Courses and Workshops thread [post any course/workshop info here]

Just a quick word of warning to anyone who is thinking of joining the Creative Writing Group in Kevin Street Library on Thursday afteroons.

This group believes in the fluffy bunny style of critique. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. The result is that no-one there gets better. I went back after two years away, and found they were all writing in exactly the same way as before.

When I tried to point out a few realities about getting published to the woman who has written a novel, I got shot down, and was informed that a writer should express herself the way she wants, and considering the reader was just pandering to the lowest common denominator.

Antilles wrote: »

Ouch. If you consider your reader to to be the lowest common denominator then you don't deserve any readers.

"Never underestimate your audience. They're generally sensitive, intelligent people who respond positively to quality entertainment."

I don't think there's any danger of any of them getting published this century.

Kinski wrote: »

To take a non-literary example, I don't think someone like Mark E. Smith has ever cared very much about what some abstract "listener" might want to hear, and now has a significant cult following, and a large body of critically-acclaimed and influential work to show for it.

I think, in that example, the audience was Mark E. Smith. He was writing just for himself, and the popularity was just an added bonus.

Making your own path, to hell with the critics, is fine and if you can do that and still make popular work, then more power to you. But if that's what a person wants and they don't care about other people's opinions, then why are they reading/distributing their work to a writing group?

luckystella wrote: »

I am looking specifically for a comedy writing class to do stand up and comedy writing - has any one any ideas? I heard a girl called Grainne Maguire use to do them but I cant find anything online

Exactly the reason I am looking through this thread, if you hear of one or are interested in setting one up please let me know.

Hey everyone,

To view an up-to-date schedule of our online and correspondence creative writing courses, visit www.creativewriting.ie or email us at info@creativewriting.ie for more information.

Our schedule of distance learning courses includes;

1. Beginners Creative Writing with Olive O'Brien (6 weeks) - €150.00
2. Intermediate Creative Writing with Adam Wyeth (8 weeks) - €195.00
3. Beginners/Intermediate Creative Writing with Adam Wyeth (10 weeks) - €250.00
3. Advanced Creative Writing with Geraldine Mills (6 weeks) -€150.00
4. Writing for Children with Oisin McGann (6 weeks) - €190.00
5. Beginners Poetry with Afric McGlinchey (6 weeks) - €150.00
6. Intermediate Poetry with Afric McGlinchey (6 weeks) - €150.00
7. Advanced Poetry with Afric McGlinchey (6 weeks)- €150.00
8. Poetry with Leanne O'Sullivan (6 weeks)- €150.00
8. Screenwriting with Anne Barrett (6 weeks)- €150.00
9. How to Blog with Niamh Griffin (4 weeks) - €95.00

Hi everyone,

We have added more dates to our summer creative writing course offer.
Our 6 week Online Beginners Creative Writing Course usually costs €150 however this has been reduced to €99 for all of our June and July courses. You can also purchase a gift voucher for friends, family, Father's Day...!

It's suitable for complete beginners or for someone who hasn't written anything for a while and who would like to get back into a writing routine. Full details are below and we are more than happy to accommodate "holiday breaks" of up to three weeks.

Creative Writing Course
Where: Online
Start Dates: 6th June 2012
25th June 2012
10th July 2012
18th July 2012
Course Duration: 6 weeks
Cost: €99 (reduced from €150 for the summer)
Website: http://www.creativewriting.ie
Email: info@creativewriting.ie

Greetings all,

The second online course is up at Writer IT. It's called Getting the Most from your Word Processor. It's a ten-lesson course that can be completed at your own speed.

This course will cost €160, but it's available at €40 until July 14th.

Please drop us a mail at info@writerit.com if you have any comments or suggestions.

Regards,

Ita

Last chance to sign up for one of our wonderful Autumn courses!

We want to spread the word of all the great stuff we have going on in the Irish Writers' Centre so as to encourage aspiring, budding and experienced writers to take advantage of us.

We have a number of really wonderful weekend and weekly courses starting next week:

There's everything from Beginners Creative Writing to Finishing Your Novel as well as classes about writing for your preferred audience, be it Writing Desire or Writing for Kids. You can have a look through our courses here: http://www.writerscentre.ie/html/courses/weeklyindex.html

Here's a taster of what's going on:

24.09.12: Beginners' Creative Writing with Nessa O'Mahony

We all have a book in us, don’t we? Do you want to find out if you do? If you’ve always had that yen to pick up a pen and try writing something – a story, a poem, a memoir– why not come along to the Irish Writers Centre and sign up for the eight week long Beginners’ Creative Writing course with tutor Nessa O’Mahony?

24.09.12: Finish Your Novel with Conor Kostick
This is a practical course for writers who are already part-way through the writing of a book. Over the ten weeks the participants will work together to further the progress of their books, as well as engage in exercises designed to assist in strengthening the quality of writing

24.09.12: Poetry Taster Menu: Workshop Series
This ten-week course will be taught by a different poet each week. The theme and style of the workshop will change from writer to writer giving participants a taste of various types of poetry and approached to writing

25.09.12: Beginning a Novel with Karen Gillece
This eight-week course for those with an idea for a novel they wish to write, or who have already embarked on writing a first draft of a novel. The course will cover various aspects of novel-writing including openings and endings, voice and perspective, character, dialogue and plot development.

25.09.12: Writing Desire: Flesh Made Word with Sean O'Reilly & Kimberly Campanello
How can we write about sex? Irish writing seems to shy away from any attempt to represent the reality and complexity of our erotic lives. Sex is a secret. Desire is merely a plot-device. This 10-week course looks at the history of the genre of erotic writing, looking at some classic texts in both prose and poetry, and concentrating on student’s writing in this field.

26.09.12: Crime Writing with Declan Burke
Taking place over eight weeks, the Crime Writing Course will explore the essential elements of the crime novel: plot, character, setting and form. It will also consider the importance of pace and tension, dialogue, the various types of the crime and mystery narrative, and authorial voice.

27.09.12: The Second Draft: the art of rewriting with Mia Gallagher
So you’ve put the time in, done your research, worked through your blocks and now have a first draft of your short story, novel or play. Congratulations! But is your work really finished? In this ten-week course, Mia Gallagher will take participants through the techniques and stages associated with rewriting – bringing a first draft to second draft.

27.09.12: Feature Writing with Henry McDonald
On this ten-week course Henry will examine a number of subsets of the feature writing genre. These include news features, Focus-style investigations, writing Obituarie, sport features, travel articles, cultural and critical essays/reviews.

03.10.12: Writing for TV Drama and Feature Films with Ferdia MacAnna
Have you ever wanted to write a script for a Television Drama? Perhaps you yearn to write a screenplay for a movie? Or perhaps you would like to try your hand at penning a Rom Com like 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'Bridget Jones', or 'The Hangover'? This seven-week course will explore the basics of the difficult skill of script and screen writing for TV drama and Film.

03.10.12: Writing the Short Story with Mike McCormack
Through reading and writing exercises this eight-week course will explore several aspects of the short story; structure, pacing, dialogue and endings will all be examined. It will also explore some experimental compositional techniques which can be used to spark new work and ideas.


11.10.12: Intermediate Creative Writing with Cláir Ní Aonghusa
If you have started to write, but are unsure of what comes next, this eight-week workshop course will provide you with a structured and safe environment in which to develop your ideas and improve your technique.

Looking forward to seeing you at The Irish Writers' Centre!