Upcoming workshops and events

All workshops require payment at time of booking. Bookings can be made by phone on 6262 9191 (Tuesday-Saturday), online at https://app.formassembly.com/forms/view/10261 or in person at the Writers Centre office, Gorman House, Ainslie Avenue, Braddon. The Writers Centre has credit card facilities and EFTPOS. If paying by cheque, make payable to ACT Writers Centre. Enrolment will not be confirmed until payment is received.

How to write a ten minute play

with Alex Broun

18-20 May

An intensive weekend workshop with one of the world’s leading 10-minute playwrights, Alex Broun. The workshop will run Friday 6-9pm, Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 10am-6pm. The aims of the workshop are to INSPIRE you to write a good ten minute play and INFORM you with the knowledge required to write the play. In one weekend learn how to write a ten minute play then see it come to life right before your eyes.

Session 1: What makes a good ten minute play?
The opening session will tackle the fundamental question of just what is a ten minute play? What should you write your play about? How do you know if you’re trying to tell too big a story in too short a time ? What are the elements required for a good ten minute play?

Session 2: Your idea
Pitch your ideas for a ten minute play to Alex and the group. Find out which of your ideas will work best in the ten minute play format – and which won’t! Sharpen and focus your structure and storyline to help shape a strong ten minute play.

Session 3: Story and style
This session looks at Story Structure and will explore how to dramatise your story in the most theatrically satisfying way. It will also consider what makes a good Beginning, Middle and End. We will also introduce you to different styles or genres of theatre and consider what is the best style for your play.

Session 4: Character and dialogue
This session explores how to create memorable characters. What is the role of character in the theatre ? Also allowing your characters to speak truthfully – the slight variations that make one character on stage different and bind your characters with an audience. The session will also explore rhythm, dialogue and use of language in the theatre through encouraging participants to act out a moved reading of a short scene.

Session 4: Theatricality and surprise
This session explores WHY your play needs to be produced on stage and what makes it different from film and television. This session will challenge the writers to find adventurous and new ways to tell their story and bring it to life on stage. It will also explore the important nature of surprise in theatre through character revelation and/or incident and staying one step ahead of your audience.

Session 5: Workshopping your script
In this day-long session participants will read and workshop their scripts, which they have written during the course, with Short+Sweet actors. They will physicalise the script with the actors and explore how their text works on stage, allowing them to test their play and discovering how it will work when performed.

Session 6: On stage
In the climax of the course participants scripts will be given moved public readings by the Short+Sweet actors to an invited audience, including family and friends. This is a chance for the writers to see how their work comes to life on stage – and more importantly – how the audience responds to it. They will then be able to carry out any further revisions on their play before entering it for consideration to the Short+Sweet Theatre Brisbane 2009.

Alex Broun is one of the world's leading experts in 10 minute plays. Alex has had no less than 75 ten minute plays produced across the globe in over 500 productions including Short+Sweet 2002-2011 and Shorter+Sweeter - The Best of Short+Sweet - 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010. Internationally Alex has had short plays produced in Australia, Canada, Chile, Estonia, France, Hungary, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Singapore, Taiwan, the UK and 40 different states of the USA. Recently he had a play published in Germany and a collection of short plays was translated into Persian and published in Iran. His longer plays have been performed at the Sydney Festival and he has twice received script development funding from the AFC.

Over half of former participants in this course have gone on to have plays produced at Short+Sweet and other 10-minute theatre festivals around the world! Plays to come out of the Alex Broun Playwriting Workshop include: Perfect Stillness by Jane Miller (Winner People’s Choice Melbourne Short+Sweet 2006); Our last time together by Fiona Clarke (S+S Melbourne 2005 and S+S Sydney 2006); The Fitting Room by Alison Chambers (S+S Sydney 2006); Condiments by Alan Miller (S+S Sydney 2006), Rinse by Lisa Eismen (S+S Sydney 2006); Un-Australian by Darinka Kralj (S+S Melbourne 2007 – nominated for Best Comedy Writing and S+S Melbourne 2008); The Pick Up by Sean McIntyre (S+S Melbourne 2005 and S+S Sydney 2006); Death by 1000 cuts by Mika Tsoi (S+S Melbourne 2007 – nominated for Best Drama Writing); The Neils by Miles Blackford (S+S Melbourne 2007 and S+S Sydney 2008), Sleeping Leeches by Liza Dezfouli (S+S Melbourne 2007), Truth FM by Mark Andrew (S+S Melbourne 2005), Don’t Give Up Your Day Job by Sharni Page (S+S Melbourne 2005), A Little Blue by David Bulmer (Finalist S+S Sydney 2009); Permanently Engaged by Dan Clancy (S+S Melbourne 2008 and Finalist, S+S Sydney 2009); and many others.

