Ran Walker is the author of sixteen books, has written novellas, short stories, flash fiction, microfiction, and poetry, and his work has appeared in a variety of anthologies and journals. Prior to becoming a writer and educator, he worked in magazine publishing and practiced law in Mississippi.

He is the winner of the 2019 National Indie Author of the Year Award (selected by judges from Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, IngramSpark, St. Martin's Press, and Writer's Digest); the 2019 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Best Fiction Ebook Award; and the 2018 Virginia Indie Author Project Award for Adult Fiction. He is also the recipient of both a 2005 Mississippi Arts Commission/NEA artist grant and a 2006 artist mini-grant. He served as an Artist-in-Residence with the Mississippi Arts Commission in 2006. Additionally, he is a past participant in the Hurston-Wright Writers Week Workshop and is the recipient of a fellowship from the Callaloo Writers Workshop.

His novel Mojo's Guitar was translated by renowned French translator Philippe Loubat-Delranc and published in April 2015 by Éditions Autrement as Il était une fois Morris Jones, and was republished in May of 2019 as a part of Éditions Autrement's "Les Grands Romans" collection. His first collection of poetry, Most of My Heroes Don't Appear On No Stamps: Kwansabas, will be published in August of 2019 by The University of Hell Press.

A graduate of Morehouse College, Pace University, and George Washington University Law School, Ran is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Hampton University and lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter. Follow him on Twitter @ranwalker.

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