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Masterclasses and Workshops
Brisbane Writers Festival encourages all writers from beginners through to published professionals to browse the 2010 workshops and masterclasses. International and national writers will gather to pass on handy hints and industry wisdom over the five Festival days.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010WS1: Getting Started
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All readers, including publishers and agents, judge a novel by its opening paragraph, but what makes a 'good' opening? Louise Doughty shows first-time novelists how to approach the writing process. |
Thursday, 2 September - Sunday 5 September 2010WS2: 20 Pages in 20 Minutes
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Suzanne Baboneau or Tiffany Murray will read your work prior to this one-on-one 20 minute critique and provide personalised feedback. Suzanne is the Publishing Director of Simon & Schuster UK. Tiffany is an acclaimed novelist and Senior Lecturer at The University of Glamorgan in Wales. |
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Thursday, 2 September 2010 WS3: From Macabre to Humorous
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Death, taboo and the dark stuff of living can provide the raw materials for a humorous story; author Tom Jokinen will help you explore the risks, dangers and rewards of turning grim truths into funny writing. |
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Thursday, 2 September 2010 WS4: Writing from Life
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Tiffany Murray will lead exercises to trigger your imagination and memory; turn the world around you into scenes on the page. |
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Thursday, 2 September 2010 WS5: When Writers Speak
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From spoken word to mighty page prose, from static book to live on stage, Miles Merrill helps you present your writing in front of a crowd. |
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Thursday, 2 September 2010 WS6: Creating Criminal Characters
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Renowned for his psychological thrillers, Michael Robotham takes budding crime writers through the essential elements of creating characters that drive the narrative. |
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Thursday, 2 September 2010 WS7: Australian Poetry Slam Workshop
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Join acclaimed spoken-word artist MC Tessa Leon and learn how to sharpen your words for both the page and stage, in preparation for this year's slam heats and beyond. |
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Friday, 3 September 2010 WS8: AWM Australian Writer's Marketplace Industry Masterclass
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| Writing is an art, but publishing is a business. Hear from agents, publishers and writers in this industry seminar covering the role of agents in a writer's life, the publishing process and new pathways to publication. Learn the tricks of promoting your book and yourself. |
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Friday, 3 September 2010 WS9: More Than An Idea
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Learn how to craft a good idea into a good story in this creative non-fiction workshop with Anna Krien. From fundamentals such as development, research and interview techniques through to tips on writing that crucial opening line and utilising those golden quotes, you will emerge from this workshop with the necessary tools to tell your true story. |
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Friday, 3rd of September 2010 WS10: Researching & Writing Family History
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ASIO secretly recorded the lives of four generations of Mark Aarons's family. Embark on your own investigative adventure as Mark demonstrates how Australia's National Archives contain many of the jewels needed to piece together our genealogical mosaic. |
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Saturday, 4 September 2010 WS11: The Music of Your Life
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Anna Goldsworthy shows how to structure memoir into a compelling narrative and discusses self-censorship and the ethics of life writing. Bring along a sample of your work with plenty of questions. |
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Saturday, 4 September 2010 WS12: A Short Course in Writing Comedy
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Comedy is not a mysterious art; it is a craft based upon ancient, universally-applied principles. Learn why we laugh, workshop the principle of narrative humour and jokes and explore how to develop comic characters and stories. Comedian, producer and writer Tim Ferguson (formerly of the Doug Anthony Allstars) will have you writing comedy before you know it. |
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Saturday, 4 September 2010 WS13: An Intro to Crime Fiction Writing
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So you want to write a crime novel. Will it be a murder mystery, forensic procedural or courtroom drama? And your hero: private eye, police officer or crusading journalist? And your villain: always a murderer? Garry Disher shows there is more to writing crime than a good guy, a bad guy, a car chase and DNA. |
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Saturday, 4th of September, 2010 WS14: Re-telling Stories
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Kirsten Tranter reshaped elements of Henry James's Portrait of a Lady in her novel The Legacy. Explore the myriad ways in which classic plots can be remade, refresh your understanding of originality and discuss what is at stake in the process of adaptation. |
