This course has unfortunately been cancelled; please join the waitlist to express your interest in doing the course in 2023.

Participants in face to face courses must comply with any precautionary measures related to COVID-19 that Writing NSW puts in place.

How do we find the right structure for our stories, and how does this task relate to the way a narrator guides the reader through time in the story world? Join Andrew Pippos, author of the award-winning novel Lucky’s, for a workshop on structure and time in narrative.

Is this course right for you? Read our FAQ >

In this course, we will discuss examples from novels and short stories, and how authors give an order to the events in a narrative, and how they signpost movements in time. We also discuss concepts such as scene and summary and stasis, and how these modes can be used for dramatic effect.

The course will delve into devices such as advance notice, foreshadowing, and flashbacks and flashforwards. Among the forms of narrative we examine are the multiple timeline story, alternating timelines, and the first narrative frame. We also discuss novels that span broad periods of time. Students are asked to experiment with a variety of structures, to explore new ways of telling their stories.

This workshop takes place at Writing NSW in Sydney.

Expected learning outcomes

1. Participants will gain an understanding of narrative time, including the order in which events are presented to the reader, and the modes of scene and summary and stasis.
2. Participants will experiment with structures such as the first narrative frame, including how to adapt these frames for their own purposes.
3. Participants will learn techniques for temporal shifts and foreshadowing.
4. Participants will learn unconventional ways of arranging a narrative, including the deployment of impossible or surreal temporalities.

Participant requirements

Pen and paper, laptop optional. Participants will be required to complete some pre-course reading. Please read our FAQ before enrolling.

If you have questions about this course and/or COVID-safe guidelines, please contact us.

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