Morning Sessions with Roisín O’Donnell

Course Summary

Delve deeper into the craft of creating compelling fiction in both short story and novel form; learn how to create engaging story openings, maintain pace and tension, develop convincing characters and bring them alive on the page. We will look at the elements of creating stand-out fiction, including the craft of editing. A series of writing prompts will help you to generate new ideas or fresh angles to bring to existing projects.

Course Outline

Writing prompts will be given each week. Writers will produce a short sample each week, with the idea that they can then develop this further.

Group workshopping of participants work – each week we will read and discuss participants writing samples, in a constructive environment

Week One: Story openings

Week Two: Character and dialogue

Week Three: Pacing and tension (1)

Week Four: Pacing and tension (2)

Week Five: Endings

Week Six: Editing

Course Outcomes

‘Morning Sessions’ – kick start your creative writing practice this spring with this 6 week course. Bring fresh ideas and perspectives to your fiction. Create ideas which can be developed into longer projects. Build a writing community.

Roisín O’Donnell is the author of the debut novel Nesting, which was published in 2025 to widespread critical acclaim and longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. In 2018, she won the An Post Irish Book Award for Short Story of the Year. Her story collection Wild Quiet was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award. Her short fiction has featured in The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, the Irish Times and on RTÉ Radio.

Booked out? To be added to the waiting list for this course, please email info@irishwriterscentre.ie.