Code: All
Cost: $200 members of the ACT Writers Centre, $150 concession members, $260 non-members (includes 12 months of membership).
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room. (The public readings will take place at a local venue to be confirmed).
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191, online by clicking here or at the office. Payment is required at time of booking.

Actors required!

ACTORS are required on Sunday 20 May from 10am to 6pm to workshop and read the plays written in the course. Plays from the course will then be entered for consideration in Short+Sweet Canberra 2012. The plays are being workshopped and read at QL2 Theatre, Gorman House, Braddon.

On the day you will workshop the plays with the writer and other actors then present the plays to an invited audience as a Script-In-Hand Moved Reading. (This is a Script Reading where you act out the actions of the play while keeping your script in hand.) It's a great fun day where you can interact with actors and writers while flexing the acting muscles.

If you are available on Sunday 20 May and would like to take part please email director@actwriters.org.au with your:

Name
Age
Male/Female
Phone

PLEASE NOTE: Actors donating their time and talent to the readings do so on a completely voluntary basis. There is no payment for the readings but rest assured you are helping in the development of some great new Australian plays and playwrights. Hope to hear from you soon!

Tuesday Chat - How to use Pinterest to create a mood board for your novel

with Mandy King

1-2pm Tuesday 29 May

Having trouble visualising your book's fantasy world? Do your characters feel a little flat? Is your novel set in the 1920s and you're looking for fashion inspiration? If so, it might be time to create a visual mood board for your novel. This workshop shows you how to create a mood board by making use of Pinterest, a growing social media & sharing platform.

Even though Pinterest is relatively new, the social media site is already driving more traffic to websites than Twitter. It's quickly becoming an important marketing tool for businesses and a source of information for individuals.

This talk will look at how writers can use Pinterest in creative ways. At the end of the talk, you will have learnt the basics of Pinterest and will be ready to start experimenting on your own.

Mandy King hails from Boulder, Colorado in the United States where she ran the events and marketing program at one of the nations' largest independent bookstores. While organising and promoting over 250 events per year, Mandy has hosted a plethora of this generation's literary luminaries, such as Michael Ondaatje, Yann Martel, Neil Gaiman, Barbara Kingsolver, the late Brian Jacques, and Thich Nhat Hahn. Drawing on an extensive career in publishing, Mandy has experience in marketing, promotions, conference management, and writing and editing. She was a founding member of Downtown Boulder's Social Media Advisory Council, which advises small businesses, government organisations, entrepreneurs and start-ups on how to build community through social media. Mandy spends much of her online time talking about books on Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

Code: All
Cost: Free but bookings essential.
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191, or by emailing admin(at)actwriters.org.au

Writing erotica for publication

with Tracey O'Hara

10am-4pm Saturday 2 June

Erotica and erotic romance has a huge market thanks to the internet and the explosion of digital publishing. There are authors out there making quite a comfortable living on writing erotica. Erotic fiction is story containing graphic sex scenes but also centres as much about the mental and emotional journey of the characters of the story. These stories are usually written by women for women, though not always.

The workshop will cover:

Introduction to erotica and erotic romance
What is the difference between erotica and pornography
How erotica differs from a story with erotic elements or overtones
Why a sex scene is not necessarily erotica
The type of language used in erotica
The dos and don'ts of how to write graphic sex scenes
The different subgenres within the genre (contemporary, paranormal, romantic, sci-fi etc)
How to write hot graphic scenes without ripping the reader from the story
The categories of erotica and erotic romance (M/F (Male/Female), M/M,F/F, M/M/F etc)
Looking at examples of erotica and erotic romance writing
Writing exercises – creating an erotic scene which may or may not be shared with the other participants for critique (depending on each participant's level of comfort)
Looking at commercial erotica and erotic romance markets – covering some of the available markets for publishing and the submission process

This workshop is open to both men and women who want to learn how to write explicit sex scenes and are comfortable with a high sexual content. Participants must be over the age of 18 as the content will be explicit.

Tracey O'Hara grew up reading Stephen King, Raymond E. Feist, and J.R.R. Tolkien, where she developed her taste for adventure and the paranormal thriller. When she's not writing, reading, or listening to heavy metal, she spends time with her husband, two sons, and three cats. The author of Night's Cold Kiss, she lives in Australia. She also publishes Erotic Romance under the pen name Tracie Sommers. Night's Cold Kiss was shortlisted in the Best Horror Novel category at the 2009 Aurealis Awards and won the Novel with Romantic Elements category at the Romance Writer's of Australia 2009 awards.

