Because creative writing helps develop a higher level of excellence in all writing skills — and helps develop the highest levels of critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills. Your student’s 11-Series creative writing courses are key to a successful future — in academics, relationships, a career, and life.

“What makes great fiction? And how can I use fiction writing to make all of my writing dynamic, interesting, and strong?” In this course (the first of two successive courses), you’ll understand what makes excellent fiction writing and hone your writing skills as you write your own story using the elements and writing techniques of excellent storytelling. Whether you want to write a novel or want to be a dynamic, successful writer in all that you do — learning great plot and structure, description and setting, and characters and dialogue skills will allow you to write exceptionally well, raise your written communication skills, become skilled in the elements of literary analysis, and be fully prepared for college and beyond. Learn skills, be creative, and enjoy writing!

Plot and Structure (Weeks 1 – 4)
The first 4-week segment of the course teaches your student about writing a gripping plot for fiction books of any genre for middle grade, young adult, and adult story lots.
Class 1: Great openings—the opening line, hook, drop into action, and inciting incident
Class 2: Developing your plot—doors of no return, peaks, and the rising plot line
Class 3: Creating tension and intrigue—tricks, tips, and “the plant”
Class 4: Great endings—creating a strong climax and finish

Description and Setting (Weeks 5 – 8)
In the next four weeks, the student will learn how to use excellent description and craft a strong and memorable setting for any fiction work.
Class 5: Description and Setting Foundations
Class 6: Types of Description—The senses, metaphor and simile, figures of speech, and literary techniques
Class 7: Principles and techniques of memorable settings (including examples to learn by)
Class 8: How to integrate description and setting into plot, structure, and character development

Characters and Dialogue (Weeks 9 – 12)
The final four weeks teaches the importance of dynamic characters and dialogue for fiction books of any genre—and how to create memorable characters and clear, distinct dialogue.
Class 9: Types of characters, developing characters fully, introducing your character
Class 10: Character arc: Your lead character’s inner change
Class 11: Dialogue how-to’s, do’s, and don’ts
Class 12: Showing your character in the dialogue: weaving dialogue with your character and the action

Total Number of Classes: 12

Prerequisite: Required: Essential Punctuation and Grammar I (HS 9-1) and High School Simplified Writing 1: Strong Foundational Writing Skills (HS 9-2). Prerequisites can be taken either live or through Unlimited Access and can be taken concurrently.

An alternative to the prerequisite: a passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service. Please contact [email protected] for any questions on permissions.

Suggested Grade Level: 11th grade; however, this course can be taken at any grade level in high school.

Duration: 55 minutes

Suggested Credit: One (1) full semester’s credit for Creative Writing, Fiction Writing, or English

Course Materials: All course materials are provided FREE in the course. Microsoft Word or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document is required. If you do not own Microsoft Word, you can use a system such as Google Docs that converts to Word documents FREE.

Homework: Weekly writing assignments with direct feedback from the instructor, with an estimated three (3) to four (4) hours per week for homework outside of class time that includes reading, writing, and responding to feedback.

Your Live, Interactive Courses

During the week, this LIVE course is offered in the Fall.

This foundational Creative Writing/Fiction Writing course teaches you how to identify and write the key components of a gripping plot in fiction books of any genre. Designed for writing fiction for children’s stories, middle grade, young adult, and adult plots, the course covers great openings (the opening line, hook, drop into action, and inciting incident); development (doors of no return, peaks, and the rising plot line); creating tension and intrigue; and crafting a memorable climax and finish to a story. Whether you’re an aspiring author writing a book for publication or a student preparing for literary courses in college, in this course, you’ll get all you need to know how to craft a story’s plot well.

Class 1: Great openings—the opening line, hook, drop into action, and inciting incident
Class 2: Developing your plot—doors of no return, peaks, and the rising plot line
Class 3: Creating tension and intrigue—tricks, tips, and “the plant”
Class 4: Great endings—creating a strong climax and finish

Total Number of Classes: Four (4)
Grade Level Exceptions: Though this course is recommended for the 11th grade year of high school, skilled fiction writers in the 9th through 12th grades may take this recorded course.

Prerequisite: Required for high school students: WRITING ESSENTIALS 1: Essential Punctuation and Grammar I (HS 9-1). Recommended for high school students: SIMPLIFIED WRITING 1: Strong Foundational Writing Skills (HS 9-2). Prerequisites can be taken either live or through Unlimited Access. Your student will need Word 2007 or later version or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document. 

Alternative to prerequisite: A passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service, https://homeschoolconnectionsonline.com/writing-evaluations.
Required Materials: All learning materials are included FREE.
Suggested Credit: One-third (1/3) semester of writing and English or literature and writing. Take two more 4-week recorded foundational Creative Writing/Fiction Writing courses to create a full semester of learning.
Accompanying Courses:
Students seeking advanced college writing skills (or who are considering writing as part of a career) are encouraged to take additional fiction writing courses: 1) The Hero’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (Parts 1 and 2); 2) Screenwriting (Parts 1 and 2); and/or 3) Comedy Writing (Parts 1 and 2). The advanced courses can be taken during or after the completion of this course. If you want to know how to be an author, sign up for the Authoring a Book Part 1 course available LIVE in the Spring Semester (or anytime in Unlimited Access recorded courses), as a companion for the Creative Writing/Fiction Writing courses.

