Creative Writing

In this course, you will harness your creative flair and passion for writing. Develop your writing skills by exploring a range of approaches, styles and genres to help you find and tell compelling stories.

You will receive guidance from an experienced freelance journalist, author, lecturer, and content creator to learn how to draft a story from an idea through to completion.

Gain a practical insight into the basics of creative writing; learn how to find, develop and refine your voice; and critique your own work before strengthening your skills in writing intuitively from a short story prompt.

This course is delivered via six online modules:

Introduction to Creative Writing
What is a Narrative
How to Show, Not Tell
How to Plot and Plan a Story
How to Write in Scene
How to Edit Your Own Work

Students will also complete a two-day practical workshop where they will learn how to critique work and improve writing with the goal of applying this to their own writing. This is achieved through a close analysis and exercises around the short story American Hustler, the inspiration behind Inventing Anna. Students will also strengthen their intuitive writing skills through a short story prompt. The goal of this exercise is to write from the 'gut' to allow information to flow freely, while following the guidelines learnt around plotting and planning a story with interesting characters.

About this experience

Designed for: High school students in Years 11 and 12

Delivery: On campus/online

Learning time: A total of 25 hours of learning, consisting of:

12 hours of online modules on the Bond Learner platform
10 hours face-to-face on campus
3 hours of additional readings and assessment

April course dates

Online course start date: Monday, 15 March, 2024

Registrations close: Friday, 19 April, 2024

Practical workshop dates: Friday, 26 April, 2024 and Saturday, 27 April, 2024

May course dates

Online course start date: Monday, 13 May, 2024

Registrations close: Wednesday, 15 May, 2024

Practical workshop dates: Wednesday, 22 May, 2024 and Thursday, 23 May, 2024

Cost: $99

Location: Bond University Gold Coast campus

High school study areas

English

Literature

Meet your educator

Charmaine Yabsley

Charmaine Yabsley is a freelance journalist who has worked in the UK and Australia for the past 25 years. She is the author of 13 non-fiction books, all of which have been published worldwide and translated into several languages. She specialises in health, wellbeing, and lifestyle features, contributing to many publications worldwide. She is also the sustainability columnist for body+soul. Charmaine is an educator in journalism, feature writing, and creative writing (fiction and non-fiction) at Bond University.

Hear from our students

Year 11 student

I chose to attend the Creative Writing course as I thought it would be a great experience. Charmaine, the course instructor, was amazing! I loved getting to know more about the University. It was an incredible, eye-opening, and insightful experience.

Abbey S - Saint Stephen's College
Year 11 student

The Creative Writing course was an incredible experience. I loved every minute, and I was surprised by how warm and welcoming everyone was, and how comfortable I was in sharing my work! Charmaine is AMAZING! I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone. In three words I would describe the course as inciting, stimulating, and incredible.

Lainey M - Miami State High School
Year 11 student

I completed the Creative Writing learn for credit course so that I could learn more about the subjects and studying at Bond. I loved this course because it was insightful, motivating, inspiring, and I was able to write freely without restriction. The freedom and the flow of it was positively unexpected.

Shivani W - Queensland Academy for Health Sciences
Year 11 student

The Creative Writing learn for credit course was very fun and informative. I love using my imagination and having freedom in what I write. Writing brings me happiness and I hope to be studying something to do with writing at university. This course was even better than I expected, and the teacher is very lovely!

Annalise A - Pacific Coast Christian School
Year 12 student

I like creative writing, so I chose to complete the learn for credit Creative Writing course. It was an amazing experience and Charmaine was a highlight. I think this course is worth it and I would absolutely recommend it to other students.

Zia - Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School

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