Code: All
Cost: $110 members of the ACT Writers Centre, $95 concession members, $170 non-members (includes 12 months of membership).
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191, online by clicking here or at the office. Payment is required at time of booking.

Writing short stories for publication

with Ian McHugh

10am-5pm Saturday 16 June

Targeted at new to intermediate short story writers, this workshop aims to teach participants about structure and elements of short stories. Participants will take away insights into the basic elements of short stories, and rules of thumb on how to make them work, as well as practical experience in applying these ideas to generating stories. The workshop will emphasise learning through doing, and participants should finish the day with the beginnings of a new short story project.

The workshop will be divided into sessions on:

Story elements
Getting the details right
Story generation
The importance of critique

Each session will have built-in time for questions and discussion, and the content that is emphasised will be flexible in response to participant needs and interests.

Ian McHugh is a 2006 graduate of the Clarion West writers' workshop. His first success as a fiction writer was winning the short story contest at the first Conflux science-fiction convention in 2004. Since then he has sold stories to professional and semi-pro magazines, webzines and anthologies in Australia and internationally. His stories have won grand prize in the Writers of the Future contest and been shortlisted four times at Australia's Aurealis Awards (winning Best Fantasy Short Story in 2010). Links to read or hear most of his past publications free online can be found at ianmchugh.wordpress.com/stories

Code: 2, 3 & 4.
Cost: $100 members of the ACT Writers Centre, $90 concession members, $160 non-members (includes 12 months of membership).
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191, online by clicking here or at the office. Payment is required at time of booking.

Are we there yet?

A masterclass with Andrea Goldsmith

10am-3.30pm Saturday 30 June

If writing novels were simply a matter of having a terrific idea and dashing off a first draft, the world would be wallowing in fiction – most of it very bad. The first stage of a novel is the fun part, the everything-is-possible-unfettered-imagination part, the dreaming-of-the-Miles-Franklin period. But if you're serious about writing a novel, a novel that has a chance of finding a publisher, then a focus on honing the initial out-pourings is all-important.

During the course of the day, Andrea will discuss a variety of issues, including structure of the novel, character point of view, pacing and tone, how to manage the burgeoning material without being swamped, and how to maintain confidence and focus.

You may be at the very beginning of your novel or have reached the end of the first draft, either way, this course should address a good many of your concerns.

Andrea Goldsmith's first novel, Gracious Living, was published by Penguin in 1989. This was followed by Modern Interiors (1991), Facing the Music (1994) and Under the Knife (1998). Her fifth novel, The Prosperous Thief, (Allen&Unwin) opens in Berlin in 1910 and covers the turbulent sweep of the twentieth century. It was short-listed for the 2003 Miles Franklin award.

Her most recently published novel is Reunion. A story of friendship, obsessive love, intellectual strivings and untimely death, it was published by 4th Estate in 2009 to rapturous reviews. This novel tells the story of four friends who meet at the University of Melbourne in the late 1970s. When they are reunited back in Melbourne 25 years later, the old expectations of friendship fail to address lives and needs grown far more complex. Like all Andrea's novels, this is a character-based story. Andrea has just completed her latest novel, Waiting for the Crocodile. It will be published by 4th Estate in 2013.

Andrea's literary essays have been published widely. She has taught creative writing throughout Australia, and mentors new writers through the various mentoring schemes. She is a lively speaker and performer and is a sought-after guest of literary and other festivals.

This workshop is a Writing Australia program and is supported by the Harold Mitchell Foundation. This workshop is for members of the ACT Writers Centre and other Writers Centres affiliated with Writing Australia.

Code: 1, 2, 3
Cost: $100 (ACT Writers Centre members and other affiliated Writers Centre members only)
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191 or at the office. Online bookings are not available for this workshop. Payment is required at time of booking.

Creativity and feeding the muse

with Valerie Parv

10am-4pm Saturday 23 June

Learn how to go beyond writer’s block and become a more productive writer. The workshop will show how UFOs can help you push your creative boundaries so you become a literary lightning rod for ideas. Learn the fastest way to kill an idea, explore five simple steps to get you writing on demand, and discover techniques for dealing with tomorrowitis, interruptions and other muse menaces.

This is applicable to writers in all genres.

