The recent merger of South Africa’s two most prominent book publishers, Random House and Struik Publishers, resulted in the formation of Random House Struik. The newly formed company is the largest general trade publisher in Southern Africa, and is now leading the way with creative writing education.
Random House Struik has partnered with Getsmarter, a specialist internet-based training company, to present the part-time Random House Struik Short Course in Creative writing. As the course is offered via the Internet, both local and international students will be accepted on the course.
The Random House Struik Short Course in Creative writing is a 10-week part-time course presented internationally in an internet-based distance learning format. The course is ideal for anyone who has dreamt of writing a novel or a short story as well as accomplished writers, fiction or non-fiction, who wish to bring more flair and drama to their work. The course is compiled and convened by American professional literary agent, editor and author Ron Irwin. See Ron’s top 5 tips below on how to start and finish your novel:
1. Grab the Reader, Right From the Start.
Understand that most editors make the decision to buy or reject a manuscript after reading only the first few pages, and often just the first few paragraphs. You have one page to really hook the reader therefore start with a bang. Begin your story with a situation that is designed to excite the reader’s natural curiosity and make her want to read more.
2. Develop Main Characters Who Are Absolutely Fascinating…and Imperfect.
Readers will not tolerate bland main characters. We meet boring people every day. Make your characters breathe by giving them traits we can all identify with. But be sure to give them strange habits and make them less than perfect. Give them hang-ups, phobias and issues. Sherlock Holmes does drugs, James Bond drinks too much and the average Jane Austen heroine is less than statuesque. Readers love flawed characters, don’t you?
3. Give Them Problems They Must Solve: What drives a novel? A great character solving a great problem. Before you start writing, ask yourself what your character really wants. What is she willing to sacrifice?
4. Don’t Give The People What they Want: Do not cave in and make things easy for the character or the reader. If your main character badly wants Mr. Right, make him come from a family that hates her family (think Romeo and Juliet) or impossibly rich and in love with the character’s sister (think Jane Austen). If a shark attacks a sleepy community, make it really hard to kill (think Jaws). Readers like to see characters they admire get the things they hope for after a long, bitter struggle and they read on until this happens….on the last page.
5. End the Novel…Right at the Beginning. Start ending your novel right from page one. Your novel should build to the ending from page one, not in the last few paragraphs.
Getsmarter’s advanced and user-friendly learning model provides students with a personal and professional educational experience. Students work through the course material together mirroring a typical face-to-face classroom environment online and receive continuous academic and administrative assistance throughout the duration of the course. Each of the 10 modules includes course notes; discussion forums where students interact with one another; an interactive “test your knowledge” quiz as well as video lectures to make the course material engaging. The course module titles include planning the story; the importance of beginnings; characters and characterization; plot vs. story; dialogue; point of view; conflict; and tying it all up.
In addition to the core coursework, students become part of a network of writers. This means that as the course progresses, students not only make friends with fellow writers; share creative writing pieces, contacts and ideas, but are also given the opportunity to review each others work and receive rich personal feedback on their work.
A further benefit of this course is that Random House Struik have committed to read and consider the top manuscripts from the course.
The course starts on the 8th of February 2010. Please contact Karin on 021 685 - 4775 or karin@getsmarter.co.za for more information. Alternatively, see www.getsmarter.co.za