If E.L. James has taught us anything (other than the finer points of BDSM), it’s that there are big bucks to be made from putting pen to paper, no matter how amateurish your writing attempts are.
It’s with success stories like this ringing in my ears that I found myself joining a creative writing taster course session, run by City Academy in the heart of the capital. (They also offer a shedload of other performance and creative classes, from singing to stand-up comedy). I normally hate this kind of thing – the thought of reading out my work and then re-writing it at least 30 times brings me out in some kind of sweat – but a class that promises “fun and constructive writing exercises” has got to be worth a stab, I thought.
The class I attended was taught in a building just round the corner from Bank station – so ideal for commuters wanted to learn a skill outside of their 9-5– and it was taken by a professional stage and screen writer.
As I looked around the room, I realised I was joined by an encouraging mix of students and pensioners, all eager to polish their writing skills and unleash their inner flair for writing captivating short stories, drama, poetry and scripts.
The class began benignly as we chatted about what makes a terrible narrative, from OTT plots to inconsistencies, which was a nice enough intro. We were then asked to write as naff a story as we could muster. A strange request, I thought, but I went with the flow. We were then told we could read our rubbish stories aloud if we wanted – but I decided to keep mine all to myself. The weirdest part is that we were asked to write down what our “most racist and sexist” thoughts were – not entirely sure what the point of that was, but I went with it all the same. All in all, it was a pretty thought-provoking and interesting start.
After the class, I was feeling motivated and intrigued, so it definitely did me some good. I also met some fab new people, including a sweet old man. One way in which the class really shines, in my opinion, is the way in which it encourages participants to unlock their creativity in a variety of ways. Apparently even Evening Standard headlines can be the bedrock of a pretty damn good storyline if you’re prepared to think outside the box.
Armed with my newspaper and the (semi-simple) knowledge of a ‘three-arch’ story structure, I left the session feeling inspired to get writing my first novel. After the naff story I wrote in class, things can only get better!
Upcoming creative writing classes
Wednesday 11th Mar
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Duration: 2 hours
Taught by: Melanie Spencer
Wednesday 6th May
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Duration: 2 hours
Taught by: Melanie Spencer
Both of these classes will take place at Frederick’s Place, EC2, and will cost £20 to attend.
City Academy runs over 12,000 sessions in 175 different creative disciplines, across 35 venues in London, so if writing doesn’t appeal to you, you’re bound to find something that does.