RECORDED, INDEPENDENT-LEARNING COURSE

This four-week course is only offered in Unlimited Access. When you sign up for Unlimited Access and take this recorded course, your instructor is the designer and Director of Aquinas Writing Advantage, Erin M. Brown, MA, MFA (aka author EB Conroy/Erin Brown Conroy).

With this course, you’ll learn how to create powerful sensory descriptions as you craft your fiction work. Learn when a good writer uses description; how to craft a believable and memorable setting; the types of description to use (sensory, metaphor and simile, figures of speech, and literary techniques); principles and techniques of all memorable settings; and how to integrate description and setting into any story’s plot, structure, and character development in a way that captures your reader’s attention.

Class 1: Description and Setting Foundations
Class 2: Types of Description—The senses, metaphor and simile, figures of speech, and literary techniques
Class 3: Principles and techniques of memorable settings (including example to learn by)
Class 4: How to integrate description and setting into plot, structure, and character development

Total Number of Classes: Four (4)
Grade Level Exceptions: Though this course is recommended for the 11th grade year of
high school, skilled fiction writers in the 9th through 12th grades may take this recorded course.

Prerequisite: Required for high school students: WRITING ESSENTIALS 1: Essential Punctuation and Grammar I (HS 9-1). Recommended for high school students: SIMPLIFIED WRITING 1: Strong Foundational Writing Skills (HS 9-2). Prerequisites can be taken either live or through Unlimited Access. Your student will need Word 2007 or later version or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document. 

Alternative to prerequisite: A passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service, https://homeschoolconnectionsonline.com/writing-evaluations.
Required Materials:
All learning materials are included FREE.
Suggested Credit: One-third (1/3) semester of writing and English or literature and writing. Take two more 4-week recorded foundational Creative Writing/Fiction Writing courses to create a full semester of learning.
Accompanying Courses:
Students seeking advanced college writing skills (or who are considering writing as part of a career) are encouraged to take additional fiction writing courses: 1) The Hero’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (Parts 1 and 2); 2) Screenwriting (Parts 1 and 2); and/or 3) Comedy Writing (Parts 1 and 2). The advanced courses can be taken during or after the completion of this course. If you want to know how to be an author, sign up for the Authoring a Book Part 1 course available LIVE in the Spring Semester (or anytime in Unlimited Access recorded courses), as a companion for the Creative Writing/Fiction Writing courses.

RECORDED, INDEPENDENT-LEARNING COURSE

This four-week course is only offered in Unlimited Access. When you sign up for Unlimited Access and take this recorded course, your instructor is the designer and Director of Aquinas Writing Advantage, Erin M. Brown, MA, MFA (aka author EB Conroy/Erin Brown Conroy).

How does an author write memorable characters? In this course, you’ll learn what goes into dynamic characters — and how to write dialogue for those characters in your fiction works of any genre, for  young adult, and adult stories. Find out how to develop characters; what goes into a character arc; how to develop realistic dialogue; and how to weave dialogue into character development and action.

Class 1: Types of characters, developing characters fully, introducing your character
Class 2: Character arc: Your lead character’s inner change
Class 3: Dialogue how-to’s, do’s, and don’ts
Class 4: Showing your character in the dialogue: weaving dialogue with your character and the action

Total Number of Classes: Four (4)
Grade Level Exceptions: Though this course is recommended for the 11th grade year of
high school, skilled fiction writers in the 9th through 12th grades may take this recorded course.

Prerequisite: Required for high school students: WRITING ESSENTIALS 1: Essential Punctuation and Grammar I (HS 9-1). Recommended for high school students: SIMPLIFIED WRITING 1: Strong Foundational Writing Skills (HS 9-2). Prerequisites can be taken either live or through Unlimited Access. Your student will need Word 2007 or later version or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document. 

Alternative to prerequisite: A passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service, https://homeschoolconnectionsonline.com/writing-evaluations.
Required Materials:
All learning materials are included FREE.
Suggested Credit: One-third (1/3) semester of writing and English or literature and writing. Take two more 4-week recorded foundational Creative Writing/Fiction Writing courses to create a full semester of learning.
Accompanying Courses:
Students seeking advanced college writing skills (or who are considering writing as part of a career) are encouraged to take additional fiction writing courses: 1) The Hero’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (Parts 1 and 2); 2) Screenwriting (Parts 1 and 2); and/or 3) Comedy Writing (Parts 1 and 2). The advanced courses can be taken during or after the completion of this course. If you want to know how to be an author, sign up for the Authoring a Book Part 1 course available LIVE in the Spring Semester (or anytime in Unlimited Access recorded courses), as a companion for the Creative Writing/Fiction Writing courses.

RECORDED, INDEPENDENT-LEARNING COURSE

This four-week course is only offered in Unlimited Access. When you sign up for Unlimited Access and take this recorded course, your instructor is the designer and Director of Aquinas Writing Advantage, Erin M. Brown, MA, MFA (aka author EB Conroy/Erin Brown Conroy).