Take Your Writing to the Next Level...

Booming Ground, Western Canada’s pre-eminent online writing studio offers innovative, professional creative writing mentorships in a variety of genres for writers of all levels. The non-credit satellite program of the prestigious UBC Creative Writing program, Booming Ground takes pride in matching some of North America’s best writing mentors with students all over the world.

New Courses!

New For Spring 2008: Poetic Forms, Life Writing, Non-Fiction Book Proposals

We're very excited to announce the launch of three new craft-based courses. Jennica Harper's Falling for Form offers poets a hands-on introduction to the possibilities of formal poetry. Merilyn Simonds offers two new mentorships: Writing from Life, for students interested in exploring memoir, travel writing and other forms of narrative non-fiction, and From From Desk to Book, a step-by-step mentorship through the process of putting together a non-fiction or fiction book proposal.

The Power of Mentorship

In addition to our new courses, we continue to offer one-on-one mentorships with our faculty. Rigorous and supportive feedback ensures that individual students receive what they need most: instruction customized towards their own writing goals. Four, six and eight-month mentorships are available in fiction, poetry, non-fiction, advanced novel, writing for children and young adult fiction.

Our Instructors

Booming Ground instructors are accomplished authors AND teachers, valued not only for their mastery of craft, but also their keen understanding of the newest creative developments in their genre. They provide skilled guidance and instruction on all levels of craft from fundamentals for the novice write, to the advanced techniques necessary to produce an manuscript of publishable quality

Manuscript Evaluation (New!)

For anyone who has received a rejection notice, considered submitting their work to a literary journal, editor or agent, or simply wondered about the quality of their creative writing, Booming Ground offers a Manuscript Evaluation Service. The service provides a constructive written report from one of our instructors evaluating your manuscript and offering concrete suggestions for revisions and corrections. This report can help immeasurably in rewrites, or in selecting an instructor for future mentorship sessions.

Special offer: the cost of each each evaluation also includes a one-year subscription to UBC Creative Writing's renowned literary magazine, PRISM international.

More Information & Application

New Courses

Writing from Life - Merilyn Simonds

This course is for writers working on manuscripts in the genre of narrative nonfiction, particularly travel and personal history. In four sessions, Merilyn will deal progressively with voice, narrative arc, character development (including dialogue), and the ethics involved in writing from life.

Fee (GST included): $780

From Desk to Book - Merilyn Simonds

This course is primarily for writers who have a finished non-fiction manuscript, or a well-developed book idea, who need guidance preparing a book proposal for submission to publishers or agents. In four sessions, Merilyn will workshop the components of a successful proposal: the covering letter, synopsis and chapter outline, author biography and marketing strategy sheet and short writing sample. The course will include discussions on how to select the right publisher or agent for the work. Please query regarding fiction book proposals.

Fee (GST included): $780

Falling for Form - Jennica Harper

Develop new ways of seeing and writing poetry by exploring a variety of poetic forms. The course will be delivered online over 6 sessions carried out via lectures and exercises; students will also write one formal poem each session and receive feedback from the instructor. Falling for Form is ideal for early career poets, intermediate poets who haven't worked in forms, or any poet looking for a fresh approach to their work.

Fee (GST included): $595

Mentorships

Students submit creative work by email to their mentor - up to 6000 words per submission as chapters of a novel, a work of nonfiction, or short fiction, or up to 15 pages of poetry. The faculty member will provide written commentary, usually by email, including critical feedback, suggestions and writing tips. Working for a minimum of 16 weeks (or four monthly submission periods), students will be able to create new material and get immediate feedback, or rework existing material, all under the supervision of one of our faculty. Students may also choose to work for 6 or 8 submission periods, for an extra fee.

• One-on-one interaction with an award winning instructor.
• Ideal for working on novels, memoirs, collections of short fiction or poetry.
• Submit monthly and receive regular mentor feedback.
• Produce new material or receive critical feedback on a work in progress.

Apply: Please use our online registration form to submit a sample of your writing (up to 10 pages, double spaced - Word or RTF format) and choose your preferred mentor. If a mentor is currently full, we will suggest an alternate mentor, or allow you to wait until a space becomes available. All mentors review the work of applicants before acceptance is granted. If you are a current or former Booming Ground student, the writing sample is not required.

Fiction:
Anita Rau Badami, Pearl Luke, Robert Hilles

Poetry:
Evelyn Lau, Robert Hilles

Non-fiction:
Evelyn Lau

Writing for Children/Young Adults:
Gayle Friesen

Fee (GST included):
4 submissions - $780
6 submissions - $1170
8 submissions - $1560

Manuscript Evaluation

Students submit, by email, a manuscript for evaluation. The written evaluation will contain comments on the structure and content of the manuscript as well as contents on the writing itself. The instructor will make suggestions for changes and rewrites and respond to up to three specific questions the author includes with the submission.

How long will it take? This depends on the length of the manuscript. When you submit we will provide an estimate after discussion with the faculty member. Generally, you should expect an evaluation within 4 to 6 weeks, though longer manuscripts may take more time.

Will this be an edit of my manuscript? No. This is an evaluation and consultation, rather than an edit. Expect to receive detailed comments and advice where applicable; the instructor will not rewrite or provide line-edits.

Fee: Up to 10 pages, double spaced, 12 point type: $270. Fee includes a one year subscription to PRISM international, UBC Creative Writing's highly-regarded literary magazine. GST included. Each additional page is $2.50.

For example, a 200 page manuscript would cost $270 + $475 = $745.

Apply: Please use our online manuscript evaluation form to submit your manuscript and choose your preferred evaluator.

Questions? Please contact us.