Have you ever thought of writing short stories or trying your hand at a novel? A174 is a 12-week online course offering a practical introduction to writing fiction and equipping you with basic narrative strategies. You'll cover genre and subject-matter; plot, narrative, and time; point of view and beginnings. Here you can talk about how you're finding the course,share some of your short stories, ask for feedback on work in progress or just put some of your ideas out there.
OU writing tutor wins hotly contested Bristol Short Story Prize
OU creative writing tutor Emily Bullock has won the hotly contested Bristol Short Story Prize for 2011 with a boxing-themed tale.
Her story My Girl was judged best out of a record 2,100 entries from more than 30 countries, with writers from as far afield as New Zealand, Brazil, India, Canada, USA and South Africa submitting their work.
Emily (pictured), who is also doing a PhD in Creative Writing with the OU, wins £1,000 plus a £150 Waterstone's gift card. Her story will be published in Venue Magazine and Bristol Review of Books, as well as the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 4.
"My Girl is an evocative story, beautifully written and with an internal rhythm that matches its setting, the boxing ring, said Bristol Prize Judge Tania Hershman. "This winning story 'floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee', as Muhammed Ali famously said."
Emily said: "I feel privileged that my writing caught the attention of the judges; as a writer it is a great reward to know you have connected with readers.”
Emily is based in the OU's London region where she teaches A215 Creative Writing.
Useful Links
Emily's personal website
OU creative writing tutor Emily Bullock has won the hotly contested Bristol Short Story Prize for 2011 with a boxing-themed tale. Her story My Girl was judged best out of a record 2,100 entries from more than 30 countries, with writers from as far afield as New Zealand, Brazil, India, Canada, USA and South Africa submitting their work. Emily (pictured), who is also doing ...
Honorary degree for author Rose Tremain
Author of 12 novels, Rose Tremain CBE is awarded an honorary degree by The Open University in recognition of her services to literature and contribution to the teaching of creative writing.
Author of 12 novels, Rose Tremain CBE is awarded an honorary degree by The Open University in recognition of her services to literature and contribution to the teaching of creative writing. Study with the OU - Creative writing 2.2 Average: 2.2 (5 votes)
The story of the creative writing tutors who blog
There are more than 200 tutors teaching Open University creative writing courses across the UK and Europe. These tutors are practising writers and this is a news blog which aims to let people know about some of their writing activities – their publications, readings, performances and academic presentations.
- Read the blog - Creative Writing Tutors
There are more than 200 tutors teaching Open University creative writing courses across the UK and Europe. These tutors are practising writers and this is a news blog which aims to let people know about some of their writing activities – their publications, readings, performances and academic presentations. Read the blog - Creative Writing Tutors 2 ...
Creative writing degree for former detective Sharon
An award-winning entrepreneur and former detective has overcome a health disorder to earn a first class honours degree in creative writing with the OU.
Sharon Birch, 46, is already a double winner when the Footprints Day Nursery – which she set up five years ago – took two titles at the Hartlepool Business Awards in May 2011.
But Sharon now has another reason to boast as she has graduated from the Open University.
Read the full story here.
An award-winning entrepreneur and former detective has overcome a health disorder to earn a first class honours degree in creative writing with the OU. Sharon Birch, 46, is already a double winner when the Footprints Day Nursery – which she set up five years ago – took two titles at the Hartlepool Business Awards in May 2011. But Sharon now has another reason to boast as she ...
Student wins creative writing award
But having written scenes and sketches in the past during his 10-year career as a performer in Scotland, Kris soon yearned for something more creative and embarked on a series of writing modules beginning with Start writing plays (A176) and Start writing fiction (A174) which is leading towards a BA (Hons) in Literature.
It was in October 2010, that Kris’s Creative Writing (A215) tutor Dr Irene Hossack posted a notice in the Tutor Group Forum highlighting details of a creative writing competition being run by 'see me' Scotland – a national campaign to end the stigma and discrimination of mental ill-health – with the required theme being ‘support’.
