Writing Courses
What IS creative writing? How do you start? How do you express your thoughts, stories and memories in writing, without being dull?
'Writing is not just for someone who wants to write the great novel. To write is to be empowered'
writes Natalie Goldberg, who published several books on writing.
Can you share your stories in conversation, yet find it difficult to create an engaging story on the page?
In the course I will do exercises with you, we discuss how to connect to the reader and share feedback. We retrieve long forgotten memories, drink tea and laugh a lot - course days can become favourite days of the week.
To stimulate the creative process I provide assignment tasks to be completed at home.
Next course starts 24 February 2021 online
6 sessions of 2.5 hours each; cost $300
Starts Wednesday, 24 February 2021 @ 6 pm, on Zoom
Register here
Course dates are
24 February 2021; 6-8.30 pm
10 March 2021; 6-8.30 pm
24 March 2021; 6-8.30 pm
7 April 2021; 6-8.30 pm
21 April 2021; 6-8.30 pm
5 May 2021; 6-8.30 pm
Get in touch for further information or to register here.
Who are the students?
Men and women; the youngest early 20s, the oldest in her 80s. Some write for a living, others have not picked up a pen since high school. Artist, builder, engineer, health worker, home maker, journalist, musician, a published author - the desire to put pen to paper and write can infect anybody. The questions are similar - how do you know if what you write is any good? How do you edit a first draft into a story, a poem, a piece of travel writing or memoir? Writing requires the individual effort to produce a first draft; it needs readers who are willing to share their honest feedback to polish it into its final version.
The courses I facilitate allow students to experience how their writing is perceived by others. It can be a surprising discovery that parts we think don't work are those that appeal most to others.
Find out about upcoming courses
How is life in New Zealand? How was it yesterday, how is it today?
I teach creative writing to provide a larger diversity in our written world. The screen is visually dominated by perfect holidays, perfect family gatherings, smiles and happy faces. We need words to 'write the photos we didn't take'. Writing to express life in its entirety, tender, horrid, kind, destructive. How do you care for your demented mother? Write about the funny and the sad moments, the glimpses of delight.
In the writing course I provide tools to keep you writing, to find topics to write about, to create puzzle pieces that one day might turn into a larger piece of writing.
Below a few testimonials from previous students:
'I have LOVED the course! At the start I had a fear of writing and didn't consider myself a writer.'
'Hella is a helluva teacher. It is one thing having knowledge. It is another to be able to share it so well.'
'Fantastic is one of those much-misused adjectives. It relates to fantasy but we often sue it to describe something that is wonderful, magnificent, amazing. This course is all of those things. It has already served the purpose of getting me writing again. On that note alone, it is a success.'