For an overview of how this class works, watch this video: https://youtu.be/BzPbcqgTRrE

Unlike some courses that simply introduce a prompt and tell students to go write, this course analyzes and demonstrates what it takes to write creatively. Each video contains an in-depth explanation of how and why we use various creative writing techniques -- skills that will help your learner achieve a higher overall level of writing. 

Week 1: Onomatopoeias! We'll crash, bang, and flop our way through famous poems and nursery rhymes -- from Mother Goose to Edgar Allan Poe -- that use onomatopoeias. Students will then create their own poems using sounds as imagery. 

Week 2: SHOW, don't tell! Using characters from favorite books, we will examine how authors show that characters are angry, mad, and sad -- without using those words! (Dorothy might or might not throw her picnic basket at a Munchkin in this class). For homework, students will write a scene using a fun prompt (it involves the words "Top Secret," so we can't share it here!). 

Week 3: Point-of-view! Who holds the camera? Learn the difference in first- and third-person points of view. We'll examine first-person point-of-view through the eyes of naughty animals, and then students will practice the skill with activities writing from the perspectives of both characters in a scene. They will get to be both a hungry eagle... and a very terrified rabbit.  

Week 4: We're going fishing, so bait those hooks! How do you begin writing a story? Where does a story actually begin? Does the first line really matter? (Hint: the answer is Yes!). We will discuss how to begin a story with a gripping hook, and then -- who knows? Maybe we will just keep on writing. 

Learner and instructor interaction will occur in the following manners: 1) Students are encouraged to post their writing assignments in the Classroom for both instructor feedback (through private message) and classmate feedback. 2) Each week, the instructor will post a series of questions, challenges, and writing prompts in the Classroom that learners can respond to. Examples of these are to think of all the adjectives you could use to describe a fly or to continue writing with the hook "I rounded the corner of my house and..." 

At the end of this class, students will have a portfolio of poetry, point-of-view writing, descriptive writing, and possibly a complete short story -- as well as a new, useful skillset of writing techniques.