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Novella Writing
Novella Fever with Kiare Ladner
If the short story is like a photograph and the novel is like a film, the novella is like a fever.
Do you have an idea to explore? A short story that’s growing? A possible novel in progress that could do with some direction? Are you a new writer simply keen to try out a more manageable form? Or a returning student ready to create a different pick and mix from the sessions?
Novella Fever is an intensive all levels course designed to push your writing as far as you want to take it. You’ll get the opportunity to workshop your writing in a constructive setting. You’ll have deadlines. You’ll provide feedback to fellow writers. You’ll be given optional exercises and supplementary reading materials.
Each week we will focus on a different element of fiction, looking at its particular application to the novella form:
Week 1: What makes the novella unique? (writing process and practice)
Week 2: Who are they? (creating characters)
Week 3: What should you tell? (plot, structure and shape)
Week 4: How should you tell it? (point of view and voice)
Week 5: Art or artifice? (dialogue)
Week 6: Editing longer fiction
Together we will explore what gives the novella its power. We will think about the value of the instinctive in our writing. We’ll also look at what makes our favourite passages work.
Six weeks can be a long time or a short time – but with collective focus of the course, you’ll find it enough time to begin, or finish, drafting your novella.
SO GLAD I SIGNED UP!
“Having just completed a very rough draft of my novella I found Novella Fever advertised and I thought what a great name for a writing course, I’m going to sign up. I’m so glad I did. This course was exactly what I needed. I now feel ready to face a re-write with a better sense of how to move forward. It’s probably one of the most useful courses I’ve ever done.”
Ruth
Novella Fever
KICK-STARTED MY WRITING
“The novella course helped me kick-start my writing. Kiare handled us all very well indeed, being sensitive and open to ideas and very friendly, putting everyone at ease. The structure of the sessions, with Kiare first talking through a topic and then looking at each others’ writing was a good one and really worked for me.”
Iain
Novella Fever
ZOOM DELIVERY
Cost £148
Spring 2025: Evenings
- Wednesdays 6.30-9pm
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Jan 15, 22, 29, Feb 5, 12, 19
Cost £155
Autumn 2025: Evenings
- Wednesdays 6.30-9pm
-
Sept 17, 24, Oct 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Our tutor Kiare says...
It's wonderful to see the way this form enables students to focus their writing energy. And exciting to hear how for many their work continues to progress to completion after the course.
Kiare Ladner
Kiare's debut novel Nightshift was recently published by Picador in the UK and Mariner Books (Harper Collins) in the US. Her short stories have been anthologised, commissioned for the radio and shortlisted in competitions, including the BBC National Short Story Award. She wrote Nightshift while studying for a Creative Writing PhD. Prior to that she did a Prose Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. She teaches on the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia, at City, University of Londonand privately mentors writers on a one-to-one basis. In reading, writing and life, she's naturally drawn to nonconformism and dichotomies. Having grown up in South Africa, she loves spending time in big cities as much as out in middle of nowhere. In the cyber world, you can find her at www.kiareladner.com
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Photography © Ruth Guthrie unless stated