Brisbane Art of Writing Retreat,
February 29 - March 3, 2024,
Deep Dive into Writing.
All sessions conducted at
Level 1,
Old Mineral House,
2 Edward St, City.
INCLUDES:
Welcome drinks, finger food, and opening aperitivo.
Daily workshops, all tuition, handouts, and folders.
Hearty morning tea, coffee and sandwiches served daily.
3 Days + 1 Night Workshop.
COST: $1,300
4 speakers and guest lecturers (TBC).
Please note this program does not include accommodation or travel transfers.
Thursday, February 29th
1800
Welcome Aperitivo
Meet your fellow writers over wine and aperitif yummies. Introduction to Lisa Clifford, you, your work and the days ahead.
Friday, March 1
9:30 – 11:00
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF STORYTELLING - Lisa Clifford
Is your story a quiet yarn with lots of internalised feelings? Or a fast paced, action-packed thriller? Or a memoir with loads of disorganised life notes that need to be transcribed and focussed? Whether your genre is life writing, historical fiction, contemporary romance, or Sci-Fi Fantasy understanding the foundations of a good story is critical. It’s hard to move forward in any genre without the knowledge base of what drives a story forward.
11:00 – 11:30
Full morning tea, coffee and sandwiches provided.
11:30-1300
Whether you are nutting out a new character, cultivating an existing one or editing your final manuscript, this class is the lynchpin to a good story because character is key.
CHARACTER with Lisa Clifford.
How do we make our people so real our readers fall in love with them? Or viscerally dislike them? Let’s create undeniable (to use the current ‘it’ word in publishing) characters.
Whether you are nutting out a new character, cultivating an existing one or editing your final manuscript, this class is the lynchpin to a good story because character is key.
13:00-14:00
LUNCH BREAK
Learn how to add authenticity to your settings and characters, create atmospheres and articulate descriptions that show, not just tell, your reader’s location through its sounds, touch, smells and tastes.
14:00-15:30
SENSE OF PLACE - Lisa Clifford
Learn how to add authenticity to your settings and characters, create atmospheres and articulate descriptions that show, not just tell, your reader’s location through its sounds, touch, smells and tastes.
Saturday, March 2nd
09:30-1100
THE ART OF MEMOIR - Lisa Clifford
Using examples from Lisa’s best-selling memoir, The Promise, learn how to collect, collate and recount your own story. A compelling memoir digs deep into themes. How do we boil your story down to concentrate on what thematically truly matters to you? And how do we say that in 80,000 words? ‘Life writing’ is about your journey and always has a distinct story arc. How has your life challenged and changed you? And how do we set up the scenes that show that?
11:00 – 11:30
Full morning tea, coffee and sandwiches.
11:30-1300
SUSPENSE - Angela Slatter
Let’s work on writing a gripping story. Whether you’re writing historical non-fiction, romance, a memoir or literary fiction this workshop discusses pace, build-up and how to write unput-downable text. Every writer’s goal is to have their reader hungry to turn the page, unable to resist spending another few minutes reading. How to build tension? How to create characters and dialogue that add pressure and conflict? Can characters and dialogue generate suspense?
13:00-14:00
LUNCH BREAK
14:00-15:30
A problem shared can be a problem solved.
HOW DOES THIS SOUND TO YOU?
Group discussion with Lisa Clifford.
A problem shared can be a problem solved.
What ails you? Why isn’t it flowing? Working together gives us the opportunity to use each other as our sounding boards. This session is designed to inspire and encourage. Let’s hear your voice. Creative writing exercises to prompt your best writing ever.
Sunday, March 3rd
09:30-11:00
Let’s unpack pov with Laurel.
POINT OF VIEW - Laurel Cohn, guest structural editor and lecturer.
Should you write your story using a first, third, close, or omniscient Point of View? It’s an important decision that sets up the reader’s relationship to the story and its characters. The dramatic effects of multiple pov’s are huge. So is varying your pov distance, by pulling in and out of a scene.
Let’s unpack pov with Laurel.
11:00-11:30
Full morning tea, coffee and sandwiches provided.
Identifying themes, whether major or minor, requires some intuitive work. As you write you may sense that certain ideas are bubbling up within you. But what those ideas are, and how you want the reader to feel about them, are not always clear. Themes are often bright only after your story is written. But understanding the difference between your plot and theme now helps story and character arcs take shape.
11:30-13:00
THEME VS PLOT - Laurel Cohn.
Identifying themes, whether major or minor, requires some intuitive work. As you write you may sense that certain ideas are bubbling up within you. But what those ideas are, and how you want the reader to feel about them, are not always clear. Themes are often bright only after your story is written. But understanding the difference between your plot and theme now helps story and character arcs take shape.
13:00-14:00
LUNCH BREAK.
14:00 – 15:30
Guest Literary Agent.
Zeitgeist Agency represents writers and illustrators around the globe from their offices in Sydney and Brussels. When the Art of Writing heard Zeitgeist was opening a literary arm in Queensland, Brisbane, we were all over it. Samuel Bernard is open to receiving submissions in commercial fiction, specifically crime, psychological thriller, and historical fiction. But what’s hot and what’s not right now in the publishing world? How can we be sure we are creating the best query letter possible? What submission mistakes make literary agents and publishers cringe? We are incredibly fortunate to have Zeitgeist team with the Art of Writing to answer your questions on the book world. Sydney based Director of Zeitgeist Agency, Benython Oldfield, will also pop in to have a chat.
Benython Oldfield
Samuel Bernard
Zeitgeist Agency represents writers and illustrators around the globe from their offices in Sydney and Brussels. When the Art of Writing heard Zeitgeist was opening a literary arm in Queensland, Brisbane, we were all over it. Samuel Bernard is open to receiving submissions in commercial fiction, specifically crime, psychological thriller, and historical fiction. But what’s hot and what’s not right now in the publishing world? How can we be sure we are creating the best query letter possible? What submission mistakes make literary agents and publishers cringe? We are incredibly fortunate to have Zeitgeist team with the Art of Writing to answer your questions on the book world. Sydney based Director of Zeitgeist Agency, Benython Oldfield, will also pop in to have a chat.