This course has already taken place. If you’d like to book into this course, we are running it again in September 2020. Check it out here>>

If you’ve read Truman Capote’s brutal In Cold Blood, Susan Orlean’s slow seduction by the natural world in The Orchid Thief or Chloe Hooper’s tangled navigation through Aboriginal deaths in custody in The Tall Man, you’ll already know real stories are often more compelling when they’re told properly: like actual stories. But narrative journalism doesn’t just stop at books. It is also the writing you’ll find in most magazines, from broadsheet newspaper supplements to travel journals and women’s glossies.

Is this online course right for you? Read our FAQ >

Benjamin Law – who has written for over 50 publications and is the author of several non-fiction books – will lead you through every step of the process from harvesting story ideas and pitching them to editors, right through to the nitty gritty of research, sourcing and conducting interviews, and how to turn raw research material into a riveting story, ready for publication in a magazine or book. This workshop is suitable for fiction and non-fiction writers wanting to apply their writing skills to a new field, for journalists looking for a new way to present a good story or for people wanting to know how to write non-fiction.

Participants will finish the workshop with a suite of story ideas to work on, with newfound skills to turn those ideas into stories.

Please note, we’ve designed this online course to meet your learning needs. You can work through the lesson material, ask questions, and engage with fellow writers at any time throughout the course. There are no live meetings.

Participant Requirements

Internet access and confidence using basic computer software are essential for this program. Participants should prepare five short, succinct ideas of the stories they would like to write, for use in courses exercises.

More from Writing NSW

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