Creative Writing Courses
In a visual age, the power of words is often underestimated. Harness the power of the written word - make allies!
Learn how to write well. Experience the joy of expressing yourself through creative writing. Connect with the reader beyond distance and time.
"Pop-Up Stories for Children"
Starting on Thursday, November 9, 2023
In this 4-week online course, participants will focus on the art of storytelling for children, in particular, on the aspect of making the whole reading activity an experiential one.
Storytelling is a highly interactive art form that invites both the storyteller and the children to use as many of the five senses as possible. Pop-up stories offer a kinesthetic space for kids to process information through not only sound and image, but also through touch.
This course is for those who are interested to expand their story-telling through making handiwork that will make the stories come "alive" in a 3D way.
Storytelling is an ancient and powerful form of human expression that can be applied in a wide range of circumstances - from bedtime stories to birthday parties, to summer camps, to graduation speeches, to weddings and funerals - including spiritual sojourns amongst different peoples of the world. This course will focus primarily on pop-up stories for children under the age of 8.
Participants are asked to prepare a large pad of paper, colour pencils, pens, scissors, glue, scotch tape etc, for each class.
Note:
- This course is focused on the impact of content, and so will not cover the topics of grammar, style or diction. As long as participants can understand the language of instruction (English), they are welcome to write in their native language.
- Acceptance to the course indicates an agreement by the participant to fulfill the assignment that is given out each week.
Thursdays - November 9, 16, 23, 30.
Time: 7:30pm to 9:30pm, EST - 2 hours
Location: online
Course fee: $400.00 CAD (plus tax: $452)
Language of instruction: English & Japanese
Maximum number of attendees: 20 people
To apply, click the button below, or write directly to: admin@cafelifeskills.com
Creative Writing
Get in touch - or go further - with your unique voice.
Write in a safe space with clear parameters that enable you to open and release the creative power from within.
At Cafe Life Skills, we are pleased to offer creative writing courses, professional writing classes, and writing workshops, as well as special writers' retreats.
Flash Fiction
Flash fiction has many names, such as postcard fiction, sudden fiction, nanofiction, micro stories etc. It varies in length from as short as 5 words, up to about 1500 words.
It is a great genre, often used as an intermediary stage when moving from writing prose to poetry, or when switching from poetry to back to long prose.
An example of stunning flash fiction is the story, allegedly written by Ernest Hemingway, over a bet to see if he could write a story in just six words:
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
Regardless of whether he actually wrote it, or whether he was indeed the pioneer of the "6-word story form", one thing most readers will agree on is the impact of the story, and the presence of some kind of beginning, middle, and end.
Related links:
https://www.openculture.com/2015/03/the-urban-legend-of-ernest-hemingways-six-word-story.html
https://genius.com/Ernest-hemingway-six-word-story-annotated
The Dialogue
What is "dialogue"?
It is:
a) a conversation between two people (or more),
b) a written piece of work in the form of a conversation,
c) a conversation between a character and him/herself.
It is essential for creating characterisation, strengthening the credibility of a story, and keeping the arc of the story moving forward.
This is an example of great dialogue from the movie, "Casablanca", between Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman):
Ilsa: “But what about us?”
Rick: “We’ll always have Paris. We didn’t have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.”
Ilsa: “When I said I would never leave you.”
Rick: “And you never will. But I’ve got a job to do, too. Where I’m going, you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do, you can’t be any part of. Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.”
The Monologue
What is a "monologue"?
It is speech expressed by one character, designed to reveal the feelings and thoughts of that person to the reader/audience.
Here are two memorable examples:
Movie - "Shawshank Redemption"
Character - Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding (Morgan Freeman)
"Rehabilitated? Well, now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means. I know what you think it means, sonny. To me, it's just a made up word; a politician's word, so that young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie and have a job. What do you really wanna know? Am I sorry for what I did? There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then, a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I wanna talk to him. I wanna try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are, but I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So, you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time, because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit".
Movie - "Braveheart"
Character - William Wallace (Mel Gibson)
"I am William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my countrymen here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight? Fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!".
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