Cuyahoga Community College
ZPDI1284 - Advanced Writing (Online)
Course Description
Whether you successfully completed our Beginner's Writing Workshop course or you've been writing fiction on your own, there is something to be gained by moving to your next level of writing. If you are comfortable with the basics of writing such as plot, story, building characters and editing, it's time to build on your talents and delve into topics such as narratives, viewpoints, scene building and writing beginnings and endings. Join us as we explore these and other topics.Course Outline
Lesson 1: Choosing a Viewpoint
Lesson 1 takes us through the different viewpoints available in writing. We will discuss the pros and cons of each, which will help you decide which one to use in your fiction.
Lesson 2: Expanding Your Narrative
There are four basic types of writing; expository, persuasive, descriptive and narrative. Each has a unique purpose. In this lesson, we will focus on narrative writing and ways to expand it to create a richer, more complex and detailed story.
Lesson 3: Creating Clarity and Interest
In this lesson we explore five ways of generating better clarity and interest in your writing. We'll discuss some common techniques that writers use to draw in their reader.
Lesson 4: Writing Powerful Beginnings
Getting your story started can be a challenge. In this lesson we discuss common components of a great story beginning, as well as things you may want to avoid.
Lesson 5: Crafting Strong Endings
In this lesson we look at creating a story ending that not only delivers on the promise we made in our opening scene but satisfies the reader with a logical and perhaps thought-provoking outcome.
Lesson 6: Preparing for Publishing
This lesson addresses the process of getting your story ready for submission to a publisher or agent. We'll review specific "do's and "don'ts" that will help you deliver a well-prepared manuscript.
Learner Outcomes
Upon completion, participants will be able to:
- Explore ways in which a literary narrative can be expanded
- Learn techniques for generating greater clarity in writing
- Discover ways to create a gripping and powerful story opening
- Identify components used to craft powerful story endings
- Review the steps necessary to ready a novel or story for submission to an agent/publisher
Notes
Participants will have 180 days to complete this self-paced online course.
All necessary course materials are included.
System Requirements:
Internet Connectivity Requirements:
- Cable and DSL internet connections are recommended for the best experience.
- CPU: 1 GHz or higher
- RAM: 2 GB or higher
- Resolution: 1280 x 720 or higher
- Speakers / Headphones
- Microphone (Webinar / Live Online sessions)
- Microsoft Windows 7 or 10 (Home, Pro)
- Mac OSX 10 or higher
- Latest Chrome OS
- Latest Linux Distributions
NOTE: While we understand that our courses can be viewed on Android and iPhone devices, we do not recommend the use of these devices for our courses. The size of these devices do not provide a good learning environment for students taking online or live online-based courses.
Web Browser Requirements:- Latest Google Chrome is recommended for the best experience.
- Latest Mozilla Firefox
- Latest Microsoft Edge
- Latest Apple Safari
- Office suite (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice or LibreOffice)
- PDF reader program (Adobe Reader, Foxit)
- Courses may require other software that is denoted in the above course outline.