online
online

Writing a Life

w/ Arnold Zable

Drawing on thirty years of experience both as an acclaimed writer across the genres and as a lecturer and teacher, Arnold Zable’s new 5-week program will explore the most imaginative and engaging ways to structure and write a life’s story. It will include writing exercises, feedback, mini-talks, and question and answer sessions.

2 – 30 September 2020 (5 weeks)

Wednesday evenings, 6.30 – 8.30pm

$620 / $ 527 alumni


This is a past course.

There are many ways of writing a life. Stories drawn from life, tales of journeys and family history can range from memoir to autobiography; from short story to novel; from personal journal to biography. Or they can be written just for family.

The crucial questions are: what is the best way to write a life story, how to bring your recollections and research into family history to life, and how to write in a way that will hold the reader. Drawing on thirty years of experience both as an acclaimed writer across the genres and as a lecturer and teacher, Arnold Zable’s new 5-week program will explore the most imaginative and engaging ways to structure and write a life’s story. It will include writing exercises, feedback, mini-talks, and question and answer sessions.

This is a rare opportunity to study with the acclaimed author Arnold Zable over 5 weeks in a supportive online environment.

Your course includes:

• 5 weeks of 2 hour evening tutorials
• 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


Writers you'll be working with:

Arnold Zable

Arnold Zable is an acclaimed writer, novelist, storyteller and human rights advocate. His books include Jewels and Ashes, The Fig Tree, Cafe Scheherazade, Scraps of Heaven, Sea of Many Returns, Violin Lessons, and The Fighter. His most recent book, The Watermill was published in March 2020. His work ranges across many genres and includes novels, short stories, essays, columns, opinion…

Course outline

Session 1: Wednesday 2 September. Introductory Session.
• Introduction, including participant introductions
• The many ways of writing a life: From non-fiction to fiction, memoir to novel
• Introduction to the art of scene construction
• Beginnings: Capturing moments in time

Session 2: Wednesday 9 September. Models of writing character
• The art of scene construction expanded
• Being fully present
• Points of view and tenses
• Writing exercise
• Q and A

Session 3: Wednesday 16 September: Writing place, settings
• The art of scene construction continued
• Structure: Interaction between spontaneity and planning
• Exercise: Writing character and place
• Q and A

Session 4: Wednesday 23 September. Objects and the stories they tell
• Review of exercises, Q and A
• Stories and scenes generated by objects
• The interaction between research and writing

Session 5: Wednesday 30 September. Where to from here: Taking your stories forward.
• How to take a story forward
• Overcoming blocks
• Review of exercises
• Q and A: Participants’ projects.

 

This is a past course.