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Saturday, 4 September 2010 WS15: Writing the Story of Your Life
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Put your life into your own words and explore your past in this interactive workshop with Carmel Bird. |
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Saturday, 4 September 2010 WS16: Science Writing is About You & the World You Live In
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What does it take to be a good science writer? Marcelo Gleiser shows how to engage readers: context, language and style are all important. Come prepared with some recent writing samples or write new ones during the workshop. |
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Saturday, 4 September 2010 WS17: Plot and Structure | ||||||
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Plot is the fun stuff: the thing that makes readers want to keep on reading, and the thing that makes writers want to keep on writing. Join Tony Wilson to talk about the original supernova idea that starts a novel, the what if at its core and the constellation of ideas that have to follow. |
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Sunday, 5 September 2010 WS18: Romance that Sells
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Double RITA finalist Anna Campbell and 2010 Australian Romantic Book of the Year nominee Christine Wells bring their phenomenally popular workshop back to BWF with tips on the process of writing and selling your romance in the international market, formulating a premise that sells, understanding the elements of a marketplace novel and pitching your work to agents and editors. |
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Sunday, 5 September 2010 WS19: Writing the Story of Your Life
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Put your life into your own words and explore your past in this interactive workshop with Carmel Bird. |
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Sunday, 5 September 2010 WS20: What Makes it a Story?
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Cate Kennedy will get you rethinking about character, narrative, dialogue and resolution. Learn to redraft with these story elements in mind and make your fiction the best it can be. |
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Sunday, 5 September 2010 WS21: Sharpening the Edge in Romantic Suspense
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Join Helene Young to dig deeper into your villain's motivation, fine tune your pacing and give your characters insurmountable challenges they are dying to overcome. Leave your hero and heroine hanging by their fingernails before they claw their way back for an optimistic ending. |
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Sunday, 5 September 2010 WS22: How to Get Published
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Hear stories and pointers on how to catch the eye, ear and heart of the publisher and avoid the reject pile with prestigious industry professionals Suzanne Baboneau (Publishing Director of Simon & Schuster UK), Ben Naparstek (Editor of The Monthly), Kirsten Tranter (her prestigious literary background needs no introduction), Susan Johnson (published to wide critical acclaim), Catherine Lewis (founder of Wild Dingo Press) and L.A. Larkin (with her extremely unusual publishing story). |
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Sunday, 5 September 2010 WS23: A Good Review
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What makes a good review? How do you approach different styles of writing for different publications and different audiences? And what are the ethics of reviewing? Jo Case will draw on her experience as books editor of The Big Issue and freelance reviewer for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald to explore the big questions. |
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Sunday, 5 September 2010 WS24: Self-Editing Secrets Unveiled
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Experienced editors from the Society of Editors (Queensland) will help you develop your self-editing skills for fiction and non-fiction. |
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Sunday, 5 September 2010 WS24: Self-Editing Secrets Unveiled | ||||||
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| Do you need to polish a completed manuscript before you take it to an agent or a publisher, or self-publish it? Experienced editors from the Society of Editors (Queensland) will help you develop your self-editing skills for fiction and non-fiction. |
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Sunday, 5 September 2010 WS24: Self-Editing Secrets Unveiled | ||||||
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| Do you need to polish a completed manuscript before you take it to an agent or a publisher, or self-publish it? Experienced editors from the Society of Editors (Queensland) will help you develop your self-editing skills for fiction and non-fiction. |
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Saturday, 4 September 2010 WS25: CYA Later Alligator
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| Featuring seminars and masterclasses from well-known international and Australian authors and illustrators as well as industry professionals, the Children's and Young Adult Writers and Illustrators conference provides dynamic professional development for new and established writers and illustrators of children's and young adult literature. |
For young readers, writers and illustrators. Grades 4-10
The Brisbane Writers Festival acknowledges the assistance of the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and the Department of Education and Training, and the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.