Creative Course for Budding Writers in Naas 

Creative Course for Budding Writers in Naas

Presented by Ross Campbell

Unleash that story that is within you and get feedback on your writing. 

Where?  An evening course in Creative Writing for adults is being run in Pipers Hills College, Naas commencing Wednesday 25th  January 2017  from 7.30-9.30pm for 8 weeks with tutor Ross Campbell promising that participants will find an exciting and fun way to learn the craft of writing hands on. 

"Students will have the chance to learn and discuss the art of writing on the course”, said Mr. Campbell.

"Various aspects of writing are covered on the course, including short story writing, memoirs and some prose writing. While much of it covers fiction writing there is also some non-fiction and the short story section will involve aspects such as creating characters, plotting, setting and dialogue. Editing and polishing your work is also included” said Ross. 

I spoke to Pat, one of the participants on a course I taught previously. I asked him how he found it. 

“I learnt the important techniques in writing, such as how to plan a piece, or using dialogue or creating characters,” Pat said. 

He found his writing has improved a lot since he started doing the first course. 

"I’m interested in writing historical fiction and I have written a number of short stories set in a bygone era.” explained Pat. “Sometimes I would over embellish my writing”, he said, “I would wander off the point, but after doing these courses I’m less likely to do that now.  I now recognise more of where my mistakes were. It’s good to have someone point them out to you”, said Pat.  “I also write a journal, I started this about 7 years ago. The feedback you get on the course is very useful. Before doing the courses I wouldn’t have had the same opportunity for regular feedback as I got from being able to share my writing with others”. he said. 

"The class is very relaxed and informal. Participants are gently encouraged and the emphasis is on building on the skills and abilities of the participants rather than criticism. It takes a lot of courage to submit work to a writers group”, says Ross. 

“Participants who are new to a writing class may be anxious about how their work will be received. A lot of it has to do with confidence, that’s why it’s important to be very encouraging so as not to damage the participant’s confidence. Students don’t have to worry about feeling exposed to criticism of their work. Students do not read out their work to the class, it is circulated to the others by email.”

“On previous courses some people had written  poetry, memoirs, stories, plays, articles and one or two were in the process of writing or had completed a novel or a nonfiction book.” 

There’s also been guest speakers at some of my writing courses before, well known authors or publishers who came to share their expertise with the group about getting published and other  topics about writing.  

“The course takes the form of a workshop. The tutor gives writing assignments each week to the class to do for the following week for discussion.  Participants email their pieces to the tutor beforehand and he then circulates their pieces to all the other participants by email. This system has the big advantage that everyone will have been able to read each other’s work before coming into the class to discuss it.  There is no need therefore for much class time to be taken up with reading participants work.” 

As well as discussing the students work the tutor also teaches the skills of writing. We analyze passages from well known novelists and short story writers and examine the techniques that they use in their work.”

For further information and a brochure please contact Pipers Hill College, adult education office on 045 898923 or contact Ross on 085 1395 320  Email: adulteducation@phcol.ie    

www.kwetb.ie

The tutor Ross Campbell who has a BA honours from UCD has taught Creative Writing to adults classes in the VEC and other centres for 4 years and has contributed widely to various newspapers and magazines. He was also a columnist with Localnews for  nearly 2 years 

More News Arts Homepage