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Writing in Practice
Writing in Practice 100 Hours Certificate Course
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Learn About Writing in Practice
In this course, you’ll learn how to revise and polish your work. Discover reviewing strategies, how to give and receive feedback, and how to work over your projects to check structure, characterisation, and more.
How This Course Works
There are two options for working through this course. You can:
- Work on sections of a larger work
- Create 3 shorter pieces, such as three feature articles or 3 short stories.
Work can be fiction or non-fiction (including creative non-fiction). Note that you can only workshop the same piece twice.
For Example:
- You submit chapter 1 of a novel.
- Your tutor provides feedback.
- You work on chapter 1 of the novel, using the tutor’s feedback.
- You resubmit chapter 1 of the novel.
- Your tutor provides feedback. As you progress through this online certificate course, your aim will be towards creating a strong sample or portfolio you can use in your journey to publication.If you are writing a submission for a novel publication, the publishers usually require the first three chapters and a detailed synopsis; non-fiction work also requires samples, such as a selection of essays or articles.
- Always begin to think about your end goal as you progress through feedback and revision.
Course Information
Other Categories
Lessons
LESSON STRUCTURE: Writing in Practice
There are 7 lessons:
- Workshopping and Critique
- The workshop process
- Points of critique
- Types of feedback
- Best Practices
2. Identifying and Addressing Weaknesses
- Potential projects
- Understanding character
- Outlining a revision strategy
- Goal setting
- How to read and interpret feedback
- Build a framework
3. Revision Process I: Structures and Character
- Define beginning, middle, and end
- Closer examination: beginning
- Closer examination: middle
- Closer examination: ending
- Relationship between characters and structure
- Character Arc
- Writing character arcs
- Building characters
4. Revision Process II: Plot Arc and Story Goals
- Story goals
- Conflict
- Story goals in fiction
- Story goals in non-fiction
- Planning your plot arc
5. Working with Subplots
- The function of a subplot
- Types of subplot
- Subplots in non-fiction
- Revision and subplots
6. Continuity of Practice: Building Strong Writing and Editing Habits
- Continuity
- Good habits
- Bad habits
- Scheduling
- Writer’s Block
- Character Exercises
7. Continuity of Practice: Portfolio Building
- Continuing to write
- Keeping up with your journal
- Ideas in development
- Revision processes
Learning Goals
- Understand how to critique effectively, for your own work and others’.
- Understand how to approach problems and feedback constructively.
- To begin building your portfolio/samples.
- Understand how to interpret feedback, including notes from your own revision and read-throughs from others.
- Start setting out a revision strategy.
- Add to your larger project or portfolio.
- Understanding how structure works, how to assess structure and how to fix holes.
- Understand characters and characterisation.
- Understand story goals.
- Understand how to map arcs for different purposes.
- Understand the function of a subplot.
- Understand how to revise, improve, and integrate sub plots in a fiction or non-fiction text.
- Learn ways to set good writing habits.
- Learn ways to break up writer’s block.
- Create a regular journal practice.
- Develop your portfolio further.
- The importance of keeping up with your journal.
- What to do with new ideas that you are not ready to start on.
Practical (Set Tasks)
- Analyse story structures and arcs.
- Keep a daily writing journal.
- Revise significant portions of their work in conjunction with their assigned academic.
- Review feedback and implement notes.
Examinations
Program Summary
More Information
CONTINUITY
Continuity is important for any writer. It is easy to lose continuity in your work, especially if you:
- become immersed in their story and lose sight of the characters, plot and themes that they are developing.
- cannot write regularly and lose sight of their story because of this.
Continuity and regular writing practice are important parts of your journey as a writer. They help you with consistency, working through writer’s block, and growth.
How writers create stories and plots will differ from author to author. When writing a story with many characters, it can be easy to lose continuity, so characters do not look or behave the same consistently over time. This makes your story less believable.
A very simple example – Jane has blue eyes in chapter 1, but in chapter 5 she is described as having brown eyes. This may be part of the story (e.g. Jane is in disguise) or it could be simply because the writer has forgotten what Jane originally looked like.
How can we maintain continuity of characters/plots?
A simple option is to keep a file of each character and subplot.
Describe the character.
- Keep a time line of subplots and the main plot and refer back to them as you write your story.
- Keep these updated though as you go along. As the character develops, events happen to them, emotions change, make sure you update the file.
- Keeping a record of your character like this can help. It makes sure that you do not go off track and start describing the character doing something that they would be unlikely to do or wearing clothes that would be unusual for them.
