In my teaching, I approach creative writing as a subject that can be explored as a number of discrete themes. Perhaps this is a little artificial—some might argue that a thing as multi-looped and slippery as creative writing resists being pinned down and chopped into so many little parts, but I take the view that the subject is too vast to be studied in its entirety.

So here are some of my most popular workshop themes:

Writing With Confidence

(a one-off workshop)

• Becoming a writer and seeing the world through new eyes.
• Using a journal and real-life events as jumping-off points.
• Conquering the blank page.
• Developing character and plot.
• Exploring setting and point of view.

Beginnings

• Gathering ideas.
• Committing to your craft.
• Making connections between real life and creative writing.
• Starting a story.

Character

• Creating credible and captivating characters.
• The art of lifting characters from real life and turning them into articles of fiction.
• Exploring the vital role of internal conflict in pushing your story forward.
• Getting your characters to speak.

Plot

• Giving your story movement and action.
• Beginnings, middles and ends.
• Introducing an element of surprise.
• Creating and sustaining tension.

Voice

• An exploration of style and voice in writing.
• Learning to distinguish between your writer's voice and your characters' voices.
• Using free indirect speech and interior monologue.

Point of View

• Deciding who your story belongs to and learning to stick to this point of view.
• Weighing up how much access your narrator has to your characters' inner worlds.
• Examining the merits of writing in the first, second and third person.

Setting

• Creating an atmosphere and a sense of place in your stories.
• Using "setting" to drive your story forward.
• Writing about the weather.

Showing and Telling

• The effective use of both concrete descriptive detail and summary in your narrative.

Editing and redrafting

• Producing stories of a publishable standard.