OWL Schedule 2019
RWA offers you a broad range of educational workshops designed
to continue your professional development as an author.
Click here to download the 2019 OWL Schedule
February
4th February - 3rd March
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZOEH
In the dark about editing? Let Ebony McKenna show you how to edit your own romance manuscript and deliver a great story for your readers, with this intensive online course. These are the same techniques she used for her self-published novel, The Girl & The Ghost, and it won the RuBY!
The course will run for four weeks.
Lesson material will be made available on Moodle at the start of each week in the form of downloadable pdf booklets, building up to a comprehensive editing guidebook for participants to keep.
Participants work at their own pace. The presenter will be available throughout the course and will respond to questions and provide feedback/evaluation via the Moodle forum. Feedback via email is an option where participants prefer.
It’s recommended that participants have a draft manuscript to work on during the course, even if it’s not finished, and allocate two or three hours a week to the course. It’s not expected that participants will completely edit their novels within the month, but will be provided with the tools to do the job in their own time.
Writers at all stages of their careers will benefit from this course.
About the Presenter
Ebony McKenna is the self-published author of many young adult novels, including the charmingly funny four-part Ondine series, where a girl’s pet ferret starts talking with a Scottish accent. Her most recent novel, The Girl & the Ghost, won the Ruby for romantic elements in 2018.
She is a huge fan of structure and has presented workshops at RWA conferences and roadshows, community and neighbourhood houses and libraries.
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZQIH
As writers, we need to have a website. It doesn’t need to be complex, but it does need to exist. How do we do that with limited resources, both financial and time? Easy! Weebly. A simple, drag and drop online website builder and host that requires minimal technical knowledge to set up. And I do mean minimal. If you can fill your car with petrol, you can make a Weebly website.
This course will show you how buy our domain name, select a template (theme design) from Weebly’s extensive library and then how to structure that template to your needs. It will then show you how to add text and photos (single pics and a slideshow), how to embed an email sign up that will automatically connect to an email list builder, add social media icons for sharing and to visit your accounts, how to read Insights, and some basic SEO, such as keywords and alt tags.
At the end you will be able to create and post to the internet a fantastic Weebly website.
If you already have a Weebly website, this is a great chance to update your knowledge and make sure you’re using all the bells and whistles that you need.
What’s the evidence for this claim? I created a Weebly website in two days, with one hand (because the other was broken). It’s that straightforward. When you know how.
The course will run for four weeks in a closed Facebook group. One video will be presented each week and discussion encouraged.
While there are no prerequisites for the course it would be useful to have some idea of what you wish to create.
It will take around 4 hours in total to watch the instructional videos but beyond this, participants can spend as much or as little time as they wish to put in during the course.
About The Presenter
Sara Hood has almost (ahem) 40 years’ experience in marketing and has seen many, many changes. One of the biggest has been the move to the 21st century ‘always on’ marketing environment. It’s a huge challenge that so many struggle with, so her mission is to show you how to create great marketing and sell more books without collapsing in a heap of exhaustion. It can be done and the practical experience and insider knowledge she has is a great way to get ahead so you really can ‘do it all’.
Sara has published two short stories as Sarah J Wolfe and is (still) working on her first full length novel.
March
4th - 31st March
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZQRA
Writing a great pitch is essential, whether you’re trying to catch the attention of an agent or editor, or trying to hook a reader if you’re self publishing.
Join Amazon Charts and Kindle #1 bestselling author Soraya M. Lane for a hands-on workshop, to develop your pitch – what she calls her “back cover blurb” editor pitch. Soraya has successfully pitched and sold romance and women’s fictions novels (based off her pitches alone) to multiple editors and publishing houses, and she wants to help YOU stand out from the crowd. Soraya will show personal examples of her own pitches, show you her format and critique your pitch.
In the second part of the workshop, Soraya will talk about how she’s changed from being a pantser to a plotter, and how to make sure you fulfil your pitch in your novel through great plotting.
This course will run for four weeks.
Lessons will be disseminated each week in a downloadable PDF handout, along with short YouTube videos.
Interaction will be an important part of this course, and will be via the “room” so participants can chat with the presenter. The presenter will provide individual feedback privately.
The time commitment for this course is at the discretion of participants.
Participants will need to have a new idea they want to start working on, or have an existing manuscript or partial ms.
About the Presenter
Amazon Charts bestselling author Soraya M. Lane graduated with a law degree before realising that law wasn’t the career for her and that her future was in writing. She is the author of historical women’s fiction and contemporary romance for Lake Union and St. Martins Press, and her most recent historical novel, Hearts of Resistance, was an Amazon #1 bestseller.
Soraya lives on a small farm in her native New Zealand with her husband, their two young sons and an ever-growing collection of four-legged friends. When she’s not writing, she loves to be outside playing make-believe with her children or snuggled up inside reading. Find out more about Soraya and her writing at www.sorayalane.com
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZQRJ
Worldbuilding is an important element of any story and, when done well, can become a character in its own right. But how do you make sure that you’re an effective ‘God’? How can you ensure that your world, whether it’s real, alternative or imaginary, makes sense and is a good foundation for your characters and plot? And how much is enough? This course will give participants strategies, information and checklists to help you get this right.
The course will run for four weeks.
Lessons will be disseminated once a week in downloadable PDF format.
Feedback and evaluation will be provided to participants at the end of each week through communication through the Moodle platform.
It’s expected that participants will have to commit an hour each week as a minimum in order to go through the material, however, this could be more depending on the level of participation chosen by each participant.
About The Presenter
A writer of copious amounts of words – just because if they didn’t come out, she’s sure they’d make her head explode – Sue-Ellen is an international author with three published stories: Aquila, When Henry Met Gina and Streamer, with her children’s picture book, The Jacket, to be released in 2019. From being an avid reader and writer as a child to studying literature at university, she’s always loved the written word and where it can transport her.
In her ‘other’ life, Sue-Ellen is a social worker and lives in Central Queensland with her ever-patient family and a menagerie of animals, including snakes, turtles, lizards, dogs and fish. She’s an eternal optimist who enjoys making things difficult for her protagonists but loves a happy ending.
April
1st - 28th April
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZRVX
From the very first line, your book has to hook an editor, agent or reader. With more than 30 books published, Amazon Charts and Kindle #1 bestselling author Soraya M. Lane has successfully written across different genres for different publishing houses, and along the way she’s figured out what makes a great first chapter! To give back to the romance writing community, Soraya wants to share what she’s learned along the way, and help other writers to craft a great first chapter from the very first line.
Join Soraya to write or deep edit your first chapter, and she’ll give you advice, tips and hands on assistance. Through hand outs, short videos and critiques, you’ll finish the workshop with a first chapter to be proud of! From starting your story in the right place to making your trope and/or conflict work in a unique way for your characters, Soraya wants to make YOU stand out from the crowd!
This course will run for four weeks.
Lessons will be disseminated each week in a downloadable PDF handout, along with short YouTube videos and regular Q&As
Interaction will be an important part of this course, and will be via the “room” so participants can chat with the presenter. Participants are encouraged to submit work for feedback. The presenter will provide individual feedback privately.
To get the most out of this course participants must have an idea for a new first chapter, be actively working on a new chapter or editing an existing chapter. A time commitment of a few hours per week is the minimum recommended, the maximum will depend on how much work participants want to do on their own story.
