All Courses

09:00-16:30, light lunch.

Basic communication skills for PAs, secretaries and admin staff.

This intensive one-day workshop is like sending your admin personnel to finishing school! Not only will they learn the basics of clear, concise and effective written communication in English via e-mail and business letters, but they will also get a chance to polish up on basic note taking, summarising, minute taking, and telephone skills.

The programme:

09:00-12:30.

Unique in SA! Fun and interactive, creative thinking for everyone.

At last! Here's a chance to forget about deadlines, objectives, outcomes and the usual office or home pressure. Let your playful and creative side run riot in this jam-packed morning of laughs and inspiration. For us, having fun is serious business, but you needn't be a writer to enjoy this creative thinking workshop. Anyone can join in. The exercises are randomised and repeatable so that they are different every time you do them. Book as often as you like and, if you're a business person, bring your whole team.

The Craziators! creativity exercises are all language-based and interactive:

09:00-12:30

Unique in SA! Fun and interactive, creative thinking for everyone.

At last! Here's a chance to forget about deadlines, objectives, outcomes and the usual office or home pressure. Let your playful and creative side run riot in this jam-packed morning of laughs and inspiration. For us, having fun is serious business, but you needn't be a writer to enjoy this creative thinking workshop. Literally anyone can join in. The exercises are randomised and repeatable so that they are different every time you do them. Book as often as you like and, if you're a business person, bring your whole team.

The Craziators! creativity exercises are all language-based and interactive:

Morning or afternoon.

Communication in the electronic age

Electronic communication is an integral part of the modern business, but does your writers really know how to write effective internal or external e-mails according to the latest etiquette, how to produce online copy that zings or short messages that drive responses? This module is jam-packed full of practical exercises for effective e-writing.

Morning or afternoon.

A 100% customised report-writing session

There are probably as many kinds of reports out there as there are companies. So, instead of a host of dry, often inapplicable theory, our facilitator analyses beforehand samples of your problem reports, and then designs a workshop around your company’s specific report-writing challenges. Sample reports are discussed, analysed, edited and improved during this workshop.

09:00-16:30, light lunch.

Give your manuscript a professional polish.

This practical and interactive workshop is geared specifically towards the editing of fiction. If you're a first-time author, the workshop will help you get the best out of your completed manuscript, and smooth the way towards getting your work sold to a publisher. For experienced authors, this course is the perfect refresher to hone those rusty old language and editing skills.

This course is also available as an e-correspondence course.

The programme:

09:00-16:30, ligte middagete.

Skryf 'n publiseerbare boek.

Uiteindelik, 'n genotvolle en praktiese kursus wat jou met vars idees sal inspireer, jou vaardighede sal slyp en sal help om jou boek op die rakke te kry. Ons verkoop nie kunsmatige "formules" of "resepte" vir fiksie nie, want ons glo dit verarm skeppende werk. Maar ons glo wel in skryfwerk wat genot verskaf, en daarom kry ons die vonk van kreatiwiteit aan die brand met klasoefeninge en onmiddellike terugvoer. Met 'n bietjie inspirasie, word drome waar!

Hierdie kursus is ook per e-korrespondensie beskikbaar.

Die program:

Donderdae, 18:00-20:30

Skryf 'n publiseerbare boek.

Uiteindelik, 'n genotvolle en praktiese kursus wat jou met vars idees sal inspireer, jou vaardighede sal slyp en sal help om jou boek op die rakke te kry. Ons verkoop nie kunsmatige "formules" of "resepte" vir fiksie nie, want ons glo dit verarm skeppende werk. Maar ons glo wel in skryfwerk wat genot verskaf, en daarom kry ons die vonk van kreatiwiteit aan die brand met klasoefeninge en onmiddellike terugvoer. Met 'n bietjie inspirasie, word drome waar!

Hierdie kursus is ook per e-korrespondensie beskikbaar.

Die program:  

• Oor inspirasie en die leerproses
• Karakters: gesigte en figure
• Dialoog: stemme
• Storielyne: die kuns van beplanning
• Tonele: aksie en reaksie
• Styl: prosa, nie poësie nie
• Roetine: gewoontes en prosesse
• Publisering: jou naam in druk.

09:00-16:30, ligte middagete.

Skryf 'n publiseerbare kortverhaal.

Kortverhale kan 'n makliker manier wees om 'n gepubliseerde skrywer te word ... mits jou vertelvaardighede skerp genoeg geslyp is. In hierdie genotvolle en praktiese slypskool ondersoek ons al die nodige tegnieke om van jou kortverhaal 'n sukses te maak. Maar bowe al, wil ons jou van nuuts af inspireer!

Hierdie kursus is ook per e-korrespondensie beskikbaar.

Die program:

09:00-16:30, light lunch.

Write a book and get it published.

A fun, interactive and practical novel writing course to inspire you with fresh ideas, sharpen your storytelling tools and help you get your book on the shelves. We don't teach "fiction recipes" or "plot formulas", because they stifle true creativity. But we do believe in inspiring sparks of new life in your craft with a host of in-class exercises and immediate, professional feedback. With a bit of inspiration, dreams come true!

This course is also available as an e-correspondence course.

The programme:

Thursday evenings, 18:00-20:30.

Write a book and get it published.

A fun, interactive and practical evening class in novel writing to inspire you with fresh ideas, sharpen your storytelling tools and help you get your book on the shelves. We don't teach "fiction recipes" or "plot formulas", because they stifle true creativity. But we do believe in inspiring sparks of new life in your craft with a host of in-class exercises and immediate, professional feedback. With a bit of inspiration, dreams come true!

This course is also available as an e-correspondence course.

The programme:

09:00 - 16:30, light lunch.

Write short fiction and get it published. 

Short fiction can be an easier route to getting published, provided your storytelling tools are sharp enough. In this fun, interactive and practical workshop, you will explore the latest storytelling techniques and learn all the tricks of the short fiction trade. But most of all, you will be newly inspired with great ideas.

This course is also available as an e-correspondence course.

The programme: 

• What makes a short story?
• Figures and Faces
• Voices
• Outlines
• Scenes as building blocks
• The question of style
• Habits and processes
• Who publishes short fiction?

09:00 - 16:30, light lunch.

Writing for the media

This workshop deals with writing for the purposes of generating good public relations according to a set of various criteria and scenarios.

Morning or afternoon.

How to write copy that sells.

If writing advertisements, brochures, direct mailers, proposals and tenders is a part of your staff’s required business writing skills set, this copywriting module offers in-class practice with fun and interactive exercises.

09:00-12:30 or 13:30-17:00

The dos and don'ts of getting published

With the focus squarely on how to sell your work in a fiercely competitive marketplace, this workshop equips first-time authors with the requisite tools to make their submissions stand out from the rest, and will dramatically minimize a given manuscript’s chance of ending up on the dreaded ‘slush pile’. Our facilitators are published authors in their own right, each of whom has been through the arduous process of getting a novel noticed and commissioned by a publishing house. With our combined experience we know what works, and -crucially- what doesn’t, and can amply prepare prospective authors to negotiate the tricky minefield that is the publishing world.

HeadSpark’s Selling Your Novel workshop covers the following areas:

09:00-16:30, light lunch.

A language refresher and basic business writing workshop

This back-to-basics English language refresher and self-editing workshop is ideal for all business writers. No matter which industry you’re from – or whether you are a CEO or an Admin Assistant – the art of clear and concise expression is the key to personal and career success. We rediscover everything from basic grammar and formatting to office editing processes with practical and interactive in-class exercises.

This course is also available as an e-correspondence course.

The programme: