WRITE A THING!

Learn how to write a short play or short story! (an online course)

Age range: 7 - 17 years
Experienced needed: none
Lesson length/cost: £20 for 45 minutes - this can be weekly, fortnightly or as frequent as you like
Course taught entirely online (Zoom, or equivalent)

Ever wanted to write story or play but didn't know where to start? Well, now here's your chance to learn how to write either a short story (up to 1000 words) or a short, one-act play under the ridiculously enthusiastic guidance of award-winning playwright and generally very nice man, Paul Richards.

And then, once you've got enough inspiration to write it, you can email it over, we'll make any minor edits if need be and it'll be published as as e-book on Amazon (and Google Books) as part of an anthology. All money from sales goes to the Trussell Trust - food banks to help those who really need it. 

So, as well as learning a new skill, writing an utter MASTERPIECE and getting it published in an e-book alongside others who have taken part in this course, you'll be doing a lovely thing and making a bit of money for charity, too. 

The mission of this online course is to spark creativity. You'll not only learn the basics of how to write a mini one-act play or story, but we'll brainstorm ideas together until we're confident that you're good to start writing.

Specifically, we'll work on these areas:

- setting the scene
- establishing the characters
- the 'journey' of those characters in your short piece
- the ark of the story (including a twist and a climax)

We'll start totally from scratch and work this out together, feel free to come into this with absolutely no ideas whatsoever and within 45 minutes you'll be ready to create. Comedy, drama, spooky horror stuff...whatever you're in to, we'll make it happen.

Taking as many notes along the way as we plot your masterpiece, once the lesson is over you'll go off in your own time, write it all up and then email it back to Paul. He'll tweak/edit if need be, and then add it to our forthcoming e-book collection of pieces.

Want to make it into a play rather than a short story? Let’s do it. Shall we get it staged? I have actors, we can find a venue, why not put it on? ANYTHING is possible!

About your teacher

Based in Cambridge, Paul Richards is a writer/performer. He has taken 25 different productions to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival over the last 19 years, picking up a load of nice reviews in the process. His play Harvey Greenfield is Running Late picked up a 4-star review from the Scotsman, with the national paper saying, "Like an alternative Ferris Bueller…the escalating web of chaos is skilfully scripted in the vein of a classic film comedy." The show has now been made into a feature film which has already picked up a handful of awards. His next show Is This the end of Edward J Payne? opened in New York in 2023 before a run at the Edinburgh Fringe. Paul’s comedy/storytelling show My Function Band Hell was nominated for ‘best musical comedy’ at the prestigious Leicester Comedy Festival in 2023. His mini trilogy of plays, simply titled Some Plays by Paul Richards, won the Best Comedy award at the Swindon Fringe in 2018, he has had 5 plays published (2 in England, 3 in Canada) and his work has also been performed on BBC Radio and at RADA, among others.

Course cost: £20 a session
To book email Paul: thepaulrichards@gmail.com 

(a quick history note: Paul had been booked to run this course at a popular Cambridge College from 2021 onwards as a 2-hour session, but, during the Coronavirus pandemic, he has created this shorter version for younger students, for half the length, half the price and more suited to home teaching. Those were one-off sessions to help students stay creative in the lockdown, but now in 2024 he is bringing it back as a more regular course following the success of in-person workshops during the summer holidays. Ideal for home-schooled students but available to all if we can find the time!)

REVIEWS:

"Paul, Dylan was positively glowing after his play writing lesson today! I haven't seen him so animated in ages - sooo different to trying to get him to do schoolwork..." - Sara, parent of student

“Well, that was a HUGE success…Sid really enjoyed it and has come away beaming. He’s sat and told me all about it and genuinely loved it! It was so nice for him to do something completely different.” - Lizzie, parent of student

”Thanks so much. This was a lot of fun and very inspiring for the kids.” - Estelle, parent of student

”He is an amazing teacher, so highly recommended.” - Anna, parent of student