Creative writing courses starting soon: Introductory to advanced, including Writing Personal Stories & Writing Kid Lit

Welcome to Creative Writing

Ten weeks of discovering your creative side

Thursday afternoons, 12:45 – 2:45

September 28 – November 30, 2017

Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (Map here.)

This is your chance to take up writing in a warm, supportive environment. This course will open the door to all kinds of creative writing. We’ll visit short story writing and children’s writing, writing in first person and in third person, and writing just for fun. You’ll get a shot of inspiration every week and an assignment to keep you going till the next class. Best of all, this class will provide a zero-pressure, totally safe setting, where your words will grow and flower.

Note: For a pair of reviews of Brian’s introductory creative writing classes, see here. 
Fee:  $167.26 plus 13% hst = 189

To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Writing Personal Stories

8 weeks of sharing and writing

Wednesday evenings, 7 – 9 p.m.

September 27 – November 15, 2017

Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (Map here.)

If you've ever considered writing your personal stories, this course is for you. We’ll look at memoirs, travel writing, personal essays, family history ~ personal stories of all kinds. Plus, of course, we’ll work on creativity and writing technique and have fun doing it. Whether you want to write a book or just get your thoughts down on paper, this weekly course will get you going. 

We'll reveal the tricks and conventions of telling true stories, and we’ll show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Weekly writing exercises and friendly feedback from the instructor will help you move forward on this writing adventure. Whether you want to write for your family and friends or for a wider public, don't miss this course.

Read reviews of the Writing Personal Stories course here.

Fee:  $159.29 plus 13% hst = 180

Number of attendees strictly limited.

To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Writing Kid Lit ~ Picture Books to Young Adult

Thursday mornings, 9:45 – 11:45 a.m.

October 5 – November 30, 2017

Woodside Branch of the Oakville Public Library, 1274 Rebecca St, Oakville, Ontario (Map here)

Brian also offers Writing for Children & for Young Adult workshops on Saturdays. See here (and scroll down).

 From picture books to young adult novels, this weekly course is accessible for beginners and meaty enough for advanced writers. Through lectures, in-class assignments, homework, and feedback on your writing, we’ll give you ins and outs of writing for younger readers and set you on course toward writing your own books. 

We’ll have two published children’s authors as guest speakers: 

Sylvia McNicoll is the author of over thirty novel for young people. Her most acclaimed books are her three middle grade novels about fostering guide dogs:  Bringing Up Beauty, Beauty Returns, and A Different Kind of Beauty which won and were nominated for many children’s choice awards. In 2017, Sylvia launched her new middle grade series The Great Mistake Mysteries beginning with The Best Mistake Mystery in January and The Artsy Mistake Mystery in September and finishing with The Snake Mystery in January 2018.

Jennifer Mook-Sang started the story that grew into her humorous middle-grade novel Speechless, in one of Brian Henry's classes. Published by Scholastic in 2015, Speechless   won the Surrey Schools Book of the Year Award, was shortlisted for many other awards, and was recommended by the Ontario Library Association, the Canadian Childrens’ Book Centre, the CBC, and the TD Summer Reading Club. 

Jennifer’s spent the past year giving numerous school and library presentations and meeting her many young readers.  In October, just in time for her to bring copies to our class, Jennifer's picture book Captain Monty Takes the Plunge will be released by Kids Can Press.

Course fee:  $176.11 plus 13% hst = 199

To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

The Next Step in Creative Writing

Ten weeks towards becoming a better writer

Tuesday afternoons, 12:30 – 2:45 p.m.

Classes run Sept 26 – Nov 28; first readings emailed Sept 19

Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (Map here.)

This course will challenge you to take a step up in your writing. Over the ten weeks of classes, you’ll be asked to bring in five pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.

In addition to learning how to critique your own writing and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that your greatest growth as a writer comes from critiquing other people’s work and form seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write. This is the course you want if you're ready to seriously improve your writing. 

Read reviews of Brian’s intermediate courses here.

Fee: $176.11 + 13% hst = 199

To reserve your spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Intensive Creative Writing

Ten special weeks with a group of special writers

Offered in two locales:

Monday mornings, 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Classes run Sept 25 – Dec 4; first readings emailed Sept 18

Glenview Church, Bethelhem Room, 1 Glenview Ave, Toronto, Ontario. (Map here)

And

Thursday evenings, 6:45 – 9:00 p.m.

Classes run Sept 28 – Dec 7; first readings emailed Sept 21

St. Alban's Church, 537 Main Street, Georgetown, Ontario (in the village of Glen Williams (Map here.)

The Intensive course is for experienced writers; people who have been working on their craft for a while, who have some experience in the art of giving helpful critiques, and who are working on their own projects. 

During course, you’ll be asked to bring in five pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.  

In addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write.

Read a review of the Intensive course here.

Fee: $176.11 + 13% hst = 199

To reserve your spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Extreme Creative Writing

12 special weeks with a group of special writers

Wednesday afternoons, 12:15 – 2:45 p.m.

Classes run Sept 20 – Dec 13; first readings emailed Sept 13
Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (Map here.) 

The Extreme course is for experienced writers; people who have been working on their craft for a while, who have some experience in the art of giving truly helpful critiques, and who are working on their own projects. During course, you’ll be asked to bring in six pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.  In addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write.

Read a review of Brian's advanced course here.

Fee:  $193.81 plus 13% hst = 219 
To reserve your spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Instructor Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada's most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. Brian is the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute Publishing). But his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many of his students get published. 

Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here. 

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.