- Once you have finished your first draft, put on your reader’s hat. Go back and read your story as a reader would. Does it make sense? Are the characters believable? Is the plot believable? Are the subplots relevant and believable?
- If you find it hard to step back from your work in this way, ask someone else you trust to read your work and ask for their honest opinion.
Continuity and Writing Practice
Writing regularly also helps continuity. If you write a few chapters of a novel, then leave it for months, it is hard to get back to it, understand the characters, remember everything that has happened so far. So writing regularly is important.
This is, of course, easier than it sounds. If you are a person who is paid to be a writer full time, this might be easier than if you are someone who is writing on the side as a hobby or to get something published. It can be hard to find the time to write and to keep writing. Everyone is different and everyone has a different life and time available to write. Take the time to think about your life and when you could write and what would work well for you.
There is a caveat to this. If you feel you’ve finished and your draft is done, take some time off. It’s important to have some distance from your drafts in order to spot holes.
Let’s now look at some good and bad habits that can help and hinder your writing.
Good Habits
- Having a set area to write without distraction can help. Find a desk at home or a space in the library. But it doesn’t have to be something so formal. You might find you write best on the train on the way home at night or sitting at a coffee shop or sitting waiting for children to come out of a sporting activity.
- Have a set time to write that works for you. Some writers like quiet, others like noise. Some writers may find it hard to find the time to write, so think about your life and when would work. You might want to wake up at 5am and write for two hours before work, when everyone else is asleep and there are no distractions. Or write a 10pm for the same reasons. Or you might like noise and bustle around you, so like writing in a coffee shop or on the train in the morning to work.
- Write every day, even if only for a few minutes.
- Act like a writer. Whatever you read or watch on TV or film, act like a writer. Listen and read what other writers say. What works? What doesn’t work? How could they have improved the story?
- Communicate with other writers. There are many writers’ groups where people can meet face to face, but if this is not possible, there are now many online groups where you can liaise with others.
- Self-edit – Read over your work, check it for grammar and spellings. Be able to look at your work with fresh eyes. What is working, what isn’t? This saves you the time and money of paying for an editor or proofreader. It also saves you embarrassment or disappointment when a publisher says no to your work due to errors.
- Set small, small goals. Taking one step at a time means you will reach the end of your journey. Never taking a step at all means you never will. Set yourself a simple goal – writing for ten minutes a day. Finish a chapter a month. They may seem small, but if this is all you have time for at the moment, then it keeps you writing. You may find you actually do more than you expected to do.
- Call yourself a writer. Do not say I want to be a writer. Say – I AM a writer.
- Finish your stories. How many stories do you have in note form, half a draft or mulling over in your brain that you have never finished? Take the time to finish them before starting on a new story.
Bad Habits
- Only writing in the “right place.” We said that a good habit was having a place or area where you can write, but this can also hinder your writing if you feel you can only write in that place. Some people find it useful to be able to write anywhere. If you are one of those people, keep note books or your tablet or computer with you and write when it suits you. As technology becomes more and more sophisticated, more writers will use technology to write. You might keep a notepad, or you might send yourself emails of your writing as you move around.
- Not writing if you can’t write at a set time. You may plan to write at 5am every morning, but find you are too tired to get up, so days drift into months and you find you haven’t written. Try to make your writing time fit in with you and your life, not fit you and your life into your writing.
- Not sticking to your plan. Sometimes writing can come to us as we go along, but other times we can simply lose sight of what we are writing, so try to stick to the plan.
- Avoid procrastination. I will write tomorrow. I haven’t got time now, I’ll do it next week. Even if you can only write for 5 minutes a day, keep writing. Writing is like any other muscle, the more we use it, the more it develops and grows.
- Don’t criticise yourself too much. If you criticise yourself over and over, you may never write anything. There is no perfect writer out there. Try to be the best writer you can be.
- Not getting enough sleep. You may feel the only time you have to write is when you should be asleep. This can work for a while, but everyone needs enough sleep and over time this can actually reduce your creativity.
- Have too many ideas. Ben had notebooks everywhere and five potential novels, he was making notes on. He never actually started writing any of them. We may all have a lot of ideas of what we can write about, but we should only write one at a time. Decide which one and get started. I it really doesn’t work, then yes, put it away and start the next one, but be wary of keep doing that as you may never finish anything.
- Take time for family and friends. Our writing can feel all-consuming at times, but in the process, it can isolate us from those around us. Take the time to be with them. Remember to find time and space to do your writing that fits in with your life and the life of those who are important to you.
