Literary Short Fiction Course I NZ Writers College

Have you always loved writing stories, and wish you could become a published writer?

In the Literary Short and Flash Fiction Course at NZ Writers' College, we teach you all the writing tools you need to write short stories, and share some tips to help you get them published in literary print and online journals.

You will receive feedback on 10 writing assignments, including eight pieces of fiction you write during the course, from well known, award-winning writers.

During this course we'll examine:

• How to set up good writing habits
• How to create convincing characters
• The structure and plot of a good short story
• How to write realistic dialogue
• How the point of view affects your story
• How to write flash fiction
• Editing your own work before submitting it
• Where to send stories for publication, both local and international

Course Details:

• Course cost: $995.00 GST inclusive
• Modules: 10 Modules
• Duration: Course can be completed at own pace: between six and twelve months
• Start date: At any time; applications all year round via our website

Student must complete:

• 10 writing exercises  (assessment and feedback on each); of which six are full short stories of 1500 words each, and two pieces of flash writing of 500 words each.

Admission Requirements:

• Basic writing skills are essential
• Students must be proficient in the English Language
• Computer skills, e-mail and Internet access required
• No previous tertiary qualification required

Tutors for the course:

Alex Smith is the author of three novels, Algeria's Way and Drinking from the Dragon's Well, both published by Random House Umuzi. Drinking from the Dragon's Well was long-listed for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award. Four Drunk Beauties, her third novel, was published by Umuzi in 2010.

Alex has had many short stories published in anthologies and journals. Her short story 'Buffalo Panting at the Moon’ was short-listed for the 2007 SA PEN Literary Awards. Most recently her writing appeared in Touch, along with other SA writers, including Henrietta Rose-Innes, Damon Galgut, Andre Brink, and Nadine Gordimer.

Alex was shortlisted for the 2009 PEN/Studzinski Literary Award. She won a silver award at the 2010 Sanlam Youth Literature Awards and has been nominated for the 2010 Caine Prize for African Writing.

Charlotte Randall is the author of six published novels. Her first novel, Dead Sea Fruit (1995), won the Reed Fiction Award for unpublished manuscripts and Best First Book, Southeast Asia/South Pacific, in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Her second novel, The Curative (2000), was runner up in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and afterwards was made into a successful play and serialised for national radio. Her novels What Happen Then Mr Bones? (2004) and the Crocus Hour (2008) were also finalists in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Her latest novel is Hokitika Town.

She has been awarded two prestigious writers' residencies, including the writer in residence at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University and The Ursula Bethell/Creative NZ Residency at Canterbury University.

Charlotte also writes short stories. She has been published in the literary journal Landfall and, out of four entries, has twice made the shortlist of stories receiving special comment from the judges in the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award.