Creative Writing for 15 - 17 Year Olds
- Level(s) of Study: Short course
- Course Fee:
£525
- Start Date(s): 28 July 2025, 4 August 2025
- Duration: Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm, one week
- Study Mode(s): Part-time
- Campus: City Campus
- Entry Requirements: More information
Introduction:
Course dates:
28 July - 1 August 2025, Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm
4 - 8 August 2025, Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm
Embark on a literary adventure where writing becomes a powerful force in shaping your future.
This course is your gateway to discovering the nuanced art of impactful writing.
You’ll learn how to turn ideas into creative, original writing.
Whether you're interested in fiction or want to write screenplays, it'll help you to create impact with the right choice of words and provides a structured approach to establishing a life in writing.
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Develop your creative writing across a wide range of genres, working with an active, expert writer-tutor. -
Develop confidence in your communication, collaboration, and presentation skills. -
Be part of a highly personalised, inclusive, and supportive environment. -
On successful completion of the course you will receive a certificate of attendance.
Doing your Duke of Edinburgh Gold Residential Award?
This course can count as your Gold DofE Residential Award and is an amazing opportunity to make new friends and memories. It will be fun and gently challenging, allowing you to follow your passion and discover talents you never knew you had.
DofE participants must book both the course and accommodation on campus for this to count towards your Gold Award.
You must also attend the social events that are planned on Monday and Wednesday evenings, and you must plan and attend your own social activities with other participants on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Here's what previous attendees said:
'Thank you for the past week and all your efforts Sean! You've revolutionised my view of writing, and taught me more than I could have imagined in such a short space of time. Not only was your course one of the best educational experiences I've ever had, but your enthusiasm and brilliant sense of humour left me with a smile on my face every day. I just wanted you to know how grateful I am for such a unique time with such a unique person, and I'm sure the rest of our brilliant group would agree with me.'
'This experience was 10/10. An amazing course.'
'This week has been so valuable and enjoyable.'
'I definitely feel like my writing has improved, as well as my confidence.'
'Really happy to have done the course and it certainly has persuaded me to do creative writing at university.'
'It was very enjoyable, and helped me to understand how to plan a novel and improve my writing by thinking about demographics and themes.'
'Following the completion of the course I have now become more confident in my writing ability.'
'My dream is to become an author. This course has given me the skills and confidence to achieve this.'
'I really enjoyed listening to and critiquing other peoples work, as well as receiving feedback on my own. I found the writing exercises enjoyable and hope to do more in my spare time.'
'This course has raised my standards of writing and has enabled me to learn a different approach to writing poetry.'
'My writing style has significantly improved in a way that is immensely beneficial to my writing. My ability to plan has also improved exponentially.'
'I really enjoyed that everyday brought something new.'
What you’ll study
Discover the art of turning ideas into impactful writing, whatever the genre.
Explore the transformative power of writing, enhancing your skills to be a voice that challenges and interrogates the world around you.
You’ll participate in interactive writing workshops, sharing, discussing, and receiving constructive feedback to hone your craft.
During this course, you will:
- learn how to find inspiration and sources that drive powerful narratives
- recognise the unique power of your perspective, understanding its impact on readers
- develop the skill to translate abstract ideas into compelling written content, focusing on how to turn ideas into writing
- find the right ingredients for your chosen discipline including how to create the most effective context, whether it's character development in short stories or adopting a journalistic tone for blogs and articles
- explore the relationship between your well-being and creative expression, understanding that writing is more than words - it's a journey of self-discovery
- learn that the first draft is never the last.
Upon completing this course you will have newfound confidence as a writer.
You’ll understand a structured process for generating impactful writing applicable to your chosen area of interest.
You'll be able to identify suitable markets for your work, write in a genre of your choosing and notice an improvement in your English literacy, all of which will be useful tools for the future.
You’ll also leave the course with examples of your written work to add to your portfolio.
Social events
We appoint NTU Student Ambassadors who host social events on Monday and Wednesday evening to help you make friends across the whole of our summer school programme for 15 – 17 year olds, which are free to attend.
- Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll study during the course.
- Life is Writing
- The ‘Write’ Ingredients
- Honing Words
- Introducing your work to the world
Writing is one of those disciplines that encourages vague and fluffy statements, but this workshop will practically address the issue of finding ideas, assessing their quality, and putting them into action.
This workshop will include a consideration of writers as readers to identify the words already in existence that make us want to write; this will help you to draw inspiration and refine your own work whilst avoiding imitation.
You should bring along any examples of words that you admire such as favourite books, poems, articles, or song lyrics.