“Irene encouraged our group to consider entering, even though our writing was still in its infancy at the beginning of the course. I decided to rise to the challenge and wrote a piece in my native Dumfriesshire-tongue based on a number of ideas I had been sketching in my writer's notebook”
Kris says that while some of the ideas for Ronnie's Story are drawn from personal experience, it’s not a biographical piece and wrote and edited the story in one afternoon. Having forgotten about the entry, it was in February that Kris learned that he had received a letter from the 'see me' organisers informing him that he had made it to the final four and was invited to the national award ceremony and winner's lunch to be held in Edinburgh.
“After recovering from the initial shock and breaking the exciting news to Irene and the rest of my A215 tutor group, I had two months of agonised waiting to go through before the big day in April.
“The prize was £250 of Amazon vouchers, which I've used to buy practically all of the set books I need for the remaining courses of my degree, as well as treating myself to a few volumes of collected works by my favourite authors such as Arthur Miller, Christopher Brookmyre and the Oxford Book of War Poetry
“After these articles ran in the press I received interest from theatre professionals I've worked with in the past and have been encouraged to adapt the piece as a dramatic monologue for future performance.”
Since the event Kris has had a separate piece of writing accepted by the National Theatre of Scotland, which will be performed on 22 June at 2.35pm, and viewable live online, as part of their Five Minute Theatre festival – a 24-hour event in which more than 230 short plays will be performed in one day to celebrate their fifth birthday.
“I'm hoping that these are only the first steps in my writing career,” he says. “I know that without my OU studies and the subsequent encouragement I have received from my tutor Irene, I would probably still be sitting thinking ‘I wonder if I could have been a writer’.”
It was in 2009 that part-time actor Kris Haddow decided to brush up on his writing skills, initially attracted to the OU to “study some business and psychology courses to keep me motivated in my day job as a training consultant and life coach,” he says. But having written scenes and sketches in the past during his 10-year career as a performer in Scotland, Kris soon ...
BOOK CLUB REVIEW - May/June 2011 - Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
The May/June 2011 Platform Book Club Review is Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve and comes recommended by Marjorie, a Platform contributer, who suggested it in the book club forums.
The book is published by Scholastic and here's the blurb from Amazon...
Mortal Engines launched Philip Reeve's brilliantly-imagined creation, the world of the Traction Era, where mobile cities fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic future.The first instalment introduces young apprentice Tom Natsworthy and the murderous Hester Shaw flung from the fast-moving city of London into heart-stopping adventures in the wastelands of the Great Hunting Ground.
You have until June 30 to grab/buy/borrow a copy, read the book and post your review here on this forum – whether you loved it, hated it or only skimmed the first few chapters before giving up, we want to hear from you. The review we find the most insightful scoops £20 in book vouchers. So get reading! Oh, and we also have a copy of the prequel to Mortal Engines - Fever Crumb, shortlisted for the Cilip Carnegie Medal 2010 - for the winning review.
The May/June 2011 Platform Book Club Review is Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve and comes recommended by Marjorie, a Platform contributer, who suggested it in the book club forums. The book is published by Scholastic and here's the blurb from Amazon... Mortal Engines launched Philip Reeve's brilliantly-imagined creation, the world of the Traction Era, where mobile cities ...
Novelist pens first chapter of "top 100" book while studying with OU
Keith Scrivener's first novel, Viking Sword Saxon Shield, has already reached the top 100 in the American historical thriller charts - and he wrote the first chapter of the book while studying a creative writing course at The Open University.
Find out more in this article in Keith's local newspaper, the Essex Chronicle.
Keith Scrivener's first novel, Viking Sword Saxon Shield, has already reached the top 100 in the American historical thriller charts - and he wrote the first chapter of the book while studying a creative writing course at The Open University. Find out more in this article in Keith's local newspaper, the Essex Chronicle. 2.166665 Average: 2.2 (6 votes)
Any creative writing bloggers out there?
I came across this blog the other week - www.isabellablack.co.uk - from a creative writing/start writing fiction student and I just love it. Especially this post on flash fiction. Are there any other creative writing bloggers out there?
I came across this blog the other week - www.isabellablack.co.uk - from a creative writing/start writing fiction student and I just love it. Especially this post on flash fiction. Are there any other creative writing bloggers out there?
Student Carys is on the 'write' path...
Carys Bray graduated from The Open University with a degree in Literature after three years of study and while raising four children. Now she’s putting her study to good use – she’s been named this year’s MA Creative Writing winner in the Edge Hill University Short Story Prize 2010 and is currently talking to agents…
After the hard slog of an OU degree course, Carys enjoyed the creative writing element so much she wanted to continue the learning process, with one eye on a career in teaching, so is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Edge Hill University in Lancashire.
