Writing Fiction Writing Fiction Writing Fiction

Writing Fiction

You’ve been writing for a while, and have work in progress: now is the time to commit to the next stage, with fresh inspiration from an exciting new course.

Level

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Improving

What do these levels mean?

Location

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London

Length

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12 weeks
  • Start Date
  • Time
  • Wednesdays, 10:30–12:30

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£1095

£1095

£300 / month for 2 months and a £495.00 deposit

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Deepen your practice at Faber

How do we learn to write well? To write better? Through practice, like a musician, and by reading other writers. How does their material speak to us, and ignite our interest? How do they do what they do?

Each week, led by the award-winning writer and tutor Sue Gee, the class will read one or two classic or contemporary short stories or extracts from novels. Through these richly contrasted fictions we will look in depth at structure, style, pace and contrast, dialogue and description. Above all, we will consider what makes a character live and breathe.

You, too, will share a piece of published writing you admire, and tell us why.

There is also a class about looking, in which we consider not text but image, through a selection of classic and contemporary paintings. What has inspired them and how might they inspire us? In addition, a renowned guest author will spend one class telling us how they work.

Is this the right course for me?

This three-month course is intended for fiction writers who are dedicated to improving their craft. If you're a complete beginner, you might want to consider one of our Getting Started courses. But if you are keen to start improving your craft and are looking for new ways to explore and consider the possibilities of fiction, this course is for you.

Writing Fiction is designed for anyone committed to improving as a writer.

No matter how strong your own ideas may be, writing alone can be tough. In the supportive and encouraging workshops, you will present your own work, putting your fiction before the fresh eyes of your fellow writers and your tutor. You might want to link it with a theme or technique we’ve discussed; you might want to show us something completely different. Either way, we’ll be asking: what are its strengths? How could it be even stronger? How might it develop?

By the end of this twelve-week course you will have discovered what really interests you as a writer, be writing with greater confidence and have a much clearer sense of direction.

    This course is formed of twelve two-hour sessions, which take place in Faber Academy's custom-built classrooms within Faber's offices at The Bindery, near Farringdon station. Each class will take place from 10:30 until 12:30 on Wednesdays.

Course Programme

Session 1

Wednesday 23 April, 10:30–12:30

From Notes Into Chapter...

Session 2

30 April, 10:30–12:30

Why Do We Write?...

Session 3

7 May, 10:30–12:30

Keeping it Simple: Less is More...

See remaining sessions

Course Programme

Writing Fiction (Daytime)

Session 1

Wednesday 23 April, 10:30–12:30

From Notes Into Chapter

How raw material can become a novel. Sue Gee on writing The Hours of the Night

Session 2

30 April, 10:30–12:30

Why Do We Write?

Focusing on Hanif Kureshi’s reflections on The Buddha of Suburbia

Session 3

7 May, 10:30–12:30

Keeping it Simple: Less is More

Ernest Hemingway: ‘Cat in the Rain’ and ‘Hills Like White Elephants’

Session 4

14 May, 10:30–12:30

Opening Chapters

A street in Trinidad,:V. S. Naipaul, Miguel Street, and the discovery of his subject

Session 5

21 May, 10:30–12:30

Shifts and Transitions

James Joyce, ‘The Dead’. The modernist master: one of his greatest short stories

Session 6

28 May, 10:30–12:30

Multiple Perspectives

Katherine Mansfield, ‘At the Bay’. Impressionist writing; free indirect style

Session 7

4 June, 10:30–12:30

Guest Author

We'll be joined by a guest author, who will talk through their writing life and process.

Session 8

11 June, 10:30–12:30

Hearing them Talk

Katherine Anne Porter, ‘Rope’; Georgina Hammick, ‘The Dying Room’

Session 9

18 June, 10:30–12:30

Image and Inspiration

Eight paintings on a screen. Which one speaks to you?

Session 10

25 June, 10:30–12:30

Writing the Past

Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety. An early novel, set in the French Revolution, and her magnificent Reith Lecture

Session 11

2 July, 10:30–12:30

Writing Other Voices

Caribbean London and the Appalachian Mountains. Jean Rhys, ‘Let’s Call It Jazz’; Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

Session 12

9 July, 10:30–12:30

Next Steps and Showcase

Presenting the work you’re most proud of

Tutor

Sue Gee – Faber Academy's Getting Started with Fiction tutor

Sue Gee

Sue Gee is a novelist and short story writer who ran the MA Writing Programme at Middlesex University from 2000 till 2008...

More About This Tutor
Sue Gee

Sue has inspired me. Her empathetic teaching and sense of humour made every session something I looked forward to.

Student

Location

The Bindery

51 Hatton Garden

London EC1N 8HN

How to get here

Faber’s office, The Bindery, is well connected by public transport, with Farringdon Station just five minutes’ walk away, and stops for several bus routes in the area too. If you’re coming from outside of London, the office is a short bus or taxi journey from Kings Cross, Euston and St Pancras stations.

Browse the Reading Room

From author interviews and writing tips to creative writing exercises and reading lists, we've got everything you need to get started – and to keep going.

For more information, message us or call 0207 927 3827