About the Presenter
Amazon Charts bestselling author Soraya M. Lane graduated with a law degree before realising that law wasn’t the career for her and that her future was in writing. She is the author of historical women’s fiction and contemporary romance for Lake Union and St. Martins Press, and her most recent historical novel, Hearts of Resistance, was an Amazon #1 bestseller.
Soraya lives on a small farm in her native New Zealand with her husband, their two young sons and an ever-growing collection of four-legged friends. When she’s not writing, she loves to be outside playing make-believe with her children or snuggled up inside reading. Find out more about Soraya and her writing at www.sorayalane.com
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZRWC
As romance writers, we aspire towards traditional publishing with famous romance publishers like Harlequin. Don’t be discouraged if that hasn’t happened yet. Keep that dream alive by self-publishing while you wait.
I’ll eliminate the worries from your self-publishing journey by teaching you tips and tricks; what worked for me and what didn’t.
As a self-published author of two romance novels The Zanzibar Moon and Kendwa’s Secret and successful freelance writer, I can show you how to take the next steps. I have worked in publishing as a book marketing publicist, developed writer websites and ghostwritten to help other writers achieve their goals. My qualifications include a writing diploma, TESOL certificate, graphic arts, printing, publishing, public speaking, event management and writing for over thirty years.
Course outcomes:
● avoid the common pitfalls.
● celebrate your ability.
● The A, B, Cs of self-publishing (Aptitude, Belief, Creativity).
● Have tricks to help you with drafts, edits, re-drafts and re-edits.
● Network with your tribe for the processes you can’t do yourself.
● The dozen of self-publishing (1. Write, 2. Drafts/Edits, 3. Register, 4. Market, 5. Layout, 6. Book Cover, 7. Proof, 8. Last Edit, 9. Print, 10. Distribute, 11. Social Media, 12. Website and other marketing).
● Enjoy the creative freedom of self-publishing.
● Checklists to make the best decisions to produce a book that mixes it with the traditionals.
● Keeping records that don’t dampen your enthusiasm.
The course will run for four weeks.
Lessons will be disseminated each week in downloadable Word and PDF handouts, along with YouTube videos. The presenter will email all participants once a week before the next lesson.
Prior to the course a questionnaire will need to be completed so the presenter can see where each participant is at with their romance writing.
To get the most out of this course it’s best to have intermediate computer skills and access to the internet. Anyone who is enthusiastic and willing to learn is welcome to join in.
About The Presenter
Donna Munro is the indie author of two adventure romance novels and a successful freelance writer who has been published in national magazines. She has a background in publishing, book marketing, graphic design, printing, WordPress/Wix websites and ghostwriting. She helps other writers aspire to publication through her website www.warmwittywords.com.au
1st April - 10th May
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZXTQ
Please note: This course requires a firm commitment. If a participant can’t commit to the length and time required for this workshop other participants won’t receive as much feedback on their work.
Critiquing is a valuable writing tool, and yet many authors aren’t brave enough to try it, can’t find the right partner, or don’t know how to get the best value from feedback.
Most authors recognise the necessity of external input, whether it is from a critique partner, editor or beta readers, but many aspiring authors lack confidence to share their work, because they don’t fully understand what it entails and are afraid of the consequences.
This workshop is a six-week guided tour by an experienced critiquer and sympathetic artist.
Participants will:
• Develop techniques for giving and receiving feedback in a way that nurtures and adds value to both parties.
• Explore the best language to use.
• Develop a healthy attitude to constructive feedback.
• Recognise and reject destructive feedback.
• Improve critical thinking through analysis of various genres and author styles.
• Appreciate how critiquing will improve all aspects of their writing.
• Investigate how to find and select the right critique partner.
• Share their work in a closely controlled and respectful environment.
In order to gently build your confidence, you will progress from anonymous to personalised critiquing in a controlled and respectful environment.
This is a unique workshop experience, which I am well qualified to provide after a decade of personal and professional critiquing experience, including:
• I started the face-to-face Novelists’ Circle critiquing group eight years ago, and the group has gone from strength to strength, with nine published authors, and now a second group is up and running.
• I offer a paid critiquing service to aspiring authors.
• I am an experienced judge for romance writing competitions.
What previous OWL participants are saying about Sandy’s critiquing service:
“This gives me a lot more confidence to go on through my manuscript to finish my self-edit. You’ve made a real difference to my writing.”
“I am very excited that I can see the issues, and understand where to focus my attention.”
“I knew there was something wrong with the opening, but had no clue where the novel should start. Thanks for your amazing insight and encouragement.”
What previous critique group members say about sharing their work
“It would have taken me a lot longer to get published if I hadn’t joined the Novelists’ Circle.” Carla Caruso, published with Harper Collins, Penguin, Escape, Harlequin.
“In five months with the group, I learned more about writing than I did in five years of high school English classes.” Ben Tanny
“There is no better way to learn than by offering and receiving friendly criticism. In observing what I would like changed in the writing of others, I have come to see the same habits in my own offerings.” Steve Davey
What people are saying about Sandy’s workshops:
“Helpful, practical and inspirational, Sandy’s workshop took my writing to the next level.”
“I loved Sandy’s dedication to giving the best feedback possible. It’s made a huge difference to me already.”
“The workshop was well structured, with information provided at an appropriate pace to enable participants to absorb it and apply it to their own work.”
“I liked the friendly nature of the learning experience.”
This is a six week course.
Lessons will be released weekly, on Mondays, in video format and will be supported by two one-hour live chats during the six weeks. The chats to be held on Friday evening as nominated by the presenter. Additional support and information will be given as part of forum discussions.
The required time commitment for participants is 18 hours (3 hours per week), depending on the time taken to do critiques.
Participants must have at least 30,000 words of a story to work on, with a firm idea of the outcome. On commencement of the workshop they must provide a one-page synopsis that details the genre, main characters, their goals, motivations and conflicts (including the final crisis).
This workshop is suited to writers at all levels, assuming a basic understanding of writing craft and terms. You must be prepared to submit your work for critiquing by other participants, and to spend the time critiquing the work of others.
Critique assignments will be due by the end of each week. Feedback will be provided on the weekly assignments via a marked-up Word document, from two critique partners. The presenter will also provide one critique for each participant.
Please note: This course requires a firm commitment. If a participant can’t commit to the length and time required for this workshop other participants won’t receive as much feedback on their work.
About The Presenter
Sandy Vaile is a motorbike-riding daredevil who isn’t content with a story unless there’s a courageous heroine and a dead body. She writes romantic-suspense with attitude, and is published by Simon & Schuster US.
When she’s not writing fiction, Sandy composes procedures for high-risk industrial processes, judges competitions for Romance Writers of Australia and Romance Writers of America, and runs the Novelist’s Circle critiquing group. She lives amongst the South Australian vineyards and was a chef in a past life, hence the food analogies.
See more at www.sandyvaile.com
May
6th May - 2nd June
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZSHH
Podcasting is a direct approach to new readers and listeners. As a free worldwide platform, consumers listen to podcasts at home, work, while exercising and while travelling. In this course students will be able to look inside this wonderful world of podcasting from behind the microphone. They will have a chance to investigate the different aspects of podcasting as a listener, guest and host.
