West Des Moines Community Schools Community Education

Introduction To Fiction Writing

Designed specifically for those with little to no fiction writing experience, find your pathway towards your fiction writing goals. Learn the basic building blocks of story: character, plot and setting. Then find out the different forms of fiction writing and some of the genres you might like to explore. Whether you’ve never written a word of fiction, or haven’t written since high school or college, you will complete the course with the skills you need to get started. Create a new work of fiction, or revive an old one that’s been sitting in your bottom drawer.

To progress through this course you will:

• Read the print readings.
• Have the option of accessing the online readings.
• Listen to the audio presentation for the Unit and view the slides.
• Have the option of taking a self-quiz to see how much you have learned.
• Engage in written online discussion with your instructor and other participants.
• The content (readings, audio lectures, slides) and self quizzes are accessible for the entire course, so you can work ahead, or go back and review again, at your convenience.

Discussion:

• The discussion for each unit lasts one week. All comments are made in writing and can be made at any time of the day or night.
• Your instructor will log into the discussion area at least once a day and answer questions, make comments, and respond to comments by you and the other participants.
• We encourage you to make 2-3 comments each day to maximize your learning and enjoyment of the course.