Year of the Novel: Phase 3 2017

Who: Emily Maguire
When:
8 x Tuesday evenings: 19, 26 September; 10, 17, 24, 31 October; 7, 14 November 2017, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Cost: Full Price:
$880; Member: $615; Conc Member: $530
Level:
Students should be prepared to come to the first class with a specific work-in-progress or idea for a novel.

Phase Three: Nip, tuck, primp and preen.
This is where we take a long hard look at your very good novel and figure out how to make it brilliant. We’ll cut the fat, plump up the too-lean bits, polish the language and do whatever else is necessary to ensure your novel is ready to face the world.

Please note that while the three phases are designed to build on each other, each may also be taken as a stand-alone unit.

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 Maguire
is the author of five novels and two non-fiction books, and is 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 was 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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