Valerie Parv, international best-selling author, has sold more than twenty-nine million copies of her books internationally, with translations in over twenty-six languages from Russian to Japanese and Icelandic. With a master of arts from Queensland University of Technology and a diploma in professional counselling, she conducts workshops on creativity and the writer’s craft. Her book, The Art of Romance Writing, was voted the most useful writing guide in a poll of members of Romance Writers of Australia. She was contributing editor of Heart and Craft, an insider’s guide to romance writing, and How Do I Love Thee? an anthology by Australia’s top-selling and award-winning authors (Allen & Unwin). Valerie is the first Australian author to receive a Pioneer of Romance Award recognising her contributions to the field of romance writing. The award was presented to Valerie by Romantic Times Book Reviews Magazine, US. Valerie’s recent title With a Little Help (Harlequin Superromance) was given a 4 star review (RT Book Reviews, US, 2011) and in Australia (http://australianromancereaders.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/feature-book-with-a-little-help). Valerie will be the Established Writer in Residence for 2012 at the Katharine Susannah Pritchard Writers Centre in Western Australia. More information including a complete list of Valerie’s books are at www.valerieparv.com Follow Valerie on Twitter @valerieparv and her blog valerieparv.wordpress.com

Code: All.
Cost: $100 members of the ACT Writers Centre, $90 concession members, $160 non-members (includes 12 months of membership).
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191, online by clicking here or at the office. Payment is required at time of booking.

Create and promote your own e-book

with Marcus Amann

10am-5pm Saturday 7 July

This workshop will cover what you need to do to successfully make and sell your own eBooks.

Topics covered will include:

The business of eBooks (why write an eBook? What sells well and what doesn't; improving your chances of success)
How to make your eBook (pros and cons of using an eBook publisher. Editing & design. Royalties. Publishing rights)
Doing it yourself (Which eBook format: Kindle, iBook, PDF? Protecting your work from thieves. Tips for doing it cheaply)
How to deliver your eBook (Your own web site vs. distributor web sites) Doing it yourself (Setting up your own web site and autoresponder. Options for merchant accounts and shopping carts)
How to promote your eBook (Deciding on a single page or resource-rich web site. Blogs. Audio. Video. Social media. Search engines. Discussion lists. E-mail magazines. Affiliate programs).

Marcus Amann has been producing eBooks since 1995 and is a long-time technical writer and editor for a Canberra-based software company. Marcus has also worked as a freelance writer and has taught internet marketing at the Canberra Institute of Technology. Marcus updates this course every year to include the latest trends in internet marketing and how they can be used by authors.

Code: All.
Cost: $125 members of the ACT Writers Centre, $112 concession members, $185 non-members (includes 12 months of membership).
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191, online by clicking here or at the office. Payment is required at time of booking.

What makes it a story?

A masterclass with Cate Kennedy

10am-3.30pm Saturday 21 July

Every writer needs re-inspiration occasionally to consider what elements are crucial in a great piece of short fiction, and how to shape their own stories for maximum impact. This stimulating one-day workshop will focus on identifying and developing potent ideas for good short stories, analysing narrative, dialogue, characterisation and imagery, and discussing how they all come together to make your fiction resonate powerfully with readers. Bring paper, a pen and the will to shift some old habits.

Cate Kennedy's stories have been published everywhere from the Big Issue to the New Yorker, and is the author of Dark Roots, a critically acclaimed short story collection, The World Beneath, a novel, a travel memoir and three collections of poetry. Her most recent collection, The Taste of River Water was awarded the 2011 Victorian Premiers Literary award. She has a new book of short stories coming out in November 2012 with Scribe Publications. In 2011 and 2012 she edited the Best Australian Stories anthologies for Black Inc.

Code: 1, 2, 3
Cost: $100 (ACT Writers Centre members and other affiliated Writers Centre members only).
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191 or at the office. Online bookings are not available for this workshop. Payment is required at time of booking.

Finding your inner child: developing an authentic child's voice

with Sue Whiting

10am-4pm Saturday 4 August

Writing with an authentic child's voice is one of the most challenging aspects of writing for children. Through writing exercises, discussion and memory activities, this workshop aims to help participants rediscover the child within and to view the world through the eyes of a child, then to apply this to the development of believable child characters and narratives that are told from deep within a child's point of view.

Through participation in this workshop, participants will:

Work towards developing an authentic child's voice in their narratives
Understand why it is important to write from deep within a child's point of view and explore ways to achieve this
Explore methods to develop engaging and believable child characters

Sue Whiting , started her working life as a primary school teacher with a special interest in (and much passion for) literacy education and children's literature. In 2005 she left teaching to pursue a career in children's book publishing and she is now Publishing Manager at Walker Books Australia. She is also a successful children's author who has written more than sixty books, including picture books, chapter books and novels for teens. Her latest book include, Get a Grip, Cooper Jones (Walker) and The Strange Little Monster and the Swamp Goblin (Penguin).