- Introductions
- Idea prompts
- What makes good writing discussion
- Writing exercise based on provided material
Every step we take is a collection of words, every decision we make leaves behind the options neglected, every second of life is a story.
Turning those seconds into actual, meaningful collections of words that other people can decipher is only possible when discipline is applied.
This workshop will provide the tools to turn the ideas into words, and then the behaviours to enable you to do this every day.
- Develop concepts for sustained piece, and pitch
- Feedback and recommendations on sustained pieces
- Group exercise - exchange and refine
Whether you wish to write eco-journalism, short stories, novels, or the best blog on the internet, this workshop will help you identity the right ingredients for their chosen discipline.
Knowing whether the characters need to be scared of the dark, or whether a journalistic approach needs a more universal anchor, are vital tools to writers, and this day shall provide them.
Group Exercise - develop and pitch a project.
Accepting a first draft of anything is unlikely to do sufficient service to the words written and this workshop will help you refine your work into the best form it can be.
Why do some words make us laugh, and others cry?
Do we have to invoke desperate drama to create meaningful words?
Whatever the form of writing this workshop will explore how to make the biggest impact and achieve the desired response.
- Pitch honed sustained piece and feedback
- Work on sustained project
- Editorial board exercise
- Editorial board roleplay
- Work on sustained piece
Introducing your work to the world - whether writers have ambition to win a Nobel prize for literature or simply to be an effective communicator with a voice in the online world, this workshop will provide the necessary information to make it happen.
- Honing the sustained piece
- Presenting it
- Receiving feedback
Goodbyes and good lucks.
How you’re taught
This course will be delivered in person on Nottingham Trent University city campus.
97% of previous course attendees were satisfied with the course, received the attention they needed and would consider doing another short course at NTU.
Contact hours
You will receive 25 contact hours of quality tuition with an experienced tutor.
Careers and employability
The course is designed to give you a real experience of university life, make new friends who share similar interests and develop your portfolio so that ultimately, you can make an informed decision about your future.
Good writing and creativity are workplace skills that are highly valued. Previous students have gone on to study and work in writing, journalism, publishing, teaching, marketing and advertising.
On successful completion of the course you will receive a certificate of attendance, which will further enhance your CV.
Campus and facilities
You will be studying creative writing in a UNESCO City of Literature, and be based in the School of Social Sciences on the City Campus.
You will find modern teaching spaces and quiet study environments to develop your ideas and writing.
You’ll also have access to our library to use outside of your short course; whilst you can’t reserve or take away books, you are welcome to use them as a resource for research and referencing.
Entry requirements
Level: Beginner
Entry requirement: You should have a passion for writing and an interest in developing your personal approach.
You must be 15, 16 or 17 years old at the time of the course in order to attend.
Fees and funding
The fee for this course is £525.
Payment is due at the time of booking.
Secure your place with a deposit - If you're booking more than two months before the course starts, we can accept a £200 deposit to secure your place, and the balance is due one month before the course starts.
Your course fees cover the cost of studies and include great benefits such as the use of our modern library and free use of the IT equipment and software on the campus during your course.
You will also need to bring with you:
- A notepad and pen.
- You are invited to bring along any examples of writing that you admire such as a favourite book, poem, article or song lyrics.
Read the terms and conditions of booking.
Need accommodation?
Accommodation can be booked separately to the course; the rooms are only a few minutes’ walk from our studios and classrooms, and cost £259 per week, which is ideal if you're looking to be based in Nottingham's lively city centre and want an economical place to stay.
These are single rooms with a private bathroom in shared apartments in Nottingham Trent University’s city campus accommodation.
If you're aged 16 or 17 then you can stay unaccompanied with agreement from a parent/guardian (to support safeguarding, all guests aged 16 and 17 will be accommodated together in the same halls of residence and there is a dedicated Warden available).
If you're aged 15 then you can stay as long as you are accompanied by a parent/guardian (you must book two separate rooms and let us know so we can place you in rooms next to each other).
This option is particularly popular with students completing their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Residential Award.
Find out more and book your accommodation here.
Looking to turn your one-week course into a two-week experience?
If you can match this with any second course, you’ll receive a 10% refund on your course fees (email the short course team with your order number to claim the refund).
How to apply
You can book this course for the following dates via the NTU online store:
28 July - 1 August 2025, Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm
4 - 8 August 2025, Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm
Browse all our summer courses for 15 – 17 year olds.
Any questions?
Contact the short course team:
Email: creativeshortcourses@ntu.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)115 848 2813