What is the difference between story and plot? It can be one thing to create engaging characters and interesting situations, but entirely another to know how to order and pace a full-length work to ensure it holds your readers’ attention. Whether you like to plan your work out in advance, or whether you have a vague sense that your work lacks tension, it is always useful to understand the rudimentary requirements (and possibilities) of narrative structure.
This day-long workshop will introduce a variety of strategies that can be used to create the framework that will best serve your plot and characters, as well as teach techniques to successfully pace and organise the sequence of events in your work. Through a series of dynamic writing exercises, personal feedback and key insights into the creative practice, participants will learn about the ways in which plot and story differ, the components of commonly-found story arcs and three-act structures, and how to balance multiple plot lines.
Please bring your laptop or a writing pad – and come prepared for day of intensive writing, reflection and discussion, led by two experienced writers and industry professionals.
Structure
Where: Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre, Multi-Purpose Room 2, 251 Faraday Street, Carlton VIC
When: Saturday, 4 June 2016
Time: 10am to 4pm
Price: $179 for KYD subscribers; $199 for non-subscribers
All bookings are made through TryBooking: http://www.trybooking.com/177052
This is a day-long workshop. Morning and afternoon tea will be provided, and there is a 45-minute break for lunch. Kathleen Syme Library is close to public transport, and there is parking nearby. All participants also receive a goodie bag of resource material to keep you motivated long after the workshop has concluded. For further information, please email: [email protected]
About the Teachers
Hannah Kent is the co-founder and publishing director of Kill Your Darlings. Her debut novel, Burial Rites (Picador; Little, Brown), has been translated into twenty-three languages and was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Guardian First Book Award. It won the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year, the Indie Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year and the Victorian Premier’s People’s Choice Award, and has most recently been shortlisted for the 2015 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Hannah is currently working on her second novel.
Rebecca Starford is the co-founder and publishing director of Kill Your Darlings. She is also an editor at Text Publishing and a former deputy editor at Australian Book Review. She was a founding member of the Stella Prize steering committee, and her writing has appeared in the Guardian, Age, and Weekend Australian. Her debut memoir, Bad Behaviour, was published by Allen & Unwin in March 2015.
