PUBLIC WOrkshops

COURSE SYNOPSIS

Novelist and editor Daryl Qilin Yam takes you through a crash course on reading and writing fiction by getting you to understand the important functions of story and plot within any literary work; the building blocks of narrative technique vital in making any piece of creative writing sing; as well as an opportunity to hear and receive feedback on a work of fiction in a session of peer-led critique.

The intention is to allow people completely new to the craft of writing to become acquainted with the basics of creative writing, and to equip them with the necessary skills to think through literary mechanisms and to be able to identify them both in our reading and our writing. This course is also open to more experienced writers who wish to get a refresher on the basics from a practitioner of the craft.

Session 1: Understanding Story and Plot
Through a combination of in-class reading materials and generative creative writing exercises, this introductory session to craft of writing fiction will enable participants to appreciate the fine mechanisms of story structure, how story structure is crucial to our understanding of any piece of literary fiction, as well as inspire them to ideate new stories of their own.

Session 2: Assembling a Narrative
Through a combination of in-class reading materials and generative creative writing exercises, this second session of the weekend will take participants through the nitty-gritty detail necessary in any narrative art, with a focus on the dual nature of description, the evocation of setting and imagery, and the deployment of dialogue in our stories.

Session 3: Writing and Reading
In this follow-up session, participants are expected to hand in a piece of writing by a deadline stipulated by the course instructor, so that both the course instructor and the course participants can provide feedback in a university-style environment. Each participant can expect to receive a set of personal annotations and reading recommendations from the instructor.

This course is SkillsFuture Credit-eligible. All Singaporeans aged 25 and above can use their SkillsFuture Credits from the government to pay for a wide range of approved skills-related courses. You may visit the course listing on the MySkillsFuture website here to find out more.

For enquiries, please email bookawriter@singlitstation.com.

COURSE RUNS

Venue: Sing Lit Station, 22 Dickson Road #02-01, Singapore 209506

First Run
Session 1: 25 Oct 2025, 2pm - 4.30pm
Session 2: 26 Oct 2025, 10am - 12pm
Session 3: 2 Nov 2025, 2pm - 4.30pm
Second Run
Session 1: 13 Dec 2025, 10am - 12.30pm
Session 2: 14 Dec 2025, 10am - 12pm
Session 3: 20 Dec 2025, 10am - 12.30pm

COURSE FEES

Full Course Fee: $250
Student Concession: $150

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Daryl Qilin Yam (b. 1991) is a writer, editor and arts organiser from Singapore. The author of two novels, a novella and the bestselling short story collection Be Your Own Bae (2024), he has been nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award, and shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize and the SBPA’s Singapore Book Awards. He co-founded the literary charity Sing Lit Station, where he presently serves as the managing editor of its publishing arm AFTERIMAGE.

His writing has appeared in periodicals and publications such as the Berlin Quarterly, the Sewanee Review, The Straits Times and The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singapore Short Stories anthology series. His first novel, Kappa Quartet (2016), was selected by The Business Times as one of the best novels of the year, and was described by QLRS as “[breaking] new ground in Singaporean writing… an immensely sympathetic and humane exploration of our existential condition.”