Online Dramatic Writing Course

Learn to Write Drama!

Learn at home, guided by an international team of experienced, published, professional writers. 

• Are you worried that your stories are boring?
• Do you want to learn how to write engaging and powerful plots?
• Do you want to spend less time obsessed with syntax and more time thinking about what you want your reader to feel and what you are trying to express?
• Do you have great story ideas but don't know where to start?

This course will help you no matter what style of writing you do, or where in the world you live. There are many different types of writing - short stories, poems, novels, screen plays etc.  Dramatic writing can be useful in all of these.  This course takes lessons from many different writing styles (including screen writing) and allows you to apply them to your own work. 

By the end of the course you should have one extended or a number of short, well polished stories as well as the skills and desire to continue writing.

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction
   • Motivation
   • Typing Time
   • Types of Writing : Reflection, Exposition, Description, Explanation, Argument
   • Making Decisions about what to Write
   • Know your stuff
   • The concept
   • Synopsis
   • Keeping a Notebook
   • Process of Story Development
   • Planning a Story
   • Developing your Voice
   • Useful terms
2. Characters
   • Developing the characters
   • Building Characters
   • Main Characters
   • Minor Characters
3. Theme & Genre
   • Developing a Theme
   • Universal Themes
   • Sub Themes
   • Creating Conflict
   • Names
4. Plot Development
   • First Decisions
   • Ambience
   • The End of a Story
   • Types of Dramatic Story: Memoirs, Biographies, Reflective Stories, Historical etc
5. Weaving a Story
   • Techniques: Action, Emotion, Mirror; Parallel lives, Palm Cards
   • Writers Block
   • Developing a Story Line
   • Things to Avoid
   • Different Approaches: Dialectic, Transition
   • How a Character Affects a Plot
   • How Plot Affects Genre
   • Goals
   • Consequences
   • Motive
   • Flashbacks and Flashforwards
6. Writing a Dramatic Short Story
   • Main Character and Antagonist
   • Creating a Sense of Place
   • Counting Out Your Story
   • Short Stories
7. Developing Sub Plots
   • Method
   • Plants
   • Activity
8. Writing a Chapters for a Dramatic Work (Novel or Play)
   • Getting Published
   • Writing Resources
   • Writing as a Business
   • Vanity Publishing
   • Dealing with Publishers
   • Creating a Chapter or Segment of a larger work

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims:

• Define and develop an understanding of dramatic writing.
• Develop methods of developing characters in dramatic writing.
• Define different genres and develop themes for dramatic writing.
• Develop techniques for developing your plot.
• Describe techniques for weaving a story.
• Develop a short story using dramatic writing.
• Develop a chapter of dramatic writing.
• Determine how to develop sub plots

Request your free info pack today!