In this issue:
- TIP: Possessive apostrophes (revisited)
- Online learning at the Sydney Writers’ Centre
- Student Success – Christine Armstrong
- Want to join a book club?
- Keep your creativity flowing
- Movie ticket giveaway – Let Me In
- Your online profile
- WEBPICK: Man Booker Prize
Many, many years ago, I did a writing course with acclaimed author and creative writing presenter Kathryn Heyman. I got so much out of the course, it helped me to shape the project I was working on at the time. When I first started the Sydney Writers’ Centre, I knew that Kathryn would be able to really help our students, particularly in story structure. So I’m thrilled to announce that Kathryn has joined our team of world-class presenters here at the Centre. Her course on Your Story Structure is coming up on Friday 5 November 2010.
Structure is the skeleton of your story, the shape that holds everything together. For most writers, finding the structure is the key to making the story work. For many writers, it's the most difficult element.
During this course, you’ll cover:
- finding the shape of your story
- narrative shapes: the hero's journey and mythic quest
- rising and descending line narratives
- mimesis and catharsis – the magic of story
- making an active protaganist
- how to find and maintain conflict
- external narrative and internal change
- creating turning points
- set-up, pay-off and the perfect resolution
When: Fridays 5 & 12 November 2010 (two half-day classes)
Time: 9.30 - 12.30pm
Cost: $215
Click here for more information or to enrol online.
TIP: Possessive apostrophes (revisited)
Last week’s tip on possessive apostrophes prompted one of our readers to question why the apostrophe is left out in cases when you would assume it should be used. For example: Mens Room or Womens Room. This is quite acceptable. In the case of ‘Mens Room’ or ‘Womens Room’, the noun is being used to describe the room, not own it. It’s like having a ‘Computer room’, it’s a room for computers. The computer doesn’t own the room. You’ll often see this convention used in titles. But be very careful – if the word is possessive, then you must use an apostrophe. If it’s an adjective, then you don’t need it – but you’ll need to be able to justify your decision.
Grammar Girl uses the example of Farmers Markets – you could get away with not using the apostrophe because 'Farmers' is actually the adjective describing the markets, they’re not necessarily the owners.
Online learning at the Sydney Writers’ Centre
In 2010 the Sydney Writers’ Centre has really grown. So much so, that many of our new students are coming from interstate – and even overseas, particularly a lot of expats living in exotic countries! They’re all taking part in one (or more) of our great online courses. All of our online courses are based on face-to-face courses that we’ve taught here at the Centre for almost five years. And in 2011, we’re hoping to offer even more online options!
Meanwhile, we have some online offerings coming up soon – and some of these courses won’t run again this year.
Online Course: Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers with Valerie Khoo/Sue White
When: Week beginning Monday 18 October 2010 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395
Online Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Pamela Freeman/Cathie Tasker
When: Week beginning Monday 18 October 2010 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395
Online Course: Writing Books for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge/Nicola Robinson
When: Week beginning Monday 1 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395
Online Course: Creative Writing Stage 2 with Pamela Freeman/Cathie Tasker
When: Week beginning Monday 15 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395
Student Success – Christine ArmstrongMore exciting news from one of our feature writing students – this week we heard from Christine Armstrong. She completed the Online Course: Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers in June 2008. Since then she’s gone from strength to strength and has a regular writing gig with the Newcastle Herald.
She’s also just written 28 articles for their wedding guide, which will be published soon. Here’s what Christine said in her email:
I have written to thank you a couple of times but I cannot stress enough how useful your advice was when I completed your course. Thank you!
Congratulations Christine!
Want to join a book club?
As the year draws to a close, we’ve been thinking about what we can do in 2011 to offer our community of writers more opportunities to meet and learn. As many of you know, great writers are often great readers too, and coming together to discuss a wonderful (or terrible) book is a great way to learn more about the craft of writing. So we’ve decided to set up a book club!
The club will be for former students of the Centre and will be held once a month. The books will be chosen by us, and monthly discussions facilitated in one of our harbourside training rooms.
All we need to know is how many of you would be interested in attending, what type of books you’d like to talk about, and when you’d like to attend. We’ve set up a survey for you to fill out here.
