Kickstart Your Novel: Spring with Emily Maguire and Ilka Tampke is an online writing course presented by Faber Writing Academy.
Have you got a great idea for a novel, but you’re struggling to know how to get started? During this 12-week introductory course, you will be part of a close-knit, supportive learning environment designed to get you started on your dream work of fiction.
Stephen King famously wrote that the first draft of a novel should be written “with the door closed” and “over the course of one season”. In an intimate class of 12 participants, you’ll be encouraged to get a start on “draft zero”, testing out fresh approaches to the writing of fiction along the way.
In stage one of the program, author Emily Maguire will help you find your way into your project, through a series of exploratory exercises and classes on different approaches to beginning: through process, genre, character, structure and understanding narrative time. Emily will remind you to play, explore and have fun with language, before you begin bedding down some of the choices you’ll need to make to progress your manuscript.
In stage two, author Ilka Tampke will help you narrow the focus of your first 10,000 words, encouraging you to begin making decisions around voice, detail, research, dialogue and setting.
Through a series of writing prompts, provocations, and introductions to a variety of writing processes and styles, this course will nurture you through the fast and furious stage of committing your first words to paper, and is especially suited to those who don’t feel comfortable sharing their work in a whole-class workshopping environment, or to those who want to test-drive their idea before applying for our selective Writing a Novel course.
By the end of the course you will have:
- Written >10,000 words towards your novel manuscript;
- Bolstered your abilities and interest in writing fiction in a friendly environment;
- Been introduced to a variety of approaches to the writing of long-form fiction.
Your course includes:
- A complimentary copy of a recent A&U publication;
- On completion of the course, alumni discounts on future Faber Writing Academy courses and books from the Allen & Unwin website.
This course is a useful foundation for those who wish to take the longer, intensive Faber Writing Academy Writing a Novel course, but don’t feel ready to share or workshop their material.