“I enjoyed the creative writing parts of the Open University BA so much that I didn´t want it to end so I accepted a place at Edge Hill because of the theoretical component of the course. I was beginning to think about teaching and I knew that the Edge Hill course examined writers´ poetics - their writings about writing - something which it seemed important to understand if I was hoping to teach writing one day. Additionally, the Edge Hill staff reminded me of the Open University staff, they were friendly and approachable and while I was slightly intimidated by the idea of post-graduate study, I wasn´t at all intimidated by the people who were there to guide me through it.”
And she’s clearly breezing through the MA, having just been named winner of the MA Creative Writing section in the Edge Hill University Short Story Competition 2010. Carys, 34, from Southport, won with her short story Just In Case.
“I was very excited to find out that I´d won. When I received the phone call I tried to sound calm and sensible, but I did have a bit of a dance around the kitchen during the conversation,” she says.
“I got my idea for the story from a blog about a man who found a suitcase in his mother´s loft after she passed away. There was a baby´s skeleton in the suitcase. The blogger referred to it as a ´baby skeleton´ as if it might grow up into an ´adult skeleton.´ I wrote down my idea for the ´Just in Case´ story straight away. Other stories develop out of funny things that people say, odd thoughts I have or things that my children do.”
I gave up television
After a decade of part-time work and consumed with motherhood, Carys wasn’t too confident about returning to study and started with the 10-point ´start writing fiction´ course. But she enjoyed it so much she decided to pursue a degree in Literature and was chuffed to discover she could study creative writing as part of it, graduating in 2009.
“I really enjoyed studying with the OU. I had very supportive tutors on every course and I very much wanted a degree. It was important to me to prove that I could achieve it, so I worked hard and made it a priority.
“Apart from some flexible and sporadic work for my husband, I wasn´t working during my studies with the OU. My four children were between the ages of eight and two in 2006 so they required regular attention but my life was my own every evening after 7pm when the children went to bed.
“I gave up television. I learned to cook the dinner while holding a book, which was actually easier than cooking the dinner while holding a child! I stopped caring if the house was a bit untidy. I ignored finger prints on the glass doors. On Saturday nights I made my husband watch OU DVDs and in September 2008 my youngest child started school and that meant I had a significant amount of extra study time.”
PhD or write a novel?
Carys’ hard work paid off as she achieved grade one passes for all her assignments. What’s her secret?
“It´s something I´m very proud of. I regretted not doing my degree when I was 18. I think the force of that regret ensured that I took study with the OU seriously. There wasn´t really a secret to it as such, it just became a priority for me and I always did my best.”
What’s next for Carys is the end of her MA course and the prospect of a publishing deal should agents fall in love with her short stories. Beyond that, she has to choose between a PhD or writing a novel but would one day like to teach for The Open University.
“I´m currently completing my collection of short stories. As a result of winning the prize I´ve had some agents read my work. I´ve had positive feedback and promises to read a novel should I write one; it´s difficult to be successful with short stories because they aren´t commercially attractive to publishers.
“After I hand in my MA manuscript I´ll send each of the stories off and hopefully some of them will be published. Then I´ll have to decide if I´m going to forge ahead with a PhD proposal or begin a novel.
“Eventually, I would like to teach for the Open University. I think of myself four years ago, a harried mum embarking on a 10 point writing course, and I feel immeasurably grateful to the OU for introducing me to the pleasure of writing. It would be fabulous to be a part of providing new OU students with the same life-changing experience.”
Update to Carys' story (December 2012) - find out what she's up to and about her debut collection of short stories.
Useful links
- Read Carys’ blog
- More about Carys’ Short Story Award
- Study with the OU – BA in Literature
- Study with the OU – Start writing fiction
- Study with the OU – Creative writing
- Study with the OU – Advanced creative writing
Carys Bray graduated from The Open University with a degree in Literature after three years of study and while raising four children. Now she’s putting her study to good use – she’s been named this year’s MA Creative Writing winner in the Edge Hill University Short Story Prize 2010 and is currently talking to agents… After the hard slog of an ...
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