Spring session starts soon: Intensive, Picture Books, Extreme, and Personal Stories courses on offer

Intensive Creative Writing

Offered online at 3 different times:

Tuesday evenings 6:30 – 9:00
First readings emailed March 25.
Classes: April 1 – June 3 (or to June 10 if the course fills up)

Wednesday afternoons, 12:30 – 3:00
First readings emailed March 19.
Classes: March 26 – June 18 (No class April 23 or June 11).

Friday mornings 10:00 – 12:30
Jan 17 –March 7. First readings emailed March 21.
Classes: March 28 – June 20 (or to June 27 if the course fills up. No class April 25, May 16 or June 13)

Intensive Creative Writing isn't for beginners; it's for people who are working on their own writing projects. You’ll be asked to bring in several 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, such as short stories or essays. You bring whatever you want to work on. 

Besides critiquing pieces, the instructor will give short lectures addressing the needs of the group, and 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. This is a challenging course, but extremely rewarding.

Fee: $292.04 + hst = $330

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

“Writing Picture Books – Intensive”

Online: Wednesdays, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
First readings emailed March 19.
Classes: March 26 – June 4 (or to June 18 if the course fills up. No class April 23 or June 11)

This Intensive course will be organized like my other Intensive courses, but it’s for people writing picture books. You’ll be asked to bring in four pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. This may be four separate picture book manuscripts or, possibly, just one, reworked four times. You bring whatever you want to work on. 

Besides critiquing pieces, we’ll have discussions and I’ll give short talks addressing the needs of the group. You’ll receive constructive suggestions about your writing, learn how to critique your own work, ands 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.

I expect you’ll find this course extremely rewarding – and fun. After all, we’re working on picture books! Though if you want to bring board books, early chapter books or a nonfiction proposal, or some other form of kid lit, we’re very easygoing.  ~Brian

Fee: $292.04 + hst = $330

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

“(Not so) Extreme Creative Writing”

 ~ For more experienced writers 

In-person: Thursday afternoons, 12:30 – 3:00 p.m.
First readings emailed March 20.
Classes: March 27 – June 5 (or to June 19 if the course fills up. No class April 24 or June 12).
Burlington Anglican Lutheran Church, 3455 Lakeshore Rd, Burlington, Ontario (Map here)

Extreme Creative Writing isn't like an extreme sport – it doesn't demand something crazy – but it is meant for writers who have been writing for a while or who have done a course or two before and are working on their own projects.

You’ll be asked to bring in a few pieces of your writing for detailed feedback, including a couple longish pieces. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand-alone pieces, such as essays, picture book manuscripts, or short stories. You bring whatever you want to work on. 

Besides critiquing pieces, we’ll have discussions on topics of interest to the class. 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. This is a challenging course, but extremely rewarding.

Fee: $256.64 + hst = $290

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

“Writing Personal Stories & Other Nonfiction”

Online: Tuesday afternoons, 1 – 3 p.m.
April 1 – May 27 (or going to June 3 if the course fills up. No class April 29)

In person: Thursday evenings, 7 – 9 p.m.
April 3 – May 29 (or going to June 5 if the course fills up. No class April 24)
Burlington Anglican Lutheran Church, 3455 Lakeshore Rd, Burlington, Ontario (Map here)

If you want to write any kind of true story, this course is for you. Personal stories will be front and centre – we’ll look at memoirs, travel writing, personal essays, family history – but we’ll also look at writing feature articles, creative nonfiction and other more informational writing. 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.

Fee: $212.39 plus 13% hst = $240

To reserve your spot, 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 (now called Toronto Metropolitan University) and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. But his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many of his students get published. 

Read pieces about ~ or inspired by ~ Brian's retreats, courses and workshops here (and scroll down).

See all of Brian’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day retreats here.

To receive new postings on Quick Brown Fox as soon as they go up, visit Quick Brown Fox on Substack, and subscribe: https://brian999.substack.com/