This Level I creative writing course runs for 8 weeks from January 9 – March 5 with a hiatus February 27 for the local school holiday. The course meets Thursdays from 18:45 – 20:45 at In het Koorenhuis, Prinsegracht 27, 2512 EW The Hague. Class size is 6-10 people.

A Level I course is a great place to start whether you’re just getting going or you’ve been writing for a while and would like more formal instruction. The focus is on giving you mastery over techniques fundamental to both fiction and poetry, supporting you in establishing a writing routine, and encouraging you to try new things and stretch your imagination.

During the 8 weeks you’ll learn how to:

• Read like a writer, so you can see how your favourite authors and poets work their magic—it’s a skill that will serve you well throughout your writing life.
• Construct a compelling narrator to tell your story.
• Use elements of craft such as tone, mood, description and action to reveal your characters and pull readers in and make them want more.
• Give your fellow writers useful feedback.
• Revise your own work—as any professional writer will tell you, writing well is all about revising well.

Plus you can look forward to a weekly dose of inspiration and to meeting great people.

You will need access to a printer, but there are no special textbooks required. We do however, highly recommend the following anthologies: The Art of the Story (ed. Daniel Halpern), The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction (ed. Joyce Carol Oates), That Glimpse of Truth (ed. David Miller) and the 2018 Pushcart Prize XLII (ed. Bill Henderson).

The Level I curriculum is designed to give you a toolkit of techniques foundational to good writing over the course of two to four terms, depending on your goals, focus and experience. We currently teach four core levels of workshops—each level (usually completed over multiple consecutive terms) builds on the skills and techniques taught in the level before, and at the end of every term your instructor will help you decide on the best path forward.

STUDENT FEEDBACK ON THIS COURSE

At the end of every term, we ask students for feedback on their experience. Here’s what our students in The Hague had to say:

“Megin’s teaching style is pretty wonderful, especially for a beginner’s class. She manages to give extremely useful and constructive criticism in a way that is very gentle and easily taken in. She has given me some tough advice, but in such a way that gently circumnavigated my writer’s ego, and thus has been an amazing instructor who has really helped me bring my writing to another level.” – Candice L.

“I liked the encouragement, and practical detailed feedback focused on improvement. It made me feel good about my writing, and at the same time, feel like I can improve.” – Ashwini P.

“I am very impressed with the community feel the Collective offers, the quality of teaching, and the quality of the courses themselves. Also, I really feel the Collective is so positive, nurturing, and optimistic. In the past, whenever I tried to write under other teachers, I did not feel supported so experiencing the Collective’s massive amount of support has been quite pleasantly surprising. I truly feel the Collective could make a writer out of anybody.” – Anonymous

OUR REFUND POLICY

If something comes up and you can’t take the course, let us know at least 24 hours before the first class (so we can offer your spot to someone else) and we’ll give you a complete refund. If you decide to drop out after the first class, let us know within three days, and you only pay for the first class—we’ll refund the rest. And if at any point in the term your circumstances change such that it’s impossible for you to complete the course, we can offer you a credit voucher based on the number of classes remaining that you can apply to another course within a year.