Write around the Murray 2011 Workshops

These workshops were held during the festival on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 September. Please sign up to the festival newsletter (through the homepage) for all the up-to-date information on next year's workshops. 

Saturday workshops

Story First with Steven Amsterdam

One way to avoid the problem of the blank page is to never see one. Grab hold of ideas when they come, take the time to expand them and give them meaning and structure before you write the first sentence. With an outline by your side, when you sit down to begin you have a roadmap for your journey. The goal of this workshop is to develop strategies for shaping the story before you start writing. Through exercises and workshop discussions, attendees will be better equipped to avoid the blank page.

Writing for TV with Fiona Wood

Fiona Wood  has been writing television scripts for the last ten years on shows ranging from MDA and The Secret Life of Us, to Home and Away and Neighbours. This hands-on workshop will include exercises on character, dialogue and editing. It will look at TV screenwriting basics for the toolbox, and provide tips for breaking into the industry.

Make your own hardcover journal with Lynne Gasperov

Participants will discover the processes involved in transforming a book into a hardcover journal and bookmark, which are yours to keep at the end of the workshop. The content of the book will be manipulated to produce a unique and functional keepsake under the guidance of Lynne. This workshop is aimed at those with an appreciation for the evocative qualities of aged and used objects,. All materials will be provided. 

Create Your Own World a fantasy writing workshop for young adults with Michael Pryor

This is a hands-on writing workshop for 12-16 year olds with the writer of the best selling fantasy series – The Laws of Magic. Participants will have the opportunity to create their own fantasy world which will be the springboard for a thousand stories. Topics will include map making, why names are important in fantasy, why history is useful for fantasy writers and creating fantasy characters. This is the perfect opportunity to kick-start your story for those wanting to enter the River of Stories secondary writing competition.

Sunday Workshops

Creative Writing Masterclass with Arnold Zable

This three-hour workshop will explore writing techniques that can be applied to both fiction and non-fiction, to memoir and short story, the novel and biography. What unites all these genres is creativity and imagination. Arnold will draw upon his twenty-five years of experience as a writer to look at key areas such as scene construction, the borders between fiction and non-fiction, writing character and place, and how to revive and breathe new life into stories that may not quite be working. Key areas include how to structure stories, the ability to move from research to writing, and how to encourage more daring approaches to storytelling.