Code: All.
Cost: $110 members of the ACT Writers Centre, $95 concession members, $170 non-members (includes 12 months of membership).
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191, online by clicking here or at the office. Payment is required at time of booking.

History for fiction writers

with Gillian Polack

10am-4pm Saturday 1 September

This is an introduction to history research for the fiction writer. It looks at the difference between the questions fiction writers ask and the questions historians answer, and discusses strategies for finding the information you need for your writing. During the seminar Gillian will talk about what history is and how histories are written. The class will discuss the enormous differences between formal history writing and the past that we assume is there, just out of reach, and what sources can be used to access that past, or to create it (when sources don't exist). Gillian will look at the importance of using the past, or a sense of the past, to enrich your novel and how to use it without weighing the novel down. The class will discuss default assumptions about place and time that writers and readers might possess, and address issues such as how historically accurate fiction can and should be and how to deal with critical comments about historical accuracy.

Gillian will also examine the specific needs faced by writers attending the workshop. Participants will work togother to identify potential solutions to problems and look at how narrative and history can interweave without losing pace, plot or characterisation.

This workshop is aimed at fiction writers of all kinds who intend to use history as part of their writing.

Gillian Polack has two novels (one of which was a Ditmar finalist and is soon to be re-released by Momentum, the new Pan MacMillan imprint), fifteen short stories, a cookbook published, and has edited two anthologies (one of which was also a Ditmar finalist). One of her stories won a Victorian Ministry of the Arts award and three more were listed as recommended reading in international lists of world's best stories. She has been given two fellowships at Varuna, the Writers House, and a Ditmar best achievement award for her work. Gillian has a doctorate in medieval history, and is currently undertaking another in writing. She is a reviewer, critic, historian and non-fiction writer and also a judge for the Aurealis awards. Visit www.gillianpolack.com for more information.

Fundamentals

with Nicole Murphy

10am-4pm Saturday 7 September

Everyone wants to be a writer – or so it seems when you consider the thousands of manuscripts winging their way from publisher to publisher.

There’s an art to writing – imagination, storytelling, flair and creativity – and there’s also a craft to writing. In this workshop, Nicole Murphy will work through some of the very basics of the writing craft and will give you a good, solid base on which to build your art.

Basics covered include:

Spelling
Grammar
Sentence structure
Punctuation
Tenses
Point of view

This workshop will help writers identify some of their own weaknesses and consider ways to improve them.

Nicole Murphy has been a primary school teacher, bookstore owner, journalist and checkout chick. She grew up reading Tolkien, Lewis and Le Guin; spent her twenties discovering Quick, Lindsey and Deveraux and lives her love of science fiction and fantasy through her involvement with the Conflux science fiction conventions. Her urban fantasy trilogy Dream of Asarlai is published in Australia/NZ by HarperVoyager. She lives with her husband in Queanbeyan, NSW. Visit her website http://nicolermurphy.com

Writing aliens (and why it's important to write what you don't know)

with Ian McHugh

10am-5pm Saturday 13 October

This workshop is an expansion of Ian’s 2011 Tuesday Chat on 'Writing Alien Characters in SF', weighted heavily towards hands-on writing exercises. Participants will take away practical techniques for generating authentic-seeming non-human characters, to help ensure that the alienness of their characters adds to their storytelling.

Topics covered include:

Writing alien and fantastical characters who are people, and maintaining the reader’s sympathy despite their alienness
Writing alien characters whose physiological and psychological traits have a fundamental effect on the outcomes of the story
Generating stories using alien or fantastical characters
The importance of writing aliens and other non-human characters well and the value of ‘writing what you don't know’

Ian McHugh is a graduate of the Clarion West writers' workshop. He has sold stories to professional and semi-pro magazines, webzines and anthologies in Australia and internationally. His stories have won grand prize in the Writers of the Future contest, been shortlisted four times at Australia's Aurealis Awards (winning Best Fantasy Short Story in 2010) and appeared in the Locus annual Recommended Reading List. Links to read or hear most of his past publications free online can be found at ianmchugh.wordpress.com/stories

Code: All.
Cost: $125 members of the ACT Writers Centre, $110 concession members, $185 non-members (includes 12 months of membership).
Venue: ACT Writers Centre workshop room.
Bookings: You can book by phone on 6262 9191, online by clicking here or at the office. Payment is required at time of booking.

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Workshop codes

The Centre's workshops and seminars now carry a code to help you choose the right workshops to match your abilities. Adherence to the codes is not mandatory, but should be used as a guide as to whether a workshop is suitable.

1 = Established writer with at least one published book.
2 = Developing writers who may have been published in journals etc.
3 = Emerging writers with little or no published work yet.
4 = Writing for enjoyment/basic improvement.