The course will cover podcast requirements, use of free and paid software, interview techniques and how to launch and release a show. Podcast listenership has increased at an exponential rate worldwide leading to growth and opportunities for new shows. The establishment of new stations and platforms in Australia has lead to a growing awareness and acceptance of the platform in this country, thus increasing listenership.
Like a blog, a podcast can be personalised to suit the unique nature of the creative artist. By participating and sharing with others on this platform you can grow awareness of your brand, increase audience reach and share more with your current fan base.
If you simply want to know more about podcasting, have considered being a guest or have aspirations on making your mark with your own show then this course will provide basic information to assist in your decision.
Course Structure
Week 1: Standard requirements for podcasts.
Week 2: Pre-planning and paperwork
Week 3: Interviews
Week 4: Post Production.
Pre-course requirements
Participants will require a computer and headset with a microphone to effectively participate in the course.
*It is recommended that participants listen to podcasts that spark their interest and consider the format and quality while listening.
*separate microphone optional.
About the Presenter
Dianna is a Western Australian based Author and Podcaster. Living in the wheatbelt with three kids a DIDO husband and a menagerie of pets keeps her close to home.
As a writer she likes to focus on young adult fantasy novels appreciating the underlying moral standpoint and mystery within the genre. She is a member of Romance Writers Australia, Australian Fairytale Society and WA Writers.
Her Podcast Finding Elara was launched in October 2018 for writers, world builders and artists that would like to take a mindful look inside their creations. The show provided an opportunity to interview guests and research solo shows focussed around worldbuilding and mindfulness. Her aim was to develop the world she calls Elara. You can find her a www.dlnix.com
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZSIL
There is so much more to effective AUTHOR BRANDING than a pretty website and a catchy tagline. Working out who you are as a writer and what you want to say is an important part of effectively communicating to editors, agents and (ultimately) readers. Branding is not something you need to leave until after you sell.
This OWL course will run for four weeks and look at author branding in the romance sector and will help participants identify what their brand is. By month’s end participants will have a clearer idea of what your author brand is and the different ways you can express it.
This course will be delivered via YouTube and Google email loop. Lessons will be presented in the form of weekly video lectures you can watch in your own time and as often as you wish in the month with an active (but optional) Q&A via Google group across the month. You can do it easily, in your own time and lurkers/introverts will get as much out of it as more active participants!
Author Branding is primarily targeted at aspiring authors who are carving some time away from their focus on craft-basics to start thinking about career progression, but there will be ample lightbulb moments for emerging and established writers, too. Everyone welcome (including those who want to stay under the radar).
Here’s what past participants have said:
I’m getting so much from this workshop. Fantastic information and delivered so I can absorb and understand.
I have absolutely loved this course. I’ve gotten so much out of it. Your years of experience shines through brightly and I’m so grateful I’ve been able to learn from you.
This has been an awesome OWL! Your information has been clear, current and constructive.
I love the way you are putting so much more emotion into everything. Makes me think harder not just about branding but about what it is I’m writing.
The video format is great and the details you provide on how to bring everything together into a brand are fantastic.
Thanks for the really informative OWL on branding – wow, such effort on your part but so worthwhile for the likes of me!
Please note: For ease of access, this OWL is conducted via Nikki Logan’s private YouTube channel and so you will need a Google log-on to access that (secure) area – you probably already have one for Gmail or GooglePlus or YouTube. Just tell us what that email address is at registration.
About The Presenter
Nikki Logan has published 25 novels traditionally, digital-first and independently as well as one writing how-to. She was President of Romance Writers of Australia (Inc) for two years and is an experienced public speaker/presenter with a long working history in advertising, public relations and communications. She has presented to community, corporate, volunteer, library and school groups ranging from six people to one-thousand.
Harlequin’s head of Digital Publishing Malle Vallik identified Nikki’s brand, A Romance With Nature, as one of four notable examples of effective author branding in her branding masterclass at the RWAust Annual Conference.
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZSJB
This workshop is all about letting go and putting words on the page. If you struggle with ideas, this is the one for you. Learn to tap into your creative juices with tons of writing exercises, tips and tricks—while drawing on new and exciting writing techniques. You’ll learn to think up big premises for novels and whittle them down to scenes, as well as littler ideas for short stories. Discover how to burst with inspiration on cue. You’ll walk away with a Word doc full of ideas and the skills to know which ones have the most potential.
This course will run for four weeks.
Course materials will be made available at the beginning of the month in the form of mini-lessons in audio files and downloadable PDF notes for each lesson
Tasks and feedback will be staggered throughout the month
There is a time commitment of 2 hours required to go through materials and on top of this participants can commit as little or as much time as they’d like to the tasks.
About The Presenter
Sarah Gates is a South Australian writer and digital marketer. She is the author of Love Elimination (Harlequin Australia) and a freelance writer for Junkee, Voiceworks and InDaily.
Sarah teaches writing workshops at high schools, libraries and state writers centres, and has appeared on panels at National Young Writers Festival and Sydney Writers Festival. She can be found at www.sarahgates.com.au
June
3rd - 30th June
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZXVZ
Gearing up for the Romance Writers of Australia conference in just a couple of months? Excited but silently terrified about the opportunity to pitch your book to an editor or agent?
“Pitch Like a Professional” is a four-week conference primer designed to get your synopsis, query letter, in-person pitch (and you!) glinting with readiness.
Each week will focus on one aspect of the pitching and submission skillset. As well as learning the secrets to successful submission, you will work on your own synopsis, query letter and pitch and then have an (optional) private session with your trainer to practice your pitch in a safe, one-on-one, face-to-face environment and get some feedback.
The course has two lessons per week, with each week’s material, video and pdf, made available Monday morning, with homework. Feedback will be given on homework submitted.
At the end of the course participants have the opportunity to practice a one-on-one live pitch on Skype. Participants book a time suitable both to themselves and the trainer – to be organised in week 4 of the OWL, however not taking place until 2 weeks prior to conference to allow participants to take onboard course material and to practice their pitches.
Minimum time commitment for lurkers is 4 hours while the average requirement to benefit from participation is 12 hours. The course involves practical development of your own synopsis outline, query letter and pitch so you will need to make time to work on these to get the most out of the course.
Participants are expected to have a completed, or nearly completed manuscript prior to the start of the course.
About the Presenter
AJ Blythe (Anita Joy) is an experienced TAFE trainer and educator who has done her fiction-writing apprenticeship over many years in the close company of some of her favourite published authors. She is that rarest of author-creatures: an author who loves to pitch. She thrives in short-form pitching and thinking on her feet. Since joining RWA in 2008 she been a finalist in the High 5, Ripping Start and Valerie Parv Award and won the Selling Synopsis award in 2013. Find her at www.ajblythe.com and @aussiecozy
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZYXQ
Ever wanted to see your books as audiobooks? Ever wonder how it’s done?
Author and narrator Heidi Wessman Kneale demonstrates a behind-the-scenes production of an audiobook, including recording and editing, Quality Assurance (QA) requirements, and more in this four week course.
Discover why a good narrator is worth their price per finished hour, or see if you’ve got the patience to DIY.
Course material in the form of YouTube videos with accompanying PDFs and sample audio files will be made available in Moodle at the beginning of each week.
Feedback will be given at least once a week, possibly more for those giving sound engineering a go and who are refining their techniques after feedback on sound files.
