Online: Novel Writing: Structuring Your Narrative
Anthony Macris
Monday 13 October to Friday 21 November 2025, online.Â
3 x Mondays on Zoom 6:30pm-7:30pm:
13 & 27 October
10 November
Full Price: $690
Member Price: $515
Conc Price: $445
This course, Online: Novel Writing: Structuring Your Narrative with Anthony Macris, will take place online.
Writing a novel or other extended narrative is one of the most exciting and rewarding challenges you can undertake. But it can also be a complex task that requires extensive knowledge of craft and technique to give your work the best chance of success. As soon as you start writing, a host of questions arise. How will I handle multiple characters, storylines and time fields? What is the best point of view to use? How do all these elements relate to one another to create a seamless whole readers will enjoy? An in-depth knowledge of narrative elements, and particularly how they interact, will bolster your creativity and prevent you from losing your way.
In this six-week online course with Anthony Macris, designed both for those who are just starting a novel project or at a more advanced stage, you will learn a holistic approach to narrative that demystifies the story-telling process. Via carefully structured lessons and exercises, tutor and peer feedback, as well as online discussion, you will be stepped through the main elements of narrative and the relationship between them. This practical knowledge will enable your story and characters to shine through in a lucid, well-structured piece of writing.
Week-by-Week Course Breakdown:
Week One: Introduction: Narrative & the Practising Writer
Narrative is the how of structuring your story, and a good understanding of it can make the writing life much more satisfying. In this lesson you will look at four of the main narrative elements essential to structuring your novel – story/plot, character, point of view, and time – and how they relate to each other in the writing process.
Week Two: Story & Plot
Aristotle famously said that stories have a beginning, middle and end that formed into a whole. What he didn’t say was how tricky it could be for a writer to achieve that whole! In this lesson you will examine the guiding principles of structuring events into compelling stories, looking at two heavy-hitters of narrative, Aristotle and Freytag, whose ideas are still as relevant as ever.
Week Three: Character
Everyone loves good characters, but how does a writer build their cast, and decide what role each character will play in the story? In this lesson you will look at characters not only as individuals, but also how their actions and interactions are the building blocks for story and plot.
Week Four: Point of View
Point of View, used well, is a kind of magic trick that enables your reader to see, feel, or know whatever you want, immersing them in the world of your novel. In this lesson you will learn how to develop a point-of-view schema that harmoniously brings together your story and characters.
Week Five: Time
Stories unfold in time. With every word you write, you are creating time, either in the form of scene and summary, or a mixture of both. You are also leaving out time (you can’t put in everything!), or rearranging time (flashbacks, foretelling). In this lesson you will learn how to use time in a way that clearly and confidently moves your reader through your novel.
Week Six: Markets & Audiences
Writers write for themselves, but if they also want to be read, they need to consider markets and audiences. In this lesson we will look at markets, the aspects of the publishing industry that focus on selling your work, and audiences, those you want to connect with and who make it all worthwhile.
Expected Learning outcomes:Â
Participants will:
- Develop an in-depth understanding of the foundational elements of narrative structure: story/plot, character, point of view, and temporal field
- Understand how these narrative elements interact within the structure of the novel as a whole
- Apply this knowledge to an individual novel project both at planning and execution stages.
Participant Requirements
- Internet access and confidence using basic computer software are essential for this program.
The course takes place on a user-friendly website called Wet Ink, designed specifically for writing courses. Each Monday during the course, a new lesson will be posted online. Participants will have the week to work through the content and post responses to exercises designed to put the theory they’re learning into practice. There will also be fortnightly Zoom sessions on a Monday night, from 6.30-7.30pm AEST, where participants will discuss the week’s lesson with Anthony and their peers.Â
Is this course right for you? Please read our FAQ> for important information before enrolling.Â
If you have questions about this course, please contact us.
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