Getting Started with Short Stories
A self-paced, on-demand course from award-winning author Ryan O'Neill
Writing short fiction is a great way to develop your creative writing skills.
As well as being an art form in its own right, short fiction can be a laboratory for you to try out new and strange ideas; it can be a training ground in which you can build up your writing muscles before attempting a longer form such as a novel; and it can be a playground, in which you can have lots of fun.
In this three-hour course from award-winning short story author Ryan O'Neill, you will:
- learn the most important elements that make up a short story: setting, characterisation, point of view and plot
- find reading recommendations and writing advice, including how to spark story ideas
- complete a variety of writing exercises to build your short fiction skills
For more information, see our FAQ below.
Course level: Aspiring
Writing NSW members receive a $20 discount. Contact Writing NSW for your discount code. Not a member? Join here.
Your Instructor
Ryan O’Neill is the author of The Weight of a Human Heart and Their Brilliant Careers. Born in Glasgow, he lived in Africa, Europe and Asia before settling in Newcastle, Australia, with his wife and two daughters. His fiction has appeared in The Best Australian Stories, The Sleepers Almanac, Meanjin, New Australian Stories, Wet Ink, Etchings and Westerly. His work has won the Hal Porter and Roland Robinson awards and been shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Steele Rudd Award and the Age Short-Story Prize. His latest book, Their Brilliant Careers, won the 2017 Prime Minister’s Literary Award, and was shortlisted for the 2017 Miles Franklin Award.