There are fundamental principles underlying how stories work. Understanding these principles is very useful when drafting your stories, but absolutely vital when redrafting work, figuring out where a story might be getting stuck, and recognising how to fix it.
In this two-day workshop we’ll focus on Character and Structure. Using examples from a wide range of well-known works – from novels and short stories to film and TV – we’ll explore Character Motivation and Character Dynamics, Dialogue and Subtext, Scenes and Acts, Reversals and Revelations, and how all these elements reinforce one another to make a story more than the sum of its parts.
If you’re writing story-led fiction, these are the principles with which you’re working. If you’re writing experimental, avant-garde fiction, these are the principles against which you’re pushing.
In advance of the workshops, you’ll receive a reading/watching list of the stories we’re covering. During the workshops themselves, there’ll be writing exercises, breakout groups, a bit of craic, and plenty of space for discussion and Q&A time.
This workshop will be useful for any writer serious about learning the mechanics of story (…even if the phrase ‘mechanics of story’ makes you queasy). Story is an endless ocean, so let’s dive in!