- Make sure you don’t live on junk food and caffeine to keep going and getting your writing done. This is not good for you in the long term.
There are no right answers here. The only way for you to find the time and space to write is to think about you, your life, your personality and what works best for you.
If you really want to write, think about this and carefully plan it.
Another thing to consider is your creativity. Some people will feel more creative in certain places and at certain times. Use that information. Terry found writing when she couldn’t do anything else the best times. For example, when she was on a train or bus. She would come up with her best ideas when a passenger in a car or walking around with her dog. These were her most creative times. When she decided to try and write every day at 5 – 7am at her desk, she found that her creativity dried up.
We should always find our best time and best place to be the best writer we can be.
Assessment
Assessment is based on a combination of completing all assignments and sitting for a final short one and a half hour exam, in your own location.
If you don’t cope well with exams then you may elect to undertake a project instead. This is a popular option.
In addition, most modules have a Set Task at the end of each lesson placed before the assignment. This is an opportunity to undertake practical work to help you acquire knowledge and skills and practical experience. This ADL feature is an added bonus not found at most online schools. Set Tasks are not required for assessment.
Some courses also have optional Self-Tests which are available on our online learning platform. These are not available by correspondence or by USB, and do not form part of your overall grade.
How our courses work
- Choose Your Learning Method
You choose how you would like to receive your course material, i.e., Online, USB or Correspondence. The choice is yours. You may also work on online or offline. - Tutor Allocation
Every student is assigned their own dedicated tutor who is an expert in their subject area. They provide as much or as little individual contact as you require. You can contact your tutor whenever you need – your hours are not limited. - Feedback and Assignments
Tutor Feedback is an essential component in helping you understand the subject matter. Tutor feedback is given in the form of notes written on the assignment. We encourage you to contact your Tutor where help with clarification and understanding of course material may be required.
Your assignments are located at the end of each lesson. You submit them for marking whenever you are ready. There is no time limit. - Set Tasks and Self-Tests
Most modules have a Set Task at the end of each lesson before for the assignment. This is where you get the opportunity to undertake practical work to help you acquire knowledge, skills and practical experience. Many modules also have short Self-Tests. - Exams
Once all assignments have been completed you may then elect to sit for a one and half hour exam in your own location. If you prefer not to take the exam you do have the option to undertake a project instead.
Once the exam or project part of the course is completed, your Certificate is then processed. Please allow approximately 4 weeks for this. - Design Your Own Qualification
ADL offers students the flexibility to self-design their own qualification – bundling together a combination of 100-hour modules into a qualification higher than a certificate.
FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Here is a list of the most often asked FAQ’s.
General
Q. Why should I enrol with the Academy for Distance Learning?
A. Here at ADL, our students are our priority – we treat everyone as a unique individual.
Q. Do I need to buy text books?
A. No, as each module has been written by highly qualified industry professionals. The content of the material is presented in such a way that text books are not required. However, if you require additional reading your tutor will be able to supply a list.
Q. What happens if I have to stop studying for a while? (eg. become sick, go on holidays, have a baby, move house, etc)
A. It’s OK to take a break and start up your study at a later point in time. Just let us know.
Q. Is there an age limit?
A. There is no maximum age limit. We do however, have a minimum age limit of 18 years. Below that age parental consent would be required.
Q. Are your courses up-to date?
A. Our courses are revised and updated on a rotation system.
Q. Do you have a Cancellation policy?
A. Yes. We have a cancellation policy that is fair and equitable. For further details please click here.
Q. Will I have any opportunity to engage with other students?
A. We have a Student Community group based on facebook! If you don’t have a facebook account already, you could make one just for talking with fellow students on the group.
Enrolment
Q. When can I enrol/start?
A. You may enrol and start at any time of the year – it’s all self- paced.
Q. Can I study from anywhere in the world?
A. Our courses are available to anyone, anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own home. The course content is relevant to any country, culture or economy.
Q. How long do I have to complete the course?
A. You complete the course at any time that is convenient for you.
Q. Completing a 100 hour module – how long will it take?
A. For some students a 100 hour module will take approximately to 3- 6 months to complete. Others take less time and some even longer.
Assessment
Q. Assessment – how does it work?
A. For each 100 hour module you are assessed by assignments (at the end of each lesson) and a final one and a half hour exam (or you may elect to complete a Project, instead of sitting the exam) – the choice is yours – you sit for the exam in your own location.
Q. I don’t cope well with exams – what can I do?
A. You may elect to undertake a Project (set by your tutor) instead of sitting the exam. Projects are completed from your home and can usually take a couple of weeks to complete.