Participants are welcome to treat this as an info-only course, which would require a 1 to 2 hour a week commitment.
Hands-on participation is an estimated 2 to 5+ hours a week, depending on how much time participants wish to play with the homework examples.
To get the most out of the course it’s best to give some of the techniques ago, even if not intending to narrate an audiobook. Hands-on is fun and will give an appreciation for the narrators and producers who spend hours and hours recording and editing sound files.
Pre-course preparation
Nothing required for anyone wishing to take this course for info-only.
If any class participant wishes to give sound engineering a go, this is what they’ll need:
• Sound editing software: Audacity (FREE!!) https://www.audacityteam.org — recommended due to price point (i.e.: free) and the availability of plug-ins specifically designed for audiobook production. Available for Windows, Mac (32-bit only) and Linux. Free third-party LAME MP3 encoder software will also be required for Audacity due to licensing issues.
(Adobe Audition ($$$) or GarageBand ($$) could be used, if already owned. It is not recommended people go out and buy software. Most of the presenter demonstrations will be with Audacity with a few examples in Adobe Audition.)
• A microphone of some kind that will connect up to the computer/laptop with the editing software. Onboard microphone is acceptable. For the purposes of the class, this is just to lay down some kind of sound files for playing with. Nearly any microphone will do. The presenter will also provide sound files participants can edit if they do not wish to create their own. A high-quality microphone is only recommended if an author is serious about recording their own books, and is not required for the class. Participants are not expected to spend extra money on hardware for this course.
Prerequisites
For hands-on participants: intermediate computer skills. Editing sound files isn’t too different from editing a Word document or a video.
About The Presenter
Heidi Wessman Kneale has a BA in Film and Music from the University of Utah, where she studied electronic acoustic and recording techniques, acting and voice. She has done narration work for indie and student films, professional radio and, naturally, an audiobook or two.
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZYXW
We all do it – but do we do it right?
Self editing is the key to giving your work the best possible chance in a highly competitive environment.
This course outlines a four step approach to polishing your work: from big picture structural edits to the fine detail of line edits and proof reading. Make sure your plot and characters work. Tighten that saggy middle. Find your voice and your characters voices. Fine tune point of view. Avoid repetition, cliché and inconsistency.
Self editing is your best tool – but one of the hardest skills to develop.
Tips and tricks from a multi award winning author will help you find your strongest and weakest points. Crutch words, repetition and extra sparkle are all on the table in this four week course. You may even find yourself moving scenes and chapters.
Offering a logical four step approach, with exercises and feedback, this course will give you the tools you need to send your manuscript into the world and make it stand out for all the right reasons.
Each of the four topics will be a classroom/workshop video tutorial, with associated handout/s in PDF format. Each topic will also include exercises, to be submitted to the presenter for feedback as at PDF by a specified day.
The estimated time commitment is one-two hours of reviewing class materials and one-two hours of exercises each week of the four week course.
Pre-course preparation
A synopsis (max two pages, double spaced) sent to the presenter before commencement of the course. Feedback will be provided on this.
Prerequisites
Participants need to have a work in progress, not necessarily finished, to use for exercises.
About The Presenter
Janet Gover is the author of 13 published novels. She has twice been a RuBY finalist, has won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award (UK) and several Romance Writers of America chapter awards.
She draws on her experience growing up in rural Queensland for her Australian romances. As Juliet Bell, she co-authors darker relationship novels inspired by great English classics.
Discover more: www.janetgover.com
July
1st - 28th July
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BAARD
Do you have a finished manuscript? Do you worry it isn’t in the best shape possible? Not sure where to go from here? Does it even need editing? Or perhaps you can’t justify the cost of hiring a professional? Whether you plan to pursue traditional or self-publishing, a sound understanding of the editing process is essential. Your manuscript can’t—or shouldn’t—be published without the help of a professional editor.
In Editing Explained: the three levels of editing and how each one can improve your manuscript, Libby M Iriks demystifies the editing process. She’ll walk you through what each level entails, explain what you can expect from an editor, help you determine the level of editing you need and how to discern when it’s best to engage the services of a professional, outline potential costs, and explain the steps involved in finding an editor that best suits your needs.
As the course begins, participants will be invited to submit up to two pages of their manuscript for which they will receive an ‘editorial taster’—margin notes, track changes, and an overall editorial comment to guide the writer in further self-edits. These sample edits will be returned at the completion of the course and will give participants an idea of what to expect when working with a professional editor.
Give yourself the best chance at publication success by learning about the different levels of editing and how a professional editor can assist in improving your manuscript.
This is a four week course with lesson material, in the form of a downloadable PDF, disseminated once a week for the four weeks.
Participation in weekly discussions on the Moodle discussion board will be encouraged and monitored by the presenter who will respond to any questions on a weekly/twice weekly basis.
Submissions for ‘editorial tasters’ will be due by the end of the first week and will be returned to participants at the conclusion of the course.
It’s anticipated participants will need to commit one to two hours a week to benefit from the course.
Pre-course preparation
Participants are invited to prepare two pages of their manuscript for submission in order to receive an ‘editorial taster’. No further preparation is required.
About the Presenter
Libby M Iriks is a writer and editor of fiction. She lives and breathes stories and the written word, editing for publishers and authors during the day, and reading or writing creatively at night. Nothing brings her more pleasure than working with an author to craft and shape their story into a truly memorable work of art.
She is currently the Commissioning Editor of Romance at Vulpine Press, and has this year launched her own freelance editing business—Perfect Pear Editing and Proofreading. With a Certificate in Professional Editing and Proofreading, she is a member of the Institute of Professional Editors. She has formerly worked as a teacher, school librarian, and territory manager for Scholastic Australia.
Libby writes women’s fiction and romance in her spare time and has had several works published under a pseudonym. She is a member of Romance Writers of Australia and volunteers her time to coordinate the OWL program.
Visit her at http://perfectpearediting.com.au
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BAARO
Readers subconsciously want certain things from a book…and best-selling writers make sure they deliver it.
Thanks to evolution, the magic of story is wired into our brains – some of us can articulate why, many of us can’t – but science certainly can. Story serves a unique function in the human psyche, a purpose so vital to our success as a species that humans are inescapably drawn to it. The multibillion-dollar publishing industry is a testament to this.
But readers aren’t drawn to any old story, there are certain elements that tip the scales between the slush pile and the yes pile, the bottom-dwellers and the best-sellers, the meh books and the holy-hardcover-I-can’t-put-this-down! books.
And now you can discover exactly what these elements are.
Packed with real-life examples and practical exercises, Hook your Reader breaks down the essential components of chart-busting books. Writers of all genres and experience levels will learn how to:
• Give readers what they are really looking for
• Capture their readers by sparking curiosity
• Engage their readers with the power of emotion
• Craft a compelling character that readers can’t help but connect with
From the unique perspective of practicing psychologist and best-selling author, Tamar Sloan, Hook Your Readers allows you to hack your reader’s brain by creating a book that they’ll be unable to put down.
The course runs for four weeks on the RWA Moodle learning platform. Lesson material will be delivered as a downloadable PDF once each week.
Feedback and discussion will take place in the Moodle discussion forum. A deep edit of each participant’s first 3 pages will be provided by the presenter.
It’s recommended that participants commit to one hour a week to engage with written lesson materials, 2 hours is optional to engage in the weekly online chat.
