Online and Remote Learning

This five-day intensive workshop with a prominent Canadian novelist will help you get your novel on course. You'll see how longer fiction is structured and sustained - how authors plan, develop and polish their work. Workshops feature open discussions, reading from student works-in-progress and debates on artistic issues. Part of the U of T Summer Writing School, it introduces you to a wider community of writers working in different genres. Summer Writing School courses are applicable to the Certificate in Creative Writing. Understand the basic skills and techniques in writing prose fiction. Analyze the methods and styles of writers you admire. Develop and refine your own writing style. Make contact with a community of writers.

If you want to write a novel but have no idea how to begin, this course will help you get going. You'll review literary technique with respect to the novel, and spend lots of time writing - and reading - to help you discover your own style. We'll cover basic skills, tips and techniques to improve and polish your writing. By the end of the course, you will have written and edited the opening of your novel. Understand the basic skills and techniques for writing prose fiction. Develop and refine your own writing style. Analyze the methods and styles of writers you admire. Write and edit the opening of a novel.

If you want to write short stories, meet other writers and learn basic literary technique, this course is for you. You'll learn the building blocks of the writing process by writing and reviewing stories. You'll emerge with at least one story that has been critiqued constructively by your instructor and your peers. You'll discover a larger community of writers working in your genre. No previous creative writing experience is necessary. Understand the building blocks of fiction. Improve your skills and craft as a writer. Complete a draft of a short story. Get advice on sending your work to publishers.

This is the final component of the Certificate in Creative Writing. Working with an SCS instructor for a maximum of five months, you'll revise and polish a work in your chosen genre: poetry, drama, screenplay, children's picture book, fiction or non-fiction. The supervisor will take you through two detailed revisions. The final manuscript will be evaluated by a certificate panel (the program head, your supervisor and a prominent writer who knows your genre). You must complete it within five years of taking your first Creative Writing course, after you have completed all other requirements. Once you have a complete draft, you may register at any time of year. Once you register, you will receive an email confirmation with further details and instructions. Get detailed feedback on your project from an SCS supervisor. Work through two rounds of revisions. Emerge with a significant portion of a polished manuscript. Build on your strengths in your genre. Prepare for evaluation by a certificate panel.

Designed for those who have completed 1664 Creative Writing: Introduction, this course is a more intensive fiction workshop to help you further develop your voice, often with the same instructor and students as in 1664 Creative Writing: Introduction. You'll complete longer and broader exercises and assignments, either short stories or novel excerpts, and use the feedback to polish your writing. The group will analyze published fiction to understand how their writers constructed them. Learn how to establish and maintain a regular writing practice. Understand what makes a compelling novel or short story. Get instructor and peer feedback on your creative work-in-progress. Emerge with a draft of a short story or chapter of a novel.

Available for all genres, this e-mail based course will help writers who require feedback on artistic craftsmanship and who need guidance on shaping and polishing a manuscript-in-progress. Students may register at any time. Once assigned a mentor from the Creative Writing program, students have up to 12 weeks, including time for rewrites, to work on up to a maximum of 25,000 words of prose, 40 pages of poetry, or 90 pages of a drama or screenplay. To determine acceptance, submit a 10-page excerpt from the manuscript you wish to workshop to scs.writing@utoronto.ca, along with the name of your mentor-of-choice from the list of Creative Writing program instructors. Mentorship from a prominent writer who knows your genre. Editorial feedback on up to 25,000 words of a manuscript, 40 pages of poetry, or 90 pages of a drama or screenplay. Emerge with a keener sense of where to go next.

If you want to earn a Certificate in Creative Writing through the poetry stream, this course is the first step. You'll examine poetic form, metre, imagery and language and the relationship between form and content. You'll emerge with a few completed and polished poems of your own. Write formal or free verse. Explore how to use language and metaphor for maximum aesthetic impact. Each session will include time for discussion of famous poems and of your own work. Understand the structure and content of formal and free verse. Grasp the dynamics and aesthetics of poetic composition. Discuss and critique celebrated poems. Workshop your poetry and build a portfolio of poems. Discover a community of writers working in your genre.

This is the second step in the Certificate in Creative Writing poetry stream. Working in a friendly and supportive workshop setting, you'll gain a deeper understanding of modern poetic forms and emerge with a small portfolio of polished work. Develop your poetic voice and style.Express and demonstrate your artistic interests and abilities.Get constructive instructor and peer feedback on your work. Build your portfolio of poems.

Creative non-fiction tells factual stories in a literary style. If this is the stream you're entering in pursuit of a Certificate in Creative Writing, this course is the first step. You'll cover the basics of literary technique and emerge with completed work samples. Explore what you want and need to say, and find an immediate, noteworthy, compelling and provocative way to express it. The course will also introduce you to a community of writers working in your genre. Understand the genre of creative or narrative non-fiction. Use storytelling techniques in your work.Produce short pieces of creative non-fiction.

This intensive course gives you a deeper understanding of creative non-fiction so you can refine a work-in-progress and develop new material. Whether you're writing a memoir, personal essay, travel story or biography, you'll benefit from constructive criticism and evaluation. Revise your work with the help of the instructor and your peers. Advance your writing and revision techniques. Workshop your own work-in-progress. Critique your work and that of others. Incorporate constructive peer criticism into your work.