Daily schedule
After registration on Sunday afternoon, we invite you to a welcome meeting in the Amersi Lecture Theatre in New Quad, where you will meet your tutors. Join us in Deer Park afterwards for our opening drinks reception, followed by dinner in Brasenose’s historic dining hall (informal dress).
Seminars take place on weekday mornings. Most afternoons are free, allowing you time to explore Oxford, enjoy a variety of optional social events (see details below), or to sit back and relax in one of the college's atmospheric quads.
Your course culminates on Friday evening with a closing drinks reception and gala farewell dinner at which Certificates of Attendance are awarded. For this special occasion smart dress is encouraged (no requirement to wear dinner suits or gowns).
Social programme
We warmly invite all Inspiring Oxford students to take part in our optional social programme, with all events provided at no additional cost. Events are likely to include:
- Croquet on the quad
- Chauffeured punting from Magdalen Bridge
- Expert-led walking tours of Oxford
- Optional visit to an Oxford Library or the Ashmolean Museum
- River Thames afternoon cruise
- Quiz night in the college bar
- Scottish country dance evening (where you do the dancing!)
Seminars
Monday
Fact and Fiction
As a starting point, we will look at how our own lived experience and observations can be a springboard for fiction writing. We will engage in a series of short, cumulative writing exercises to get ideas flowing. We will also look at opening lines of classic and contemporary fiction and discuss how they lead readers into the world of the story.
Tuesday
The Test of Time
We will look at how traditional storytelling structures have survived and adapted across time and cultures. Using a combination of text analysis and writing exercises, we will discuss how these inherited techniques can be adapted to suit a range of genres and subject matter. As such, you will be given a framework for developing original stories that speak to a contemporary readership.
Wednesday
How to Build a Character
We will begin by discussing what makes a complex character, with a strong focus on why and how readers form personal connections with fictional people. Then, using students’ observations of both real-life and fictional characters, we will embark on a series of character-development exercises, resulting in the creation of strong, original protagonists across all genres.
Thursday
Characters and Plots
Using both the original characters created during the course and specific text examples, we shall explore the relationship between character and plot. We will look at how character development and conflict work together to drive a narrative. In doing so, we shall also explore how authors can develop themes and ideas within the framework of a story, while also leaving space for the readers’ own creative interpretation.
Friday
Shaping Your Story
We will begin by reflecting on the shared creative experiences of our week together, with specific focus on the power of the individual writer’s voice. Then we shall use classic and contemporary texts to explore some of the technical challenges of writing, paying specific attention to dramatised action and narrative point of view. This will give every student the skills and confidence to continue their independent writing journey, on their own terms.