About The Presenter
As a practicing psychologist and an award-winning author, Tamar Sloan is the creator of PsychWriter: Where Psychology Meets Writing. PsychWriter is a fun, engaging hub of information on character development, the science of story and how to engage readers, and has gained hundreds of subscribers in its first 12 months. She is also a Resident Writing Coach with the popular Writers Helping Writers website and a freelance developmental editor. She is the author of Grit for Writers: Why Passion and Perseverance are the Keys to Your Writing Success and Hook Your Readers: 12 Proven Strategies to Write a Best-Selling Book. Tamar is also a best-selling author of young adult romance.
August
5th August - 1st September
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACKD
“How do I know what I don’t know when it comes to writing craft?”
Writing is a craft, not a gift. It can be learned and perfected with practice. In an industry where we’re constantly reminded of the importance of having a fresh and unique voice it’s easy for new writers to persuade themselves that their innate writing voice (and enthusiasm) will be enough to draw an editor’s interest. But getting the craft right matters. Problem is: how do you know what you don’t know?
Craft 101: Back to Basics will provide a broad overview of the key craft elements of fiction writing and cover a number of common craft terms and concepts—point-of-view, voice, GMC, hooks, pantsing—so you can figure out where your knowledge gaps are and make a plan to fill them before you start sharing your work with editors/agents or even contest judges. This lightly interactive, introductory/Aspiring level workshop will remind new writers that they have to be proficient in the basic rules of craft before they can start breaking them.
This course will run for five weeks (four weeks + bonus week) on Moodle. Three lessons will be delivered each week, lesson materials will be in the format of a downloadable pdf and podcast. Discussion will take place in the Moodle forum and feedback will be provided on submitted homework.
The minimum recommended time commitment (for lurkers) is one hour per week (a total of five hours). While average participation will require a total of 15 hours over the five weeks.
Pre-course preparation
A minimum of a scene (preferably a chapter) is required for participants to use their own work for the homework.
About the Presenter
AJ Blythe (Anita Joy) is an experienced TAFE trainer and educator who has done her fiction-writing apprenticeship over many years in the close company of some of her favourite published authors. She is that rarest of author-creatures: an author who loves to pitch. She thrives in short-form pitching and thinking on her feet. Since joining RWA in 2008 she been a finalist in the High 5, Ripping Start and Valerie Parv Award and won the Selling Synopsis award in 2013. Find her at www.ajblythe.com and @aussiecozy
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACKG
Are you uncomfortable writing sex scenes? Does sharing the raunchy scene you’ve written generate terror? Join us for a safe space to discuss writing, and publishing, sex scenes. Catherine Evans, who writes as little sex as she can get away with, joins with Cate Ellink, writer of in-your-face, explicit, sweary sex books, in a class that’s open to all sorts of sex discussions.
We’ll look at a variety of published sex scenes to determine your comfort levels. We’ll discuss different aspects of what makes writing sex scenes difficult. We’ll follow on from the brilliant 2018 RWA Conference talks about consent and word choices, looking in more depth at what words you’re happy to use. We can share sentences, paragraphs, scenes—whatever you’re comfortable with.
This course requires respect and an open mind. If you can’t handle risqué topics, frank discussions, an assortment of word choices which may include what’s termed ‘swearing’ or ‘blaspheming’, then this course may not be for you.
The course will run for four weeks. All Lesson material will be made available at the start of the course in the form of downloadable PDF documents to allow participants to work at their own pace. But there will be a topic presented each week for discussion on the Moodle forum and chat session.
Week 1 – what’s difficult for you about writing sex scenes? What do you need to help you? Week 2 – words and word choices.
Week 3 – commenting on a range of published sex scenes – interactive and different to those in the handouts.
Week 4 – depending on class size, trying some of our own sex scenes.
The presenter is willing to be contactable personally should participants require extra assistance or more privacy.
There is no recommended time commitment. Participants are welcome to commit as much or as little time as they want.
Prerequisites/prior knowledge
This is an Adults Only class. An open mind and an adult approach to sex and discussions about sex is required. It isn’t so much a writing class, so no prior writing level or craft knowledge is required. Participants don’t have to have had sex, just being curious about it is enough for the class.
About The Presenter
Catherine Evans is a city-born throwback to country genes. Selecting a genre wasn’t easy. She fell into romance and has since found a niche in rural romance—where she feels her years in agricultural research aren’t wasted. Catherine has two books published with Escape Publishing—The Healing Season and Long Game.
Catherine’s always had a secret wild side, and she indulges that by writing erotic romance and erotica as Cate Ellink. Cate has three novels with Escape Publishing—The Virginity Mission, Deep Diving and Team Player. She has eight short stories published, some with Escape Publishing and others in anthologies.
If you want to know more, please visit Catherine’s website www.CatherineEvansAuthor.com or Cate’s www.cateellink.com
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACKH
Do you dislike speaking on stage? Would you rather be behind the computer than on the screen? Will you do anything to avoid getting on stage? Well then this OWL presentation is for you. It will provide practical tips on how you can improve you stage craft, presentation skills and tips and tricks to improve your slides presentation. Your will learn ways to engage your audience and maintain their attention longer in a professional and positive manner. You will be given tips to communicate with your target audience that are practical and easy to apply.
The course runs for four weeks, with lesson material in the form or downloadable PDF or word documents supplied weekly and feedback provided by email from the presenter.
About The Presenter
Tracy Travis is a Distinguished Toastmaster having completing over 50 speeches including keynote addresses, impromptu and planned speeches with several Toastmasters International clubs. She has extensive experience in mentoring and providing positive, empowering evaluations to allow presenters the chance to develop their skills in a supported and nurturing environment. These skills have been extended with her involvement in Toastmaster conferences in many varied roles including Precentor, Test Speaker and Sound System and Audio Visual coordinator.
September
2nd - 29th September
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACQR
With special focus on romance, learn how to simply and succinctly construct an engaging and fresh synopsis that contains all vital information while hooking the reader, and maintaining tension and emotion.
Over the course of four weeks we will formulate the building blocks of the synopsis – the orienting paragraphs, the major turning points, the resolution and the conclusion paragraphs – and learn how to structure them before piecing them together in a way that is engaging and exciting for the reader.
We will discuss how to analyse your story and extract the key elements to include, whilst learning how to determine what plot points and events to leave out.
We will study tone, vocabulary, point of view and pacing. We will look at backstory – how and where does this fit into our synopsis? Secondary characters and secondary plots – yes or no? World-building – how much is enough?
The Simply Synopsis strategy is simple and straightforward, a step-by-step process that makes a daunting task much less daunting.
During the four weeks, lesson material will be disseminated twice a week in the form of a downloadable PDF. Discussion, feedback and evaluation of homework will be via the Moodle forum. If participants are keen, the presenter will also consider holding a live, hour long, chat session through Moodle one evening each week, for a general question-time/discussion/brainstorming session.
It is recommended that participants allow a minimum of 3 hours per week to complete the course.
Pre-course preparation
It helps if participants have a current manuscript to work with.
Prerequisites
It will be beneficial if the participants have basic knowledge of story structure and GMC.
About the Presenter
Michelle Somers is an award-winning romantic suspense author. She’s a professional killer and matchmaker, a storyteller and a romantic. Words are her power and her passion. Her heroes and heroines always get their happy ever after, but she’ll put them through one hell of a journey to get there.
