Faber Academy > Courses > Melbourne > Writing the Narrative Nonfiction Book: Completing Your Manuscript
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Writing the Narrative Nonfiction Book: Completing Your Manuscript

w/ Deborah Robertson

This exciting new course will assist emerging writers to go the distance in completing a narrative nonfiction manuscript ready for submission to a publisher or agent. Whatever your form or subject – memoir, immersive journalism, personal essays – you will be helped to develop your work’s full potential and find the focus and drive to finish the manuscript with a group of supportive fellow writers and a great tutor to keep you on track.

18 February  – 22 May 2023
11 x Wednesday sessions 6.30 – 8.30pm
3 x Saturday sessions 10am – 4pm

Faber Writing Academy at Kathleen Syme Library

Kathleen Syme Library
251 Faraday St,
Carlton VIC 3053

 

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$3,250 / $2,762.50 alumni


This is a past course.

Working with leading nonfiction tutor, Deborah Robertson, you will be guided through the stages of putting together a compelling narrative nonfiction book. This course is suitable for writers who have a work-in-progress already substantially underway but would benefit from a deeper understanding of the craft of narrative nonfiction writing, along with a supportive and disciplined environment to help them get the words down on the page.

Designed and delivered by Australia’s leading independent publishing house, and exclusively offered in Melbourne, Writing the Narrative Nonfiction Book, will help you develop your personal style and writing voice, as well as providing you with an understanding of structure and editing so that you can revise your work to the highest standard. You will hear from essential industry players: an editor, agent and publisher will walk you through the particulars of finishing a draft ready for submission.

Across three intensive months, this course will provide you with:

  • Engaging classes and workshops covering everything from the first conception of an idea through to getting words on a page, narrative structure and style.
  • A personalised individual consultation on your project from your Course Director.
  • The chance to be showcased in the much-anticipated Faber Writing Anthology, sent to publishers and literary agents.
  • Complimentary book titles relating to the course.

Students who complete the Writing the Narrative Nonfiction Book: Completing Your Manuscript will be invited to submit work to our highly sought-after Faber Writing Anthology, a professionally edited and printed showcase of student work, sent to leading literary agents and publishers across both Australia and the United Kingdom.

Writers you'll be working with:

Deborah Robertson

Deborah Robertson is a West-Australian born writer and teacher, now based in Melbourne. Her first book, Proudflesh, won The Steele Rudd Australian Short Story Award, and her first novel, Careless, received the Nita B. Kibble Award for Women Writers and the Colin Roderick Award. It was also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, The Age…

Course outline

The course consists of:
11 x Wednesday evening sessions, 6.30 – 8.30 pm (6 in person, 5 online)
3 x Saturday sessions, 10am – 4pm
1 individual consultation session

Session 1: Saturday February 18  (in person)

Introduction to the course, review of projects, the way forward. A chance to meet your fellow students, begin talking through the state of your projects and look towards workshopping your words.

Session 2:  Wednesday February 22  (in person)

Sculpting Time, Shaping Space. This session will explore the primary structural components of narrative – scene, summary, and reflection.

Session 3:  Wednesday March 1 (online)

Narrative Music. This session will focus on the ways in which the beat, rhythm, and music in a book’s structure can help to convey aspects of the narrative’s meaning.

Session 4:  Wednesday March 8  (online)

Prose Style. In this session we will explore the features of different prose styles, seeking to answer these questions: is your prose style the right one for your project? And if not, how might your style be changed?

Session 5:  Wednesday March 15  (online)

Small Details. This session will explore the power and potential of the small detail – the censored, overlooked, intimate, dismissed detail – to throw fresh, revelatory light on the ‘big’ stories of history, society, of our own lives.

Session 6:  Wednesday March 22  (in class)

Big Picture. As the course moves toward an intensive focus on editing, we will need to step back and begin to think about your manuscripts as a whole. Working closely with the material you have produced to date, we will revisit beginnings and contemplate endings, while applying the magnifying glass to everything in between.

Session 7:  Wednesday March 29  (in class)

Workshopping. Continued workshopping of projects with structural edit in mind.

Session 8:  Saturday April 1  (in class)

Structure in Editing. In this session we will have the opportunity to meet and explore the subject of editing with our guest editor, including a particular focus on ‘structural editing’.

Session 9:  Wednesday April 5  (online)

Close-Editing. This session will walk you through the concept of the line or copy edit.

COURSE BREAK

Session 10:  Wednesday May 1 (in class)

Blurb, Synopsis, Pitch. How do we persuasively and entertainingly describe our work to other people, particularly industry professionals? This session will discuss the different features and functions of the blurb, the synopsis, and the pitch – how to approach each of them without losing what is important to you about your work.

Session 11:  Saturday May 4 (in class)

Voicing Your Project. In this session, you will meet a skilled acting coach, who will teach you performance skills for presentations, readings, and pitching. We will also discuss approaches to being interviewed, as well as how to contribute meaningfully to panel discussions in public settings.

Session 12:  Wednesday May 8  (online)

Literary Agents. This session we will host a literary agent who will speak to you about the publishing industry and their role in it, and their relationships with their clients.

Session 13:  Wednesday May 15 (in class)

Publishers. At this session we will be joined by a guest publisher. Having refined and practiced your pitches, each student will formally present theirs to the publisher, who will then offer constructive feedback. You may also take this opportunity to ask other questions of the publisher.

Session 14:   Wednesday May 22  (in class)

Endings. We will review your achievements and discuss the distances you have travelled in your work, as well as discussing ways of maintaining your writing practice and remaining part of a supportive group of fellow writers. The session will be followed by a dinner in celebration of our time together.

All Saturday sessions are held in person at Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre, 251 Faraday Street Carlton VIC 3053. Select evening sessions are hosted on Zoom, as specified above.

The exact course content could be adjusted according to the experience and concerns of the group and availability of guest writers. The detail of the course is at the discretion of the Course Director and Faber Writing Academy at Allen & Unwin.

How to Apply

This is a past course.