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Start Date
30 September, 2025
There will be 6 weekly meetings on Tuesday, 6 - 8pm, starting from 30 September
Overview
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what might those thousand words be? Could you write a 1,000-word piece of flash fiction inspired by an artwork? This six-week course will provide participants with visual prompts to craft short stories. Sometimes there will be no additional context – just a painted scene to bring to life – while other writing exercises might introduce some background information about the artist or artwork, to see if that changes anything about those short fiction ideas.
A given painting might act as a jumping-off point for a story that finds its own legs and goes off in a different direction, or that image might remain integral to the writing it inspires, with those 1-000 words becoming a text-based interpretation. Perhaps a thousand words is worth a picture. Those who enjoy writing constraints may wish to try and get their stories to be exactly 1,000-words long!
This course aims to provide writers – and those who wish to give fiction writing a whirl – with visual prompts to inspire ideas for stories. Experimentation is encouraged and there is no right or wrong approach. The tutor will provide guidance to students in working through ideas and shaping their writing into short stories. Participants will develop their critiquing skills and will hopefully come away with an ability to turn virtually anything into a creative writing prompt.
This course is ideal for writers who prefer prompts to staring at blank pages. Those who have an interest in art may get more out of the visual inspiration, but no art history knowledge is required – participants will be taking most images at surface level and interpreting them however they please. A willingness to share work as well as to give and receive feedback with other writers in the group will ensure participants get the most out of the course.
Syllabus
Week 1 – Introducing the course and setting some random visual prompts and writing exercises. Looking at an artwork without any context or background information. Then reading about it and seeing what – if anything – changes.
Week 2 – ‘Play of Light – A display of darkness and illumination’. Taking inspiration from the nocturnal paintings on display in the Victoria Gallery & Museum (VG&M).
Week 3 – ‘Seeing Green’. Taking inspiration from the green themed paintings on display on the balcony wall in the VG&M.
Week 4 – ‘Lightbulb Moments’. Taking inspiration from the VG&M’s new museum exhibition which will bring together items from across many collections including archaeology, physics, dentistry, biology, ceramics and fine art.
Week 5 – The artwork or exhibition to inspire this week’s short story writing is TBC and will be revealed nearer the time.
Week 6 – Finding visual prompts elsewhere – In this final session, we will look at some of the other places we can discover or generate images that can inspire our fiction writing (such as Google Streetview or the Science Museum’s Random Object Generator and Never Been Seen tool).
Please note that the ‘last date available to book’ date is only a guide. We reserve the right to close bookings earlier.
In order to avoid disappointment, please be sure enrol as soon as possible. Registrations will not be processed until the following day if received after 3pm.
Course Lecturer: Phil Olsen
Phil Olsen is a short story writer with a Creative Writing MA from the University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing. In 2023 he ran a Canning Dock flash fiction competition with Writing on the Wall and National Museums Liverpool, delivering workshops across Merseyside libraries. He has also run workshops for Write Generation in Toxteth, the L20 Hub at Netherton Library, and the Community Lottery-Funded Floral Civilians project in New Brighton. Winner of the University of Liverpool’s Short Story Competition in 2022, Phil has previously won the Northern Short Story Festival, WoWFest, and Book Week Scotland flash fiction competitions. His short fiction has been published by Ad Hoc Fiction, Cōnfingō, The Liminal Residency, Storgy and Strix. He was commissioned as a writer by the Science Museum and by Manchester’s Victoria Baths. Phil’s editorial roles have included Fiction Editor at Sabotage Reviews and Contributing Editor at Vestal Review.
Courses fees: Full fee £95/Concession £50.
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