Mapping Your Story
Length: 12 x 3-hour workshops
Suitable for: Beginner to intermediate writers
Cost: $900 per person
When: TBA
Course Overview | Course Outline | Testimonials | Bookings and Enquiries
Suitable for: Beginner to intermediate writers
Cost: $900 per person
When: TBA
Course Overview | Course Outline | Testimonials | Bookings and Enquiries
Is your story, idea, novel, or script stuck in development limbo? Afraid you’ll never finish it? Rediscover your passion for your story as we explore its shape, uncover its intricacies, and redefine what makes it a unique story only you can tell. Over 12 weeks you will create believable conflict and characters, inject powerful symbols and themes, plot an organic narrative, and more, building your story idea a layer at a time with each subsequent workshop. By the end, you’ll rediscover the love that drove you to write your story in the first place and have developed a concrete outline and sample scenes that will get you to the last page. Are you ready to complete your story? Limited places, bookings essential.
While it can be useful to bring along an existing story or idea to redevelop, it is not essential. The course is designed to take participants through the full development of a story, from germinating ideas through to writing the manuscript. Both new and existing stories will benefit immensely from applying the course material.
Please note, each workshop builds on the last, thus it is recommend participants undertake each workshop.
back to top | Course Outline | Testimonials | Bookings and Enquiries
While it can be useful to bring along an existing story or idea to redevelop, it is not essential. The course is designed to take participants through the full development of a story, from germinating ideas through to writing the manuscript. Both new and existing stories will benefit immensely from applying the course material.
Please note, each workshop builds on the last, thus it is recommend participants undertake each workshop.
back to top | Course Outline | Testimonials | Bookings and Enquiries
Week 1: Developing a Potent Premise
Week 2: Generating Compelling Conflict
Week 3: Weaving a Sturdy Character Web
Week 4: Creating Believable Characters
Week 5: Extracting an Evocative Theme
Week 6: Sculpting an Authentic World
Week 7: Detailing the Story World
Week 8: Injecting Enriching Symbolism
Week 9: Plotting an Organic Story
Week 10: Shaping the Story Structure
Week 11: Constructing Powerful Scenes
Week 12: Writing Believable Dialogue
back to top | Course Overview | Testimonials | Bookings and Enquiries
- Brainstorm ideas
- Determine which has most potential
- Examine challenges inherent in idea
- Locate idea’s most interesting character
- Define idea’s central conflict
- Develop path for character’s growth
- Determine character’s final moral choice
Week 2: Generating Compelling Conflict
- Develop protagonist’s weaknesses and needs, create ultimate desire
- Craft opponent who blocks protagonist from achieving these things
- Generate protagonist’s plan to overcome opponent
- Flesh out conflict between protagonist & antagonist
- Create final struggle between protagonist and antagonist
- Determine protagonist’s final self-revelation
- Produce new equilibrium for story’s end
Week 3: Weaving a Sturdy Character Web
- Develop a character web
- Expand your characters by drawing from archetypes
- Individualise characters within web
- Build conflict within the character web
Week 4: Creating Believable Characters
- Understand the process of character change
- Establish a empathetic protagonist
- Chart the protagonist's character change over the course of the story
- Create a believable antagonist
Week 5: Extracting an Evocative Theme
- Locate a theme in your premise
- Express theme dramatically by splitting it into oppositions
- Develop your theme through story structure
- Create variants on your theme within the story
- Discover how to combine various themes seamlessly
- Find the unique vision for your theme
- Learn how to establish theme through dialogue
Week 6: Sculpting an Authentic World
- Find your story world in your premise
- Establish the arena of your story
- Connect the story world to hero’s development
- Establish time within world
- Locate story world through story structure
Week 7: Detailing the Story World
- Determine the intricate details within the story world
- Establish the story's natural settings, including weather
- Create the story's man-made spaces
- Generate the world's societies, political systems, and religious beliefs
- Develop the world's tools and technologies
Week 8: Injecting Enriching Symbolism
- Understand how symbols work
- Learn how to create symbols and a web of symbols
- Establish symbolic characters
- Create symbolic themes
- Develop symbols through story world and character actions
- Discover how to develop symbolic objects
Week 9: Plotting an Organic Story
- Develop an organic plot
- Examine different plot types
- Assess your story’s revelations sequence
- Determine role of the storyteller
- Analyse plot types of popular genres
Week 10: Shaping the Story Structure
- Expand the plot to encompass all 22 structural steps
- Build the story one structural step at a time
- Map the protagonist's journey and growth from beginning to end
- Weave each story component into the narrative journey
Week 11: Constructing Powerful Scenes
- Learn how to construct an effective scene
- Introduce complexity and subtext into a scene
- Weave scenes together as a organic story
- Combine a multi-strand plot into coherent scenes
- Examine complex plot structure in crime, love, and fantasy stories
- Establish how to crosscut between scenes effectively
Week 12: Writing Believable Dialogue
- Attune your ear to melody & harmony of good dialogue
- Understand difference between narration & dialogue
- Recognise difference between real & fictional dialogue
- Translate how people speak into your work
- Learn how to make different characters speak uniquely
- Develop revealing character through dialogue
- Discover which dialogue tags to use and which not to
back to top | Course Overview | Testimonials | Bookings and Enquiries
Week 1: Developing a Potent Premise
"Great opportunity to flesh out (and focus in on) a story idea. "Developing" was the key word here, and I feel it was my skills as well as my premise that were developed." - Garry Winterton
"I found the "Developing a Potent Premise" workshop helped clarify my ideas for my novel. It has given me an idea of how to structure my planning." - Anne Forbes
"The workshop has helped me turn my rough character and idea into a more fully formed plot. In particular developing a theme, conflict, and thinking about the climax (moral choice)." - Alia Bath
"Logical and straightforward develop of a story from basic principles." - Odile Pouliquen-Young
Week 2: Generating Compelling Conflict
"I found this workshop really useful for making me think in more detail about the drivers of my story - the main character and his motivations, the conflicts he has and how they are key to the story, and even helped me fix in some plot points and give me better direction (I had a couple of characters and some vague ideas, but nothing properly fixed as a plan yet!). In general, like the last workshop, it really helped me order my thinking about what a story needs and where my story is going." - Anne Forbes
"The workshop was engaging, easy to understand, and Mr Levett is a kind teacher. It was everything my English class wasn’t: genuinely fun!" - Amy Parker
"The workshop has made me think about my character goals and potential themes to be included in the narrative. I feel I have a deeper insight into the writing process." - Garry Winterton
"I really enjoyed the writing exercises and practical story development." - Alia Bath
Week 3: Weaving a Strong Character Web
"Excellent third week, building on previous conflict workshop. The workshop was very detailed. The theories were explained by the examples and the exercises gave me enough practice applying the basic ideas, linking them with previous week’s learnings." - Odile Pouliquen-Young
"The workshop was really helpful thinking about different character archetypes and combinations and shadow sides of these archetypes. It made me think more about conflict between characters and particularly about multiple conflict and how characters can be more complex combinations of archetypes." - Anne Forbes
"As always, the session provided some interesting tools to help me think about my story. It helped me develop my plot as well as round out my characters" - Alia Bath
"Another enjoyable workshop which has forced me to consider how to construct my character relationships. I most enjoyed the discussion about character revelations and I found it has forced me to think about planning." - Garry Winterton
"The workshop met my expectations and I most enjoyed A. R. Levett's teaching style. The exercises provided me with the context to further develop my characters." - Amy Parker
Week 4: Creating Believable Characters
"The workshop was