The Write Voice Outline
Module 1: Who are you as a writer?
Introduction to course and completing a questionnaire that will give an overview of who you are as a writer, what you want to achieve as a storyteller, and your writing (current and future projects).
Module 2: The 7 C’s that shape great storytellers
If you want to be writer, there are seven easy steps to make the most of your talent and develop your craft. Perhaps you are a master at configuration and perfectly understand the mechanics of structure, but if you have not fully conceptualised what it is you want to write about, or even fail to priorities the rigorous toll of the writing process, you will have difficulties in completing a successful draft.
Module 3: What does it take to be a writer?
Aspirant writers love to talk about their latest project, or the great new idea that surfaced unexpectedly, or about the one that they have been working on indefinitely, or even one that has not yet surfaced and is floating around in their inspired mindscape. With all these negative emotions working against the creative process, it is understandable why the pleasure of writing turns into suffering and misery. It is easy to combat the negative energy. Take control and turn thoughts into words that will then be turned into action.
Module 4: The Write Medium
As a storyteller you can explore your creative talent by writing poetry, a novel, or short story that will be on every best-seller list in the world. You can write the play everyone will talk about; a screenplay that will warrant the attention and commitment of filmmakers, and hopefully be seen by 600 – 800 million people worldwide; or a script for television that will prevent viewers from flicking the channels. For all their similarities (character, story, etc), plays novels and films have divergent histories with various traditions and conventions, requiring unique talents of a specific storyteller.
Module 5: The Write Identity
On your journey to become a great storyteller you have to explore who you are as a person. Who is the real you hiding behind the creative facade? Your knowledge of who you are inspires your goals in life. Your dreams -your hopes and desires – are what will give you the ability to manage the harsh anxieties and assimilate complex feelings as you mature and grow. What you want out of life will, in return, create and nurture your sense of self.
Module 6: The Write Expression
Creative expression is the function of the whole storyteller. Somehow deep inside us, our unconscious and conscious minds collaborate to create, make something, or combine things in a new way. Creativity is not something we became. It’s what we already are. It is our natural state. It is not restricted to the spectacular, but lives in the ordinary. When thinking about creative expression we stress originality too much; much creativity involves recovering some event from the past and applying it fresh in our time and place. We reveal our creativity while we are dreaming; here we conjure up images that delight us and make us tremble as they interact with other images.
Module 7: Your own unique, original voice
Now may be the most demanding time in history to be a storyteller. By the time your writing is read, readers have absorbed tens of thousands of hours of television, film, prose, radio and theatre. What will you write that readers haven’t read, heard or seen before?
Module 8: The Write Craft
Worldwide hundreds of thousands of screenplays are attempted each year but only a few are quality screenplays that eventually get made into films. The reason for this is simple: today’s aspirant storytellers’ rush to their computers without first learning their craft. The novice plunges ahead, counting solely on experience, thinking that life experiences and knowledge of film warrants expression. Just as a composer must excel in the principles of musical composition, the storyteller must master the corresponding principles of story composition.
Module 9: The Write Composition
A story, even when expressing chaos, must be unified. Unity is critical. Within this unity we must induce as much variety as possible. You don’t want to hit the same note over and over again, so that every paragraph sounds like every other.
Module 10: The Write Sense
Sense impressions will ease the reader into your fictional world. One of the most important tasks of the writer is asking questions, and finding answers. You must have an obsession, be enthusiastic. Every time you reread your story it should excite you. As a storyteller you are not dealing with reality. You are dealing with a constructed reality, an altered and dramatised perception of reality. Storytellers have to understand the concept of metaphor.
Module 11: Common writing mistakes
Improve your chances of success by avoiding common pitfalls.
Module 12: First 10 Pages and Signing a contract with yourself
You will write the first 10 pages of a short story, and then work individually with trainer Dercksen on on-on-one sessions to develop and complete a draft that will be evaluated by The Write Agency, and then forwarded to potential producers locally and internationally. A storyteller’s checklist: signing a contract with yourself.
How does the course work?
- Once we receive your registration form and deposit details you are ready to take a step in the write direction. You will have the choice of commencing at your own pace or work according to set deadlines.
- There are 12 modules (with sub-sections) in each course.
- Each module consists of user-friendly and comprehensive notes that includes SELF TASKS (which you complete at your own time), and a TASK
- You will read through the notes which include Self Activities (for you to complete in your own space and at your own pace) and Tasks (for you to complete and forward via email).
- Once your trainer has read through your task and there are no questions pertaining to the specific unit, you commence to the next module.
To sign up for The Write Voice creative writing course, send us an email