Michelle is treasurer of the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild, a member of Romance Writers of Australia and America, as well as Sisters in Crime and RWA America’s Kiss of Death chapter.
Her debut novel Lethal in Love won both the Valerie Parv Award and Romance Writers of America’s Indiana Golden Opportunities Award before publication in July 2015. In 2016 it won RWA’s Romantic Book of the Year Award for long romance. The sequel, Murder Most Unusual was released in 2017 as both ebook and paperback.
Michelle loves sharing her knowledge with others. As part of this process, the first instalment in her non-fiction Simply Writing Series, Simply Synopsis, was born. Her vision? To demystify the process of synopsis creation.
Michelle lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her real life hero and three little heroes in the making. And Emerald, a black furry feline who thinks she’s a dog.
Visit www.michelle-somers.com to find out more about Michelle and her books.
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACRB
Get the most out of your first chapter and hook the reader—or the publisher—on the very first page. In this course, you will workshop your first chapter to develop your characters, plot, themes, style and tone. You’ll learn what makes a great first chapter and how to achieve it for yourself, as well as how to avoid the common pitfalls. Receive one-on-one advice on your story and how to make it better.
This course will run for four weeks. Course materials will be made available at the beginning of the month in the form of mini-lessons in audio files and downloadable PDF notes for each lesson. Tasks and feedback will be staggered throughout the month.
There is a time commitment of 2 hours required to go through materials and on top of this participants can commit as little or as much time as they’d like to the tasks.
About The Presenter
Sarah Gates is a South Australian writer and digital marketer. She is the author of Love Elimination (Harlequin Australia) and a freelance writer for Junkee, Voiceworks and InDaily. Sarah teaches writing workshops at high schools, libraries and state writers centres, and has appeared on panels at National Young Writers Festival and Sydney Writers Festival. She can be found at www.sarahgates.com.au.
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACRI
Considering starting a Podcast or YouTube channel? Don’t know what’s involved? How much time and money it will take? How to get started?
Sarah has become an expert in the field, hosting the hugely successful show, Write with Love. She will show you how to set up your own program with minimal cost and equipment. Then, once you’ve got the technical stuff sorted, she will show you how and where to promote it to get people listening and watching.
This course will run for four weeks with lesson material disseminated once a week in the form of a downloadable PDF and YouTube video. Feedback and evaluation of homework will be offered at the end of the course or as required.
A minimum commitment of 2 hours is required for this course.
About The Presenter
Bestselling author of The Brothers of Brigadier Station and The Outback Governess, Sarah Williams was nominated 2017 Best Debut Romance Author by ARRA and AusRom Today. She regularly hits #1 on Amazon and Kobo for her rural romances. Host of Write with Love, she gets to chat to authors each week about their journey to publication. You can learn more about her, her books, her publishing house and her Podcast/vlog at www.sarahwilliamsauthor.com
October
7th October - 3rd November
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACRP
This is a practical workshop that takes the art of characterisation one step further than most, detailing how to incorporate your characters seamlessly into your story.
In any discussion on writing craft, there’s always mention of creating believable characters. Any search will uncover lists on what to consider – physical attributes, backstory, archetypes, star and sun signs, relationships, pets, interests, beliefs and of course the biggie, GMC, or goal, motivation, conflict. The lists are endless, and whilst helpful in telling us what we need to do, most don’t demonstrate how.
How do we write these character traits seamlessly into our story, making each and every character believable to our reader, and dare I say, real? How do we transform our knowledge into practice?
This is where ‘Characterisation through Narration’ comes into play. In this workshop, we will explore the narrative modes of fiction – dialogue, exposition, action and description – and their use in incorporating our character traits naturally and seamlessly into our story. We will look at developing GMC and begin to incorporate this, along with character appearance, psyche, backstory and more, into the narrative, lending complexity and context to these traits, and in turn, to our characters.
Using narration to impart characterisation provides readers with a greater understanding of each character, whether major or minor, inviting them deeper into their world and mind, making them more 3-dimensional, believable and real.
This is a must workshop for any writer wanting to take their writing to the next level.
During the four weeks, lesson material will be disseminated once a week in the form of a downloadable PDF. Discussion, feedback and evaluation of homework will be via the Moodle forum. If participants are keen, the presenter will also consider holding a live, hour long, chat session through Moodle one evening each week, for a general question-time/discussion/brainstorming session. It is recommended that participants allow a minimum of 3 to 4 hours per week to complete the course.
Pre-course preparation
It helps if participants have a current manuscript to work with and an idea which characters they would like to focus on.
Prerequisites
It will help if the participants have basic knowledge of GMC, but this is not crucial.
About the Presenter
Michelle Somers is an award-winning romantic suspense author. She’s a professional killer and matchmaker, a storyteller and a romantic. Words are her power and her passion. Her heroes and heroines always get their happy ever after, but she’ll put them through one hell of a journey to get there.
Michelle is treasurer of the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild, a member of Romance Writers of Australia and America, as well as Sisters in Crime and RWA America’s Kiss of Death chapter.
Her debut novel Lethal in Love won both the Valerie Parv Award and Romance Writers of America’s Indiana Golden Opportunities Award before publication in July 2015. In 2016 it won RWA’s Romantic Book of the Year Award for long romance. The sequel, Murder Most Unusual was released in 2017 as both ebook and paperback.
Michelle loves sharing her knowledge with others. As part of this process, the first instalment in her non-fiction Simply Writing Series, Simply Synopsis, was born. Her vision? To demystify the process of synopsis creation.
Michelle lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her real life hero and three little heroes in the making. And Emerald, a black furry feline who thinks she’s a dog.
Visit www.michelle-somers.com to find out more about Michelle and her books.
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACRU
As book marketers we have to provide so many images for our social media, website, emails, everywhere. How do we do that, quickly, professionally and inexpensively when we’re not graphic designers? The answer is Canva – a wonderful, Australian-owned online ‘be a graphic designer’ service. You do it all online, using drag and drop with professionally designed templates. There are also all sorts of pro tools including resize, crop, changing colours and more. All can be done quickly and simply. An account costs nothing. To use your own pics costs nothing. The most you will be charged to use a Canva pic is … wait for it … $1. I’ll also show you some quick, free Chrome add-ons that will make your Canva life even easier. It’s not hard when you know how. I’ve spent years using Canva and have also attended training. I can share all that experience.
I’m not a graphic designer – far from it, but I will show you how a design nong like me can create super spiffy professional graphics. If I can do it then you can. Now I can’t imagine living without it! Seriously. I can’t.
The course will run for four weeks in a closed Facebook group. One video will be presented each week and discussion encouraged.
While there are no prerequisites for the course it would be useful to have some idea of what you wish to create.
It will take around 4 hours in total to watch the instructional videos but beyond this, participants can spend as much or as little time as they wish to put in during the course.
About The Presenter
Sara Hood has almost (ahem) 40 years’ experience in marketing and has seen many, many changes. One of the biggest has been the move to the 21st century ‘always on’ marketing environment. It’s a huge challenge that so many struggle with, so her mission is to show you how to create great marketing and sell more books without collapsing in a heap of exhaustion. It can be done and the practical experience and insider knowledge she has is a great way to get ahead so you really can ‘do it all’.
