World Building: Writing Speculative Fiction 2017

Who: Terry Dowling
When:
Sunday 19 March 2017, 10am–4pm
Cost: Full price:
$180; Member: $125; Conc Member: $110
Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Do you dream of the impossible? Do you want to create worlds that live and breathe on the page, that readers will never forget? Then get ready to immerse your imagination in the genres of science fiction and fantasy with one of Australia’s most awarded and internationally acclaimed speculative writers, Terry Dowling.

This one-day course will explore the exciting and lucrative genres of fantasy and science fiction, with an emphasis on the key elements of imaginative storytelling and producing what sells. Terry will focus on the special requirements of the field: creating worlds that are consistent and logical, characters that are believable and interesting, and situations that will intrigue the modern reader. The course will involve both aspects of latest genre theory plus practical exercises for achieving such essential storytelling techniques as invisibility of delivery and the Voice of Truth. There will be special attention on current local and international markets, the presentation of professional manuscripts and important strategies for developing both style and suspension of disbelief essential for success in the field. Participants will have the chance to receive feedback on their writing.

Learning Outcomes
Participants will gain:

  • A clear and practical understanding of the field’s current requirements and what the leading editors are looking for.
  • An introduction to the art of successful world-building using The Fourteen Things.
  • An introduction to such essential writing skills as logic-testing, brainstorming and the use of both dialogue cues and narrative cues to establish characters and believable dialogue.
  • A clear understanding of the importance of Invisibility and the Voice of Truth in the presentation of narrative.
  • A practical insight into how manuscripts should be presented for the current international market.
  • The chance to apply the above elements in (1) a practical manuscript evaluation exercise and (2) anonymous evaluation of their own writing.

Recommended Useful Reading
Stephen King, On Writing, Hodder & Stoughton, 2002.
Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965 (any edition)
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 1954-1955 (any edition)
Jonathan Strahan & Charles N. Brown, The Locus Awards, Voyager, 2004. (check libraries for this title)

Participant Requirements
Essential: please bring a printed writing sample of between 200 and 2000 words that reveals an exotic and otherworldly setting as much as possible through (1) your characters’ actions and reactions and (2) through dialogue, rather than through description of a place. See what you can do.

Bring three copies of your piece, typed and stapled, without your name anywhere on the text.

You may also be interested in:
Ignite Your Creative Fire with Jan Cornall
Understanding Story Structure with Laurel Cohn

About the tutor
Terry Dowling
, www.terrydowling.com, is one of Australia’s most awarded, versatile and internationally acclaimed writers of science fiction, fantasy and dark fantasy. He is the author of 13 books, among them Clowns at Midnight (which London’s Guardian newspaper called “an exceptional work that bears comparison to John Fowles’s The Magus), the award-winning Tom Rynosseros saga, and such critically praised collections as Amberjack: Tales of Fear & Wonder (starred review, Publisher’s Weekly), Basic Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear (starred review, Publisher’s Weekly) and Blackwater Days, as well as three best-selling computer adventures.

Terry’s stories have appeared in The Year’s Best Science Fiction, The Year’s Best SF, The Year’s Best Fantasy, The Best New Horror, The Year’s Best Horror, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, as well as in anthologies as diverse as Dreaming Down Under, Wizards, The Dark, Inferno, Songs of the Dying Earth and Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror. He is editor of such titles as Mortal Fire: Best Australian SF, The Essential Ellison and The Jack Vance Treasury and winner of the 2007 International Horror Guild Award for Best Collection.

The award-winning genre newspaper Locus calls him a ‘highly original’ writer, ‘the most noted prose stylist in Australian speculative fiction’ and ‘Australia’s finest writer of horror’. It also regards his work as placing him ‘among the masters of the field.’

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