By Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Creative writing, in all forms, is laborious. Creative writing is continuous education. A good writer never declares their study of writing “complete,” but consistently strives to pursue their improvement in their craft well into their careers and even well into publication success. One tool for writing improvement is the writing class; these classes offer not just an opportunity to bounce ideas off others of the same mindset alongside a social aspect, but also the guidance of a seasoned instructor whose eyes are tuned to spot where a story or essay needs more attention.
Brian Henry is such an instructor. For twenty-five years, he has been working as a book editor and a writing teacher in Canada. He was a creative writing instructor at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) where he trained a generation to write well. He runs the popular blog Quick Brown Fox, which regularly publishes relevant news and information for Canadians in the writing industry, along with original short stories, poems, and essays written by Canadians. Though he is Toronto-based, Henry sees the powerful potential in the active writers of Burlington and has made it a point for years to personally travel out to the city to provide in-depth instruction to Burlington’s burgeoning talent. Though many of his creative writing classes are now conducted online through Zoom — a still in-demand platform despite some Zoom overload during the COVID-19 pandemic — Henry still plans to continue teaching in-person courses in Burlington, starting from January 2025. The set schedule is as follows:
- (Not so) Extreme Creative Writing: This class on the art of writing impactful and memorable short stories and other works of fiction will be held on Thursday afternoons from 12:30 p.m.–3 p.m. from January 16 to February 26, 2025. The location is Burlington Anglican Lutheran at 3455 Lakeshore Rd.
- Writing Personal Essays and Other Nonfiction: This class on the art of writing memoir-style pieces rooted in heartfelt truth will be held on Thursday evenings from 7 p.m.–9 p.m. from January 23 to February 27, 2025. The location is also Burlington Anglican Lutheran.
“Of course, all of my classes used to be in-person,” Henry says, on the topic of why he specifically chose Burlington to be exempt from the Zoom platform while his other classes remain online. “And then COVID happened and the next day they were all online. I think that to some extent, I wasn’t able to go back to in-person with a number of them afterward because the people in the class often finish one class and then another class starts. Often, it’s the same people. By the time we were able to go back in person, many of the people in the classes were no longer from the locale that they were originally at.”
“Now that was less true for the Burlington class,” Henry continues. “There were more people in the Burlington class who were still from the Burlington area, so I was able to go back in person. I also really wanted to have at least one class that was in-person. And I think my Burlington class may have been going longer than any of the others. We lost some people who were online and couldn’t commute to Burlington, but not as many as with the other classes.”
According to Henry, the schedule of one of his writing classes typically proceeds as follows, with some subversions: it starts with a lively class discussion about something to do with the structure or the process of writing, followed by a presentation from two of the students who share their work with the rest of the student group for extensive feedback. Finally, the class then splits into smaller groups to read and critique one another’s writing. For his “Personal Stories” class, Henry cites the frequent use of props brought from home as part of his students’ storytelling, a feature that remains exclusive to the in-person classroom format.
“They’ll read it aloud and they might have an object to share along with it. We call it a ‘Show and Tell’ session. This is why I love in-person classes, for this sort of thing. Sometimes it’s something like a photograph or a document to go with the piece they’re reading. People bring all sorts of amazing things. Somebody brought a little piece of space, a little meteor. Somebody once brought a rocking chair that their grandmother had used for nursing their mother. Somebody once brought cookies, which I thought was an excellent idea. Muffins another time. I like that a lot too.”
Henry is an astute critic of his students’ work and, as an instructor, has a solid sense of what he is looking for in a piece of creative writing. He brings years of expertise to each critical reading and will work closely with the student to bring the piece to its full light.
“The very first quality,” explains Henry, regarding what he looks for in a piece of writing, “is how well does this hold my attention, and how well will it hold the attention of other readers? That’s the single crucial question. Then one of the other questions is, how could it hold it better? That’s the only other question. Because in some places it’s holding [attention] very well, and you know there are tweaks that could make it even better.”
Henry goes on, “And in other places, you’re likely losing the readers’ attention and [Henry assesses] what’s happening there. There are three areas of a story that always give the most trouble, and those are the beginning, the middle, and the end. They all have their different types of trouble that they give.”
That question of attention is always first, though. Next, Henry considers, “What quality is really working well? What not so much? How can I really help make this better?”
If you’re looking for Henry’s help with your writing, and feel ready to return to a more traditional classroom setting in a post-COVID world, you can sign up for one of his upcoming classes by reaching him through email, at brianhenry@sympatico.ca. Brian Henry is also available for manuscript consultations if you already have something written and near-ready for publication. If “write more” is on your New Year’s resolutions list, this is your chance.
