Writing First Fully On-line Course for Waiariki

Tue, 21 Dec 2004

Creative Writing First Fully On-line Course for Waiariki

Creative Writing First Fully On-line Course for Waiariki 21 December 2004

Waiariki Institute of Technology will introduce its first totally on-line course next year and is hoping to inspire a new clutch of New Zealand writers along the way.

The new Certificate in Creative Writing will begin in February and is available to students anywhere in the world who have access to the internet.

The course will be made up of 12 modules covering various aspects of creative writing. Students must complete all twelve modules to gain the Waiariki Certificate, but they are also able to take individual modules which are all NZQA accredited and so can be credited toward other study.

The course will be tutored by three New Zealand writers of great experience, Kingi McKinnon, Sue Emms and Jenny Argante who, between them, cover a broad range of views.

This will also be one of the only creative writing courses that has two modules that are specifically aimed toward Maori writers or those interested in writing about Maori.

These two modules, Writing with a Maori Voice and Contemporary Maori Writing for Writers will be taught by Kingi McKinnon.

Mr McKinnon who is of Tainui and Te Arawa decent, has been writing for 15 years and is best known for his novels for children and young adults, which include such Kiwi favourites such as Whitebait Fritters, The Friday Frights and When the Kehua Calls. He has also written many stories for the School Journal and for radio and is currently working of a collection of short stories for children.

Mr McKinnon will also be teaching a module on Writing for Children.

Sue Emms, a writer of poetry, novels and short stories for adults, has had two novels published, Parrot Parfait, and Second Chance.

Mrs Emms has had stories and poems published in Takahi and broadcast on Radio New Zealand. She won the Takahi short story competition in 2003 and came third in the prestigious Sunday Star Times short story competition in 2004. She also edits her own literary magazine, Bravado, and as a mentor with the New Zealand Society of Writers, is keen to help new talent to get their work published. She has already mentored three authors who have all been successful in having their novels published.

She will be teaching modules on Introduction to Creative Writing, Writing the Short Story, Freelance Journalism and Getting Started on Writing a Novel.

She says that while there would not be time for students to write a novel during the course she would like to help to get them on the right track.

Jenny Argante, the third member of the team, would describe herself as a professional editor, although she is a highly esteemed published author in her own right. She has a weekly literary column, The Write Place, in Saturday's Bay of Plenty Times, and has also been published in Takahi, Poetry New Zealand and Freelance Magazine. Mrs Argante is currently an editor at Bravado and also a consulting editor of Booknews, a monthly on-line literary newsletter. She is currently compiling a collection of children's poems titled A Double Helping of Poetry Pudding. She will be teaching modules on Creative Non Fiction, The Essay as Report and Opinion, Poetry, Constructive Editing and Family History.

By the end of the course they intend for their students to have written something of a publishable standard and although they cannot promise publication, they aim to guide their students through that process of producing a publishable work.

"We believe that the only true writer is a re-writer," said Mrs Argante. We want to teach our students how to get it as near to perfect as they can."

As well as receiving their tutorials on line, students will also be able to post their work on the website and exchange a bit of peer group evaluation.

"We want to create an on-line writers community where students can showcase their work."

ENDS

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