Adventures in Creative Writing (Self Paced)

“Creativity takes Imagination, Imagination takes Courage, Courage takes Curiosity, and Curiosity leads to Success.” 
― Daniel L. Lewis

Writing isn't always the easiest thing for students to accomplish.  This course encourages and fosters creative writing in students through recorded lessons that include presentations, videos, interactives, and freewriting, which will help lead to the beginning and/or development of a story throughout the course.  

It will cater to each student's ability and interests throughout the writing process.  Students will develop and grow their writing abilities by gaining an understanding of the purpose of storytelling.  They will also have opportunities to "free write" that will spark the imagination.   I will provide an analysis of student work/writing and suggestions for editing their writing as well as the development of their writing skills.  Students will submit copies of their writing through the Outschool private learner messages. Submissions of writing and handouts will allow for valuable teacher/learner interactions.  

Students will go on an adventure through the creative writing process, which in turn will take their reader on an adventure!  If your student loves to write or you want your student to enjoy writing, then this is the course that will do just that!

Meeting 1:  Introduction to Storytelling  
This introductory lesson gives a big-picture overview of stories:  why we tell them, what makes a good story, and how to become a better writer.  Students will participate in developing various stories through a writing prompt "Dark & Stormy Night" that will allow them to begin the prompt and other students can add to their prompt while also adding to other students' responses to the prompt. 

Meeting 2:  Idea Generation 
This lesson helps students pick a story idea and develop it into a story plan. After completing all of these assignments, they should end up with a rough synopsis of the story they intend to write.  They will refine their story’s structure in later lessons. The amount of time needed to complete this lesson will depend primarily on how much time is spent writing.  I usually do 10 minutes per writing prompt, and I included a lot of topics so students can pick their favorites!  Students can share one of their free-writes so that other students can add to their story.

Meeting 3:  Building Strong Characters
This lesson focuses on building strong characters.  The writing exercises assume that the student already has some idea of the story they will write.  It can be a story they've created on their own or one generated during a writing exercise from Meeting 2.  Students will have an opportunity to share about their characters with their peers and collaborate to further build their characters.  
 
Meeting 4:  Building Strong Plots 
Students will begin the process of creating a well-developed story by building a strong plot.
 
Meeting 5:  Setting and Description 
Students will discover the aspects of literary elements and how they strengthen and inspire creative writing

Meeting 6:  Revision and Editing 
The focus of this lesson will be to understand the importance of editing and revision.  Writers need to realize the critical role an editor plays and how crucial it is for someone to critique their writing.  It allows the writer to take his or her story to another level!  
  
Meeting 7:  Book Cover Design  
This lesson will help students understand that the design of a cover is just as important as the content of the story.  We will look at ways to create a successful book cover design. Students are encouraged to share their cover design with their peers through the Outschool classroom.

*All materials in the course are copyrighted and cannot be used without permissions.