Sara has published two short stories as Sarah J Wolfe and is (still) working on her first full length novel.
November
4th November - 1st December
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACTB
“That’s not a knife … this is a knife.”
Conflict. It’s all fun and games until the other guy brings out a bigger, shinier knife than you, right?
In this four-week course, Lauren Clarke will teach you the ins and outs of conflict so you can have a novel packed with killer tension.
Expect to get excited about:
• The definition of conflict—from what it is to what it is not
• The best places to locate conflict within your story
• How to direct conflict into your dialogue
• How to use conflict to drive your plot forward
• When there’s just too much conflict to keep your reader engagement level simmering
And much, much more.
Lessons will be disseminated once a week in the form of a downloadable PDF plus some video files. Feedback will be offered by the presenter on the Moodle forum or via private email if participants prefer. One hour per week is the recommended time commitment for participants to benefit from this course.
Pre-course Preparation
Participants must have an idea for a manuscript that they are bringing to this course, ideally one still in the formative stages so they can apply the skills learned to it. However, this will work for a writer at any stage in their writing process.
About The Presenter
Lauren Clarke is an editor of fact and fiction, specialising in the romance genre. With more than fifteen years experience in the publishing industry, she is passionate about helping writers to create their perfect story.
Lauren works in development, line and copy editing, helping you to finesse your story arc by eliminating plot holes, strengthening your characters and ensuring your pacing keeps readers turning the page. She hosts workshops and masterclasses on different aspects of the writing process and is also available for mentoring and online coaching. See more at www.LaurenClarkeEditing.com
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACSA
Want to see your own book on Amazon? Learn how to Self Publish in 5 easy steps. This is a course designed for beginners and those who are nervous of technology.
This course will run for four weeks with lesson material disseminated once a week in the form of a downloadable PDF. With daily interaction via the Moodle site and feedback provided.
A two-hour minimum commitment per week is encouraged, which includes reading the notes and doing a short homework exercise to learn how to upload by the end of the course. Students need to write a blurb and find a cover for their work and to upload by the end of the course (if they wish to).
Pre-course preparation
None needed before course, but if time permits it’s suggested students look over the Smashwords How to Self Publish document as that is the most difficult.
It’s also recommend that students have a short story ready to go, as the first thing to upload for practise, so students get used to the formatting required. The rest can be done in the course.
About The Presenter
Cathleen Ross is a hybrid author with over twenty published and self-published releases. She is also a highly experienced trainer with post-graduate qualifications in adult training. Many of her releases have hit Amazon US best seller lists. She is also published by Penguin Random, Harpercollins and Entangled Publishing.
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACTF
Do you wish you could build your own website or start a blog but have no idea how to go about it? Is the thought of doing so a little daunting? Libby M Iriks is here to help!
Over 30% of all websites that are in existence are built using WordPress. If you ever plan on building or even just managing your own website, it makes sense to do it with WordPress. This course is designed to familiarise participants with WordPress’ administration tools and dashboard using a free WordPress account—though you can choose to purchase a paid subscription for more customisable features.
Libby doesn’t claim to be a technical genius and has no knowledge of HTML, but she has used WordPress for many years, building five websites from scratch and each for a different purpose. She will walk you through the process of creating a website—from brainstorming and planning its purpose, to building and customising it in a way that suits your needs and the needs of your audience. She will be available throughout the course to troubleshoot as you build and customise your website, also offering feedback and tips on how to improve the end user’s experience.
Visit her at http://perfectpearediting.com.au — built by Libby (not a technical genius) from scratch using WordPress!
This is a four week course with lesson material, in the form of a downloadable PDF, disseminated once a week for the four weeks.
We will use the forum on Moodle to discuss weekly topics. The presenter will be available for troubleshooting throughout the course as needed. By the end of the course, participants will have built a basic website and the presenter will offer her top three improvement tips.
It’s anticipated participants will spend one to five hours a week, depending on personal motivation and commitment.
Basic computer literacy skills are a prerequisite for this course.
About the Presenter
Libby M Iriks is a writer and editor of fiction. She lives and breathes stories and the written word, editing for publishers and authors during the day, and reading or writing creatively at night. Nothing brings her more pleasure than working with an author to craft and shape their story into a truly memorable work of art.
She is currently the Commissioning Editor of Romance at Vulpine Press, and has this year launched her own freelance editing business—Perfect Pear Editing and Proofreading. With a Certificate in Professional Editing and Proofreading, she is a member of the Institute of Professional Editors. She has formerly worked as a teacher, school librarian, and territory manager for Scholastic Australia.
December
25th November - 22nd December
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACXG
Audiobooks are currently the biggest growth area in publishing but can be expensive to have professionally produced. A more affordable way to enter the audiobook market is to narrate and produce an audiobook yourself. You don’t need to be a voice actor or tech whiz to produce an audiobook.
By the end of this four-week course, students will have narrated, edited and mastered a short piece that they can sell, give away and/or use as a lead magnet for their newsletter, and gained the skills to continue independently producing professional quality audiobooks.
Lesson material will be disseminated twice per week in the form of downloadable PDF and Word documents, and mp3 and video files.
The presenter will offer a live chat session on the Moodle platform mid-course and again at the end of the course. Feedback from the presenter will be via email at the end of the course.
Participants can expect a time commitment of approximately 8 hours to complete the course.
Pre-course preparation
It would be helpful to have an excerpt/short story/flash fiction prepared that the student owns the audio rights for. The student will also need access to a USB microphone for recording purposes.
Basic computer skills are a prerequisite for the course.
About the Presenter
Renee Conoulty is an Australian Air Force wife and mother of two. She writes stories of dance, romance, and military life including Don’t Mean a Thing, Catching Onix, and Wife, Mother, Woman.
If you run into Renee at the shops, make sure you wave to get her attention because she’ll likely be listening to an audiobook or lost in a day dream. Renee’s love of audio has led to her releasing several self-narrated audiobooks.
Discover more at: http://heysaidrenee.blogspot.com.au
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/BACXB
Polish your writing with editing checklists, tips and tricks. You’ll learn to give your characters more depth, emotion and personality; add layers to your plot; clarify your themes; and make your sentences sparkle. If you’ve ever been unsure about grammar and punctuation, you’ll get a crash course in everything from semi colons to quotation marks to the difference between a hyphen, en dash and em dash. You don’t need to have finished your manuscript to learn how to edit with a keen eye and improve your writing. As the common saying goes: ‘Kill your darlings.’ In this workshop, you’ll learn which darlings need to be cut and which may be allowed to remain.
This course will run for four weeks. Course materials will be made available at the beginning of the month in the form of mini-lessons in audio files and downloadable PDF notes for each lesson. Tasks and feedback will be staggered throughout the month.
There is a time commitment of 2 hours required to go through materials and on top of this participants can commit as little or as much time as they’d like to the tasks.
About The Presenter
Sarah Gates is a South Australian writer and digital marketer. She is the author of Love Elimination (Harlequin Australia) and a freelance writer for Junkee, Voiceworks and InDaily. Sarah teaches writing workshops at high schools, libraries and state writers centres, and has appeared on panels at National Young Writers Festival and Sydney Writers Festival. She can be found at www.sarahgates.com.au.
