The workshops listed have been confirmed for WriteFest 2012. Times are yet to be allocated. Check back here as more confirmed workshops will be added.
Stranger in a Strange World – Writing Sci Fi and Fantasy
with Marianne de Pierres
Award-wining SF author Marianne de Pierres has been described by reviewers as “an utterly convincing world-builder” whose “descriptions are lush and evocative but never bogged down in superfluous detail.” In this workshop Marianne shares her keys to creating convincing, compact world-building. Learn how to cut the waffle.
Nothing Sweet About Me - Writing Crime
with Marianne Delacourt
Davitt award winning author Marianne Delacourt shares her insights on writing humorous crime set in Australia. Plotting backwards, making your setting one of your characters, creating a likeable protagonist and knowing when to shed blood are just some of the things covered in this lively, fun workshop.
Riding the Wave of YA Success – fangs optional
with Kaz Delaney
Editors and publishers can’t get enough YA fiction and everyone from Stephen King down wants a piece of the action. If you want to know why is this happening, join Kaz Delaney. Learn about her own journey and examine what makes a YA novel succesful. She will discuss tone, markets, audience, agents, selling across two continents and popular culture in the context of the YA novel. You’ll be encouraged to dig deep to find the story that drives the YA character, and come away with a compelling YA protagonist of your own.
Writing For the Education Market
with Kerri Lane
The Education Market can be lucrative and offers opportunities for publication. Many of Australia’s best loved children’s authors began their careers writing Education Texts, or have written for this market. So, how do you break into it, and what are the tricks? Look at the market with Kerri Lane. Learn about texts ranging from Early Readers through to Chapter Books and Young Adult novels, and beyond – to ‘readers’ targeted at the Adult Education market. Kerri will examine publisher requirements, deadlines, word counts, language level, content suitability and tone. You’ll pick up hints and tips, analyse successful texts and work towards completing your own Early Reader text.
Can you tell if someone is lying? What if your life depended on it?
with Dr David Craig
This workshop will benefit both crime and non-crime writers alike and covers:
Dirty Tricks – the Nature of Undercover Operations provides a gritty insight into undercover operations; the risks, the reality and how they net criminals. It also provides an insight into the mind of covert operatives and the criminals caught by undercover tricks.
The Truth About Lying discusses the role and nature of lies in society from little white lies to outright deceit. Importantly the session will focus upon how to detect when people tell you a porky, why they did, perhaps why sometimes you necessarily do too.
This workshop may assist writers in developing deceitful characters with relevant emotional tell-tale signs of lying and deceit, and the development of shady characters, truth seekers and investigators. The session should also assist writers to formulate story lines involving the murky world of undercover police and criminals.
The Amplified Author
with Meg Vann
What does digital publishing mean for writers today? With the advent of new technologies and ideas, today we have a host of choices and opportunities for writers looking to connect with readers, and writers have a lot more options when it comes to driving their own careers. From traditional publishing houses, to e-books, to social media, in today’s world there are as many paths to publication as there are writers. Join Meg Vann, manager of Australian Writers Marketplace, to learn about digital publishing options for writers today, and what it means to be an Amplified Author. [All participants will receive a free three-month subscription to the Australian Writers Marketplace online.]
