New Batch of Courses Announced! Fully Funded! Limited Availability so do not delay and Email kelly@creativehats.co.uk to confirm your place
Start dates w/c 7th September 2026.
We have secured more funding!
Kelly Hatley has been teaching for North Hertfordshire College for more than twenty years and is particularly pleased to let you know that the recent creative writing courses she has designed are currently fully funded – which means yes they are free to attend!
Three Evenings. Three Ways to Write. And They’re FREE.
Fancy finally starting that story? Already writing but want to get better? Perhaps you’ve got a manuscript lurking on your laptop and no idea what you’re supposed to do with it next.
This September, I’m back at North Hertfordshire College, Stevenage Campus, with three evening creative writing courses, and there’s something different happening every night.
The courses begin the week commencing Monday 7 September 2026, running in person from 6.45pm–8.45pm.
Even better, they are fully funded and FREE of charge for eligible Hertfordshire learners aged 19 and over.
Want to join us? Email kelly@creativehats.co.uk to be added, stating which evening/course you would like to attend.
You can choose the course that suits where you are with your writing or the evening that suits your schedule.
MONDAY – Creative Writing: Beginners & Improvers
Learn the craft.
New to creative writing? Written before but want to develop your skills? Monday is where we get stuck into the craft of writing.
Across the course we’ll explore the building blocks of creative writing, including:
- finding and developing ideas
- creating memorable characters
- setting and description
- plotting and planning
- point of view and voice
- writing dialogue
- language and style
- poetry and playing with form
- prose, scripts and different ways to tell stories
Beginners and more experienced writers will work from the same themes, but exercises can be adapted and stretched according to experience.
Expect plenty of actual writing. We’ll use prompts, games, extracts and exercises to experiment with techniques rather than spending two hours talking about them.
No experience is necessary. You don’t need to arrive with a novel planned, a favourite poet or an expensive notebook. Just bring something to write with and a willingness to have a go.
TUESDAY – The Writer’s Toolkit: Mechanics of Writing & Publishing
Learn what to do with the writing.
Tuesday goes behind the scenes.
What happens between having an idea and holding a finished book? How do you structure and edit a manuscript? What’s the difference between proofreading and editing? How do you approach an agent? What exactly is an ISBN? And how do you spot the publishing opportunities that feel too good to be true?
We’ll explore the practical mechanics of writing and publishing, including:
- developing and structuring a writing project
- building effective scenes
- editing and redrafting
- dialogue, punctuation, point of view and manuscript conventions
- giving and receiving useful feedback
- approaching agents and publishers
- submissions, pitches and synopses
- self-publishing and independent publishing
- ISBNs, print-on-demand and ebooks
- copyright, contracts, rights and royalties
- author platforms, blurbs and marketing
- avoiding publishing scams and costly mistakes
But Tuesday isn’t going to be two hours of PowerPoint and punctuation.
Every session will include creative writing exercises, reading activities and practical challenges alongside the publishing content.
We’ll also have a short Peer Learning slot each week where one member of the group provides the writing prompt and we all have 15 minutes to see where it takes us.
WEDNESDAY – The Write Off
Learn by exploring how great writers do it.
Wednesday is something different.
Instead of being taught that there is one ‘correct’ way to write, we’re going to put great writers alongside each other and see what happens.
Two writers. One writing technique. Very different approaches.
Across ten weeks we’ll explore writers from different periods, backgrounds, cultures and genres, looking at areas such as character, description, atmosphere, suspense, voice, dialogue, imagination and poetry.
We might investigate how Jane Austen and Zadie Smith create characters, explore atmosphere through Edgar Allan Poe and Shirley Jackson, venture into other worlds with Neil Gaiman and N. K. Jemisin, or look at humour and rule-breaking through writers who refuse to behave.
We’ll read short extracts, investigate what each writer is doing and, most importantly, try the techniques ourselves.
This isn’t a literature course and there won’t be an exam at the end.
You don’t need to have read all the writers beforehand either.
The writers are our starting points. Your own writing is where we’re heading.
Which night is for you?
Monday: I want to learn or improve my creative writing.
Tuesday: I want to understand how writing, editing and publishing actually work.
Wednesday: I want to experiment, read great writers and discover new ways of writing.
The courses take place in person at North Hertfordshire College’s Stevenage Campus from 6.45pm–8.45pm, beginning the week of Monday 7 September 2026.
They are fully funded, meaning there is no course fee for eligible Hertfordshire learners aged 19+.
Want a place?
Email kelly@creativehats.co.uk to be added, stating which evening you would like to attend: Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.
Whether you’ve never written creatively before, have a half-finished novel gathering digital dust, or simply fancy spending an evening each week playing with words and meeting other writers, you’re very welcome.
Come and write. I can’t wait to meet you.
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