Articles
Workshops 2012
The Art of Revision
Laurel Cohn
Monday 30 July
10am – 4pm SCU Room,
Byron Community Centre, Jonson St, Byron Bay
$100/$85* Code 1W
Successful authors often note that the art of a good book lies in the revision process. Getting your story down (whether fiction or non-fiction) is a great achievement, but the real work begins with rewriting. And rewriting. And more rewriting.
In this workshop, designed specifically for writers with a completed draft of a book-length work, editor Laurel Cohn explores the three key aspects to the art of revision: stepping out of writer mode and into revision mode; identifying the heart of the narrative; and shaping the text to honour the story. Each of these aspects requires a different perspective and particular tools and strategies.
Through the day, you will be encouraged to pull back from your work, and then dive deep into the heart of it. Learn how to enhance your underlying themes, hone your voice, trim and tighten your text, pace your narrative and structure your story line. The art of revision is fundamental to the craft of writing. Embrace this and you will improve your chances of publishing success.
Participants to bring:
15,000 word extract from current working draft of their manuscript, preferably the opening. Synopsis (up to 250 words) of their manuscript. Workshop is for writers who have completed at least a first draft of a book-length narrative work.
Surf Writing
Tim Baker
Monday 30 July
9.30am – 12.30pm
SAE Institute, 373 Ewingsdale Rd, Byron Bay
$60/$50* Code 2W
Best-selling author Tim Baker has been writing about surfing for 25 years. He believes surfing makes ideal subject matter for story-telling because it fits the template of “the hero’s journey,” the classic three-act narrative arc that has defined our most enduring stories for millennia.
Learn the secrets of story-telling, simple free writing exercises, and key techniques to help you record your most precious surfing memories as dynamic, compelling tale.
The Picky Burglar: shame, hate and truth in biography
John Bailey
Monday 30 July
1.30pm – 4.30pm
SAE Institute, 373 Ewingsdale Rd, Byron Bay
$60/$50* Code 3W
Do you want the truth-or do you want to be read? Is there a message for the present times, or no message? Are you writing history, or are you writing inspiration? Who cares about your subject? Do you care? Why care? Do you gleefully highlight the nasty bits or leave them out? What will the rellos think?
This workshop is planned to be very interactive. Participants are asked to challenge their methods, their approach to biography and how they do their research. It shall be a sharing of ideas, disappointments and challenges.
Participants to bring a one page synopsis of their project, and the first three pages (if you have it).
Read more: The Picky Burglar: shame, hate and truth in biography
The Art of Research and Interview
Edna Carew
Tuesday 31 July
9.30am – 12.30pm
SCU Room, Byron Community Centre, Jonson St, Byron Bay
$60/$50* Code 4W
Who has not walked out of an interview wondering if and how it could have been better handled. It can happen to the best. Come hear how to ensure top results from interviews and research from a professional who, in the course of her work on profiles, biographies and company histories, has interviewed countless women and men from various walks of life.
Edna Carew, author of more than twenty books, has through her journalism and writing covered topics ranging from personal relationships and sexual health to finance, economics, politics, business and travel.
Her work has led her to interview prime ministers, senior politicians and high-level bureaucrats, company executives, doctors and health professionals, media moguls, nuns, truck drivers, funeral directors and artists.
In this workshop she will share how best to prepare for an interview and organise research as well as anecdotes revealing pitfalls in the process, so that ideally by the time pen hits paper or a finger hits keyboard, the words flow.
Bring a pen and paper, a lively mind, a sharp curiosity and any questions you may have.
Come prepared to share experiences, learn and have fun.
What We Talk About When We talk About Food
Gay Bilson
Tuesday 31 July
1.30pm – 4.30pm
SCU Room, Byron Community Centre, Jonson St, Byron Bay
$60/$50* Code 5W
What is it we are addressing when we write about food? What should we be addressing? What do you want to address? What words best serve your purpose?
If food is a shared material, economic and cultural concern for all people, then we need food journalism to include serious and informed writing about food security, food waste, food pricing, food distribution, food and health, and, especially, agriculture and all that agriculture entails – climate, soil, labour, the uses to which land is put.
We will read and critique two essays (sent to you before the workshop) and attempt a short piece of our own.
Something Funny About Writing
Mandy Nolan
Tuesday 31 July
10am – 4pm
SAE Institute, 373 Ewingsdale Rd, Byron Bay
$100/$85* Code 6W
Join Mandy Nolan in a full day workshop where she focuses on bringing humour into your writing. 'It's about finding your authentic voice, committing to comic ideas as a way of perpetuating or continuing the theme, rather than clichéd sensationalism'. Good comedy writing should be moving, original and of course very very funny!
This is a perfect workshop for anyone keen to start a regular blog, or for writers wanting to invest more humour in their work!
Participants to bring:
- They need to bring articles from the paper or the internet that interest them. A photograph of themselves some time in the past.
- Laptop if they have one (not essential)
- Memory stick.
- A Favourite comedic paragraph from anything they have read.
Writing The Aboriginal World
Melissa Lucashenko
Tuesday 31 July
1.30pm – 4.30pm
Veranda Room, Byron Community Centre, Jonson St, Byron Bay
$60/$50* Code 7W
Aboriginal themes and characters are of increasing interest to Australian writers and to a world audience. But constructing stories and ideas which reflect modern Aboriginal realities and are not simply rehashes of old racist tropes is a complex process.
In this half day workshop Melissa Lucashenko, an award-winning Bundjalung novelist and essayist, examines ways that non-Aboriginal writers can successfully enter this difficult terrain.
Topics covered include: What is an Aboriginal anyway? Can outsiders write the Aboriginal voice? What is and isn’t negotiable in Aboriginal storytelling? And most of all, how to create authentic and convincing Aboriginal people on the page.
Write, Sell and Promote Your Genre Fiction
Kim Falconer
Wednesday 1 August
10am – 4pm
SCU Room, Byron Community Centre, Jonson St, Byron Bay
$100/$85* Code 8W
Awaken the writer in you! Join Kim falconer for an intensive full day workshop on the dynamics of writing genre fiction including manuscript readiness and presentation, publication options, working with an editor and the all important leap into the world of social media.
If you are an emerging writer who loves to read and write genre fiction, from fantasy, romance, adventure, horror, science fiction, historical, erotica to dystopia, YA to adult, and want to hone your skills and sell your work, Write, Sell and Promote Your Genre Fiction is for you.
Kim Falconer is a bestselling speculative fiction author with six novels out through HarperCollins Voyager Worldwide. She lives and writes in Byron Bay, runs an astrology form, teaches Law of Attraction and is working on a third series set in a whole new world. Find out more about Kim at www.kimfalconer.com