The Rhythm Method will guide you through different techniques to tighten your text, improve your pacing and find the rhythm in your writing!
I’ve been editing novels since 2004, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that editing – like writing – is as much, if not more, about how words and stories make you feel as it is about ensuring that particular rules are being followed.
A lot of “rules” can be so strict and restricting that by the time you have applied them all, your story can feel cold and soulless. On the other hand, guidelines such as “write what you know” or “show don’t tell” can seem next to meaningless when you try to apply them to your own work.
In a world that has become ever more visual, with films and Netflix bingeing sessions competing for our attention, it can be difficult to translate the movie-like story in your head onto the page in a way that will captivate and enthral the reader in precisely the way you have imagined.
This is where The Rhythm Method comes in.
I have spent the past few years researching the different ways people tell, and absorb, stories. How screenwriters, showrunners, graphic novelists and even artists and musicians each use their particular skillset to hook their audience and convey emotion, tension and character.
The goal of this course is partly to demystify some of the terminology and concepts that can alarm newer writers, so as well as tips and tricks to tighten your text, you will learn which writing “rules” are merely guidelines that can be adapted to suit your work. More than that, however, you will learn how to use techniques from film, computer games, comics and other storytelling formats to bring your novel to life.
We’ll look at the psychology of the reader – how formatting text and using white space can affect the narrative pace and influence a reader’s expectations, and how to create realistic dialogue that keeps the scene moving. We’ll consider the rhythm of language and how particular word choices and tiny text tweaks can create atmosphere and tension, and we’ll explore different ways to pull the reader into a scene.
The course is designed so that you can work on your own manuscript as we go through each week, so by the end you will already have polished some sections and you will have the tools to take your novel to the next level. I hope you’ll join me!
The Rhythm Method with Abigail Nathan
RWA Course Dates: 3 February to 28 February 2020
Cost: RWA Member—$55. Non-RWA Member—$88.
Venue: Online – RWA Moodle Platform
For more info and bookings www.trybooking.com/BACXB
About the Presenter
Abigail set up Bothersome Words in 2004 and has edited for various Australian publishing houses, including HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Hachette and Harlequin; UK publishers including Gollancz, Jo Fletcher Books and Orion; and worked for a short time as a commissioning and content editor for a small romance and erotica press in the USA. She also works regularly with emerging and self-publishing writers — mentoring and helping them to develop their work. She can be found online at www.BothersomeWords.com and on Twitter and Facebook @BothersomeWords.