We’ll keep you posted on the results!
Keep your creativity flowing
Keeping your writing momentum going after completing a creative writing course can sometimes be just as challenging as learning how to write a great story. It’s important to have strategies to keep your creativity flowing and help you continue your writing journey. Boost Your Creativity is a two-week course designed to help you overcome your writing blocks, and develop the confidence to experiment with your writing. It can even help you inject more creativity into your business writing projects. During the course you’ll cover:
- What is creativity?
- Understanding the creative process
- Identifying the barriers to creative thinking and ways to overcome them
- Living creatively
- Revisiting the way you listen and observe
- Finding inspiration
- Creating a body of work
- Serendipity
- Brainstorming
- When to analyse work and how to do it productively
Boost Your Creativity with Laurine Croasdale
When: Monday 8 & Monday 15 November 2010 (two classes)
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Cost: $175
Click here for more information or to enrol online.
Movie ticket giveaway – Let Me In
Thanks to our good friends at Icon Films, we have some double passes to give away to one of the most intriguing movies of the year. Let Me In is based on the best-selling Swedish novel Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. It’s the story of young loner, Owen, and his friendship with Abby. Here’s a bit more about the film: Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl from Kick-Ass) stars as Abby, a mysterious 12-year old girl, who moves next door to Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Road). Owen is a social outcast who is viciously bullied at school and in his loneliness, forms a profound bond with his new neighbour. Owen can’t help noticing that Abby is like no one he has ever met before. As a string of grisly murders occupy the town, Owen has to confront the reality that this seemingly innocent girl is really a savage vampire.
Let Me In, a haunting and provocative thriller, is written and directed by filmmaker Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and produced by legendary British horror brand Hammer Films.
We have five in-season double passes to give away. If you’d like to win one, just tell us your favourite horror film or book, and why you love it so much. Email your answers to courses [at] spindriftmedia [dot] com [dot] au by 5pm Friday 22 October 2010, and please include your postal address.
Your online profileFamous literary agent Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown in San Francisco, has this to say about your online profile:
'Every [writer] should have some sort of Googlable
web presence so that when someone sees your work
or hears about you they have a way to contact you.’
It may sound daunting, even impossible, but there are ways that you can build an online presence without spending loads of money. As a writer, you want people to be able to find you and your work, and for many new writers the best way to ensure this is online.
One of our newest courses is Build Your Online Profile. This five-week course will show you some of the best online tools available, and help you develop a plan for your new web presence.
This course will give you:
- an understanding of how you can use the web to connect with readers, publishers, agents, librarians, booksellers and others in a way that feels authentic to you
- confidence in your ability to use various web platforms
- knowledge to create a simple online video to promote your work
- ideas for expanding your current work into cross-platform projects, such as using video, audio and interactive web tools to bring your stories to life
- a fast-paced, information-packed overview of the web’s possibilities for you
- lots of inspiration to help you break through procrastination and get active.
‘I loved the collaborative nature and the structure of the course. I also really liked Tristan's use of his own work in explaining concepts and his willingness to learn from the participants as well. Learning from his experiences was very beneficial. I feel I have developed a good strategy around creating an online profile with a clarity of the direction I want to go in.’
- Maraya Bell
‘The presenter was friendly, thorough, interested in each student, and he encouraged the group to share ideas. [I now have the] confidence to try new Web 2.0 facilities.’
- Ian McLean
Build Your Online Profile with Tristan Bancks
When: Thursdays starting Thursday 18 October 2010 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Cost: $395
Click here for more information or to enrol online.
WEBPICK: Man Booker PrizeYesterday saw the announcement of one of the world’s most prestigious writing awards, the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The winner, as you probably already know, was Howard Jacobson for his novel The Finkler Question. Jacobson was awarded GBP 50,000, and will no doubt enjoy a huge increase in book sales.
The Man Booker Prize has a long history and it’s worth visiting the website for news, author interviews and a debate section, where readers can discuss the winning books of years past and the long and shortlists for 2010. The discussion on this year’s winner is already creating some heated debate!
You can check out the website here.
