Writing Skill, Writing Styles - West Bridgford Library - Adult Learning

In this course, you will explore a diverse range of prose writing styles, examining how authors skillfully adapt their techniques to meet the demands of different genres. You will delve into travel writing to see how writers vividly describe the experience of journeying through a variety of unique environments, and explore how authors capture our complex interaction with the natural world during an era of growing environmental awareness. Additionally, you will look at how the conventions of autobiographical writing are adapted and utilized in both fictional and non-fiction contexts.

You will also discover how writers employ satirical techniques to creatively challenge the flaws within society, and how the stream of consciousness technique is used to mirror the complex ways the human mind processes and responds to real-time experiences.

Throughout the course, you will delve into Travel Writing, examining how authors such as Patrick Leigh Fermor, Laurie Lee, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Edmund White, and Lauren Elkin vividly capture the essence of place and the transformative experience of the journey. The curriculum also immerses you in Nature Writing, analysing how Edward Thomas, Nan Shepherd, Roger Deakin, and Robert MacFarlane articulate humanity's profound and complex connection with the natural environment.

You will also investigate the conventions of Autobiography and the Bildungsroman (coming-of-age narratives). In this section, you will study how Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, J. D. Salinger, Harper Lee, Georges Perec, Annie Ernaux, and James Joyce effectively weave personal experiences, memories, and character growth into both fictional and non-fiction contexts.

Additionally, the course will cover the sharp social critiques found in Satire, exploring how Jonathan Swift, George Orwell, and Aldous Huxley use irony and exaggeration to challenge societal flaws. Finally, you will uncover the experimental Stream of Consciousness technique, analysing how James Joyce, Mark Twain, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Jack Kerouac innovatively replicate the raw, spontaneous flow of human thought and real-time experience on the page.

By the end of the course you will be able to:

• Explain how published authors adapt their prose styles and narrative techniques to meet the specific demands of diverse literary genres.

• Compare and contrast the distinct ways different writers utilize language, tone, and structure within particular genres.

• Demonstrate how your own writing can be effectively shaped and informed by the specific requirements of genre, target audience, and overall purpose.

Funding and Fees

If you receive certain benefits, you may be able to take the course for free.
If money is stopping you from enrolling, please visit our funding page to see what help is available.

Living in England

To book and join one of our courses, you must live in England permanently and either:

• Live inside the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) area (Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire)

or

• Live outside the devolved areas listed below

You cannot enrol if you live in these devolved areas:

• Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)

• Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

• North East Combined Authority

• South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority

• Tees Valley Combined Authority

• West Midlands Combined Authority

• West of England Combined Authority

• West Yorkshire Combined Authority

• Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority

• York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority

• Hull and East Yorkshire

• Greater Lincolnshire

• Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority

• Cornwall Council

• Lancashire Combined County Authority

• Buckinghamshire Council

Residency Requirements (Additional Information)

If you live in the UK on a visa, we’ll need evidence of your visa to confirm funding. You can upload this when applying, and you’ll need to complete a short questionnaire.

Some exceptions include:

• Your visa must last until after your course ends.

• Asylum seekers must have lived in the UK for at least 6 months while their claim is being processed.

• You are supported by your local authority under Section 23C or 23CA of the Children Act 1989, or under the Care Act 2014.

Anyone who does not meet the funding criteria would need to pay full course fees.