Previous OWLs
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZIUR
“Let’s start at the very beginning …”
Do you want your first chapters to leap out and grab your reader’s attention, leaving them desperate for more? Make sure your book has the strongest start possible with Start Your Story Right, an online workshop by Lauren Clarke for RWA.
Except to learn:
- How to create a killer hook
- The best way to introduce your characters
- Tips to capture reader attention
- How much back story is yawn-worthy
- Common mistakes we all hate to make
And much, much more.
With lots of feedback from Lauren herself and a heap of worksheets and exercises to help you hone your skills, this is a great course for dedicated authors who want to push their book ahead of the rest.
About The Presenter
Lauren Clarke is an editor of fact and fiction, specialising in the romance genre. With more than fifteen years experience in the publishing industry, she is passionate about helping writers to create their perfect story.
Lauren works in development, line and copy editing, helping you to finesse your story arc by eliminating plot holes, strengthening your characters and ensuring your pacing keeps readers turning the page. She hosts workshops and masterclasses on different aspects of the writing process and is also available for mentoring and online coaching.
See more at www.LaurenClarkeEditing.com
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZIVD
We’ve all heard this old adage, but applying it often causes confusion, because it’s riddled with contradictions. Both showing and telling are valuable techniques. One creates drama and movement, and the other conveys information succinctly and poetically.
Bring your story into focus by finding a balance between action and brevity that will captivate readers.
Participants will:
- Discover when to show, and when it’s okay to tell.
- Identify and banish info dumps.
- Practice infusing the story with relevant details.
- Explore how action can tell the story and engage the reader emotionally.
- Explore how much onscreen time to give each character/event.
Study a variety of techniques to improve showing.
This popular workshop combines video lessons you can watch in your own time with worksheets, plenty of opportunities to apply the learnings to your own story, personalised feedback, and a live chat/Q&A session.
Sandy provides a nurturing learning environment that suits all aspiring writers, whether they have never shown their work to anyone or are used to being critiqued. This workshop will boost your confidence and reignite your joy of writing.
About The Presenter
Sandy Vaile is a motorbike-riding daredevil who isn’t content with a story unless there’s a courageous heroine and a dead body. She writes romantic-suspense with attitude, and is published by Simon & Schuster US.
When she’s not writing fiction, Sandy composes procedures for high-risk industrial processes, judges competitions for Romance Writers of Australia and Romance Writers of America, and runs the Novelist’s Circle critiquing group. She lives amongst the South Australian vineyards and was a chef in a past life, hence the food analogies.
See more at www.sandyvaile.com
Booking Link: www.trybooking.com/ZITO
Social Engineering teaches how characters can extract information from individuals, companies, governments and law enforcement agencies by using the fine art of pretext. Hackers, private investigators, skip tracers, collections agents, repo agents, bail bondsmen, and even stalkers use social engineering to obtain information to further their cause and case.
If there is a database with information your character needs, they can extract with a white lie, some black ones too. Be it phone records, financial records, internet records, travel records, criminal records, mobile GPS pinging and whatever else is available and needed.
“Hi, I am Mr. Jones with Optus, our systems are down, and I need you to bring up a mobile number.”
The various types of information pulled can be used to solve murder cases, locate debtors, missing people, millions hidden in offshore banks, identify a paramour, or someone who created a false identity and faked their death. Social Engineering teaches what information is where, and how to create a ruse who to pose as in the lie.
“Hi, Inspector Richards here of Interpol, I am working a case and need…”
Learn how deception can be used to better your character’s skills as an investigator, criminal or the average housewife on the run.
About the Presenter
Frank M. Ahearn is a skip tracer, privacy expert and the author of The New York Times Bestseller, How to Disappear. He specializes in finding people who do not want to be located and disappearing those who do not want to be found.
See more at www.FrankAhearn.com
Do you love writing but find that you either:
- a) have trouble coming up with ideas for stories, or
- b) start stories only to run out of steam part-way through?
I had both of those issues once too.
In fact, the main thing that scared the bejesus out of me when I started my first novel was knowing just what to write. I had the kernel of an idea and a few characters, but how was I going to spin this into 300-400 pages of novel? “Outline it”, I was told. Plot it out so you don’t have to face the terror of the blank page.
Great advice, if you know how to do it.
Join me for this OWL all about character-led plotting and you’ll soon find it a cinch!
Because she’s awesome, I’ve drawn inspiration from iconic chic lit character, Bridget Jones, to demonstrate ideas and explain the concept of character-led plotting. And to demonstrate that character-led plotting works for just about every type of story, not just Rom Com’s, I’ve also used iconic 80s action movie Die Hard to show it in, ahem, action in action stories.
By the end of this OWL, I want you to understand what a plot is, how it functions in fiction, and how you can generate plots in your own writing. Never again should you fear the blank page because, once you’ve done this course, when someone wisely advises you to “outline it”, you’ll know exactly how.
It’s gonna be a blast with big knickers!
About Samantha Bond
Samantha Bond is a reformed lawyer and unreformed bibliophile. Her first short story was published in Girlfriend magazine when she was fifteen, and she has since been published in anthologies, magazines and she writes for Indaily and Glam Adelaide. Sam teaches professional writing at TAFE, runs face-to-face and online workshops, and provides private writing tuition. Finally, Sam is an unapologetic chocolate and Buffy addict, mum of two littlies, and is a writers’ festival groupie. www.samanthastaceybond.com.
Booking Link: https://www.trybooking.com/TVYJ
Authors, now more than ever before, need to work at marketing themselves. This effort can’t be left up to your publisher, and if you are self-published it’s still up to you to create some visibility about you and your books.
This course will focus on why identity is important – because it’s unique to you, makes you recognisable, gives you focus and purpose and creates a platform for you to develop your promotion and marketing.
We will discuss what happens when you have no identity – you’ll get overlooked, you lose sales, you eventually lose heart – and how identity is linked with our feelings of self-worth.
Even if sales and public recognition are not part of your long game, you still need to create your own identity and be comfortable with it.
Identity for writers is important – particularly when writing in different genres, when a separate identity may be needed for each.
The course will look at ways of creating identity, branding, how branding is not marketing (because it’s ‘pull’ rather than ‘push) and how branding becomes your essential truth or value and clarifies who you are.
Publicity and marketing will also be a focus and the workshop will include opportunities for discussion, sharing of branding and marketing ideas which will receive feedback and suggestions.
Aspects of marketing will include discussion on author websites, social media presence, blogging, marketing/media kits, various publicity types (media releases etc), how to approach media outlets for interviews, creation of collateral (flyers, banners, business cards), book signings and events.
About Nan Berrett
I am an award-winning rural journalist and have been running my own successful media and marketing consultancy for the past six years. I have qualifications in small business management, public relations, marketing and event management.
I have presented on topics for writers – including social media, self-publishing, author and artist marketing and promotion, business visibility and similar topics to a range of clients which have included artists collectives, regional local councils, writers groups, Gawler Festival of Words (South Australia 2016), Adelaide Plains Festival of Words (2017), various business groups in South Australia, and will present at the Clare Readers & Writers Festival 2017 (Research & Work Habits, Author Promotion & Pathways to Publication).
I am a co-founder and Director of the Clare Readers & Writers Festival, which is now in its fifth year. I have had four novellas published by Extasy Books (oneline) in the genre of erotica.
Booking link: https://www.trybooking.com/TWOS