Q. If my assignment is not up to standard is there an opportunity to resubmit my work?
A. Yes –
Q. How many assignments do I need to complete for each module?
A. At the end of each lesson, there is an assignment – so if a course has say, 10 lessons, there would be 10 assignments.
Q. I am having difficulty attending workshops/industry meetings, what can be done?
A. If your course requires attendance at workshops, conferences, or industry meetings; alternative arrangements can be made in your country.
Qualifications
Q. What qualification will I receive?
A. For individual modules, you would be awarded a Certificate endorsed by TQUK (Training Qualifications, UK), providing you complete all assignments and the exam. If you just want to complete only the assignments and not sit for the exam or finish a Project, then a Letter of Achievement would be awarded. For more details on qualifications available please click here.
Q. Can I customize my diploma/higher qualification?
A. Not all educational institution’s certificates /diplomas meet everyone’s needs. The opportunity to Design Your Own Diploma at the Academy (subject to our approval) is an added bonus, not found at other colleges. You choose modules that you think will help you in achieving your goal.
Q. What do I get when I complete the course? Will I receive a transcript?
A. At the completion of all courses and providing all assignments and exam requirements have been met, you will receive your Award and a Transcript.
Tutors
Q. Our tutors – who are they?
A. We appoint Tutors and require that they must be currently active in their industry, with at least 5 years’ experience in their chosen profession.
Q. Can I contact my tutor at any time?
A. Yes – you have unlimited access to your tutor via email through our Online Classroom. You can always leave a message with ADL requesting your tutor to contact you. You decide on how much or how little contact you wish to have.
Q. Practical work – How is this done?
A. To find out more about this part of the course please visit the section on How Our Courses Work here.
Career Options
What's Included
What your tuition fees include
- All Course Material via Online, USB or Correspondence
- Assignments Marked
- Professional Tutor Feedback
- Set Tasks - Practical Exercises to help you develop skills
- Self-Tests – multiple choice questions at the end of lessons in most modules
- Unlimited Personal Tutor Support – via our student classroom
- Committed and Friendly Admin Support – vital to your success
- All ADL Exam or Project fees (exception RHS exams)
- Qualification Certificate
- Official Transcript with assignment grades
- Student Manual
Plus FREE
- Academic Writing course (optional - 10 hours only)
- Critical Thinking course (optional - 10 hours only)
- Job Seekers Careers Guide
- Study Tips on How To Study Better
- Career Counselling by ADL Staff
- CV Writing Help, Tips and Advice
There are no hidden extras
Career Opportunities
FAQ - RHS Theory Qualifications
GENERAL
If you require further details about any of the RHS industry recognised qualifications please, call one of our friendly RHS Course Advisors on +44 (0)1227 789 649 or email: [email protected]
Q: When can I Enrol/Start My RHS Course With ADL?
A: Anytime, Anywhere. There are no enrolment deadlines.
Q: I live Overseas. Can I Study From Overseas?
A: You can study any of the RHS theory qualifications overseas. All courses are offered in English. You will need to email RHS Qualifications direct to arrange sitting for your examination overseas.
Q: Is There a Time Limit for Completing an RHS Qualification?
A: At present there are no time limits. However, RHS is contemplating in the future, the introduction of course time-lines.
Q: Are There Any Entry Requirements (Pre-Requisites)?
A: The RHS Theory courses do not require prerequisites, previous experience or any knowledge of horticulture. You just need passion for all things horticulture.
Q: What Course Should I Start With First? I Am New To RHS Qualifications.
A: We highly recommend that you start with Level 2 – Principles of Garden Planning, Establishment and Maintenance.
Q: What Does ADL Course Material Include?
A: Includes Power Point Presentations, Videos and written course lessons.
RHS EXAMS
Q: When Do Exams Take Place?
A: Exams are held on fixed dates in February and June of each year. You should register as a candidate at least 3 months before these dates, so please do not leave exam registration to the last minute
Q: Where Do I Take My Exams?
A: UK: You take the exams at the RHS Wisley Centre, located between Cobham and Ripley in Surrey or at other authorised RHS centres around the UK.
Overseas: please email RHS qualifications direct for centre information.
Q: Exam Pass Marks?
A: Module – pass 50%. Commendation 70%.
Qualification: 50% pass for all modules.
Commendation awarded for all modules.
Each question carries a value of 10 marks.
Q: I’m Not Happy With My Exam Results?
A: You have the opportunity to re-sit your exam at the next opportunity.
There are no restrictions on the number of re-sits you can take. The highest mark you achieve will remain.,