Other upcoming courses
Seminar: Writing Letters and Emails with Deb Doyle
When: Friday 15 October 2010 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm
Cost: $365
Course: Online Creative Writing Stage 1 with Pamela Freeman/Cathie Tasker – NEW DATE
When: Week beginning Monday 18 October 2010 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395
Course: Online Magazine Writing Stage 1 with Valerie Khoo/Pamela Wilson/Sue White – NEW DATE
When: Week beginning Monday 18 October 2010 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395
Seminar: Professional Business Writing with Mel Wilkinson
When: Tuesday 19 October 2010 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00am – 5.00pm
Cost: $395
Seminar: Online Business Booster Bootcamp with Valerie Khoo – LAST BOOTCAMP EVER
When: Thursday 21 October 2010 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30am sharp - 5.30pm
Cost: $695
Writing Tour: Writing in Paris with Patti Miller – FULL
Dates for 2010:
Arrival: Thursday 21 October 2010
Departure: Saturday 6 November 2010
Course: Writing Books for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge
When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 27 October 2010 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $395
Seminar: How to Get Your Book Published with Geoff Bartlett – NEW DATE
When: Thursday 28 October 2010 (two-hour evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $75
Course: Online Writing Books for Children and Young Adults with Nicola Robinson – NEW DATE
When: Week beginning Monday 1 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395
Course: DAYTIME Magazine Writing Stage 1 with Pamela Wilson – NEW DATE
When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 3 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: 10.00am - 12noon
Cost: $395
Course: Perfecting Your Pitch with Sue White
When: Thursdays 4 & 11 November 2010
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $175
Course: Your Story Structure with Kathryn Heyman – NEW COURSE
When: Fridays 5 & 12 November 2010 (two half-day classes)
Time: 9.30 - 12.30pm
Cost: $215
Course: Boost Your Creativity with Laurine Croasdale – NEW DATE
When: Mondays 8 & 15 November 2010
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $175
Seminar: Perfect Your Proofreading with Deb Doyle – NEW DATE
When: Tuesday 9 November 2010 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm
Cost: $395
Seminar: DAYTIME Introduction to Travel Writing with Geoff Bartlett – NEW DATE
When: Wednesday 10 November 2010 (two-hour morning seminar)
Time: 10.00am – 12noon
Cost: $75
Course: DAYTIME Creative Writing Stage 1 with Jeni Mawter – NEW DATE
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 11 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: 10.00am - 12noon
Cost: $395
Seminar: DAYTIME How to Get Your Book Published with Geoff Bartlett – NEW DATE
When: Thursday 11 November 2010 (two-hour morning seminar)
Time: 10.00am – 12noon
Cost: $75
Course: Online Creative Writing Stage 2 with Pamela Freeman/Cathie Tasker – NEW DATE
When: Week beginning Monday 15 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395
Course: Screenwriting Stage 1 with Tim Gooding – NEW DATE
When: Every Monday starting Monday 15 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $395
Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Kate Forsyth – NEW DATE
When: Every Tuesday starting Tuesday 16 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $395
Course: Magazine Writing Stage 1 with Mathew Nott – NEW DATE
When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 17 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $395
Course: Build Your Online Profile with Tristan Bancks
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 18 November 2010 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $395
Seminar: Writing for the Web with Grant Doyle – NEW DATE
When: Monday 22 November 2010 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30am - 4.00pm
Cost: $365
Seminar: Grammar and Punctuation Essentials with Deb Doyle – NEW DATE
When: Wednesday 1 December 2010 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm
Cost: $395
Seminar: Self-Publishing with Geoff Bartlett – NEW DATE
When: Thursday 2 December 2010 (two-hour evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $75
Seminar: Editing with Ease with Deb Doyle
When: Friday 3 December 2010 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm
Cost: $395
Course: Life Writing with Patti Miller
When: Every Friday starting Friday 14 January 2011 for six weeks
Time: 10.00am - 12noon
Cost: $450
Course: Travel Writing: Get Paid for Your Adventures with Sue White – NEW DATE
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 20 January 2011 for four weeks
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $345
Course: Life Writing with Patti Miller
When: Saturday 12 March 2011 and Sunday 13 March 2011 (2 day workshop)
Time: 10.00am - 4.00pm
Cost: $450
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