Year of the Novel 2016 – Phase Three – sold out!

This course is now sold out. Please email us your name and phone number and we will add you to the waiting list.

Who: Emily Maguire

When: 8 x Wednesday evenings: 21, 28, September; 5, 12, 19, 26 October; 2, 9 November, 2016, 6:30pm-9:30pm

Full Price:$880; Member: $615; Conc Member: $530

Level:Participants should have a first draft or most of a full draft completed.

We’ll work on turning your novel draft into a brilliant manuscript. We’ll cut the fat, plump up the too-lean bits, polish the language and ensure you have the knowledge and skills necessary to launch your novel into the world.

Emily Maguire will use examples from classic and contemporary fiction and from students’ work-in-progress to explore topics, and guest speakers will share their insights to further expand your understanding of how published writers do what they do.At the end of the year, we’ll celebrate your accomplishments by throwing a party at which friends, family, other writers and industry insiders can hear you read from your novel.

 1.  Revision and editing basics

Learning to read like an editor. We’ll also talk about the difference between structural, line and copy-editing.

 2.  What’s missing?

Every novel-in-progress has weak points and this week we’re going to confront yours head on. Whether it’s a weak antagonist, a giant plot line or dodgy dialogue we’ll work one-on-one to pin-point your problems and come up with strategies to fix them.

3.  What needs to go?

You’ve done a lot of work since you first began this writing journey. Now it’s time to go back and pull down the stuff you no longer need. We’ll pull out the scissors and ruthlessly cut out all those no-longer necessary explanations, descriptions and conversations.

 4. Beginnings

It may seem a bit late to be talking about beginnings, but it’s often only once you’re close to the end that you can see where you should have begun! This week is all about making sure your novel starts where and how it needs to (know that you know where it’s going).

5. Endings

Endings are tough, but we’re going to be tough right back at them! We’ll talk finales, climaxes, cliffhangers, epilogues and the difference between an open-ending and no-ending at all.

6. Word by word

This week we go micro considering the rhythm and flow of sentences and hunting down filter words, cliches and clumsy constructions.

7. Over to you

This week’s content will be determined by the needs and concerns of the students, and will include a significant amount of one-on-one time with the tutor for each student.

8. Where do we go from here?

Freelance editors, manuscript assessment, agents, publishers, competitions and more.

 

Participant Requirements

Pen and paper

 

About the tutor

Emily Maguireis the author of five novels and two non-fiction books, and an experienced teacher and mentor to young and emerging writers. Her novels have been translated into 12 languages and her articles, essays and reviews have been published widely. She is a 2010 and 2013 Sydney Morning Herald Young Novelist of the Year and the recipient of the 2011 NSW Writer’s Fellowship. Emily has served as Writer in Residence at the Djerassi Artists Program in Northern California (2009), as an Asialink Literature Resident in Vietnam (2008) and the Nancy Keesing Resident at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2014). Her latest book is the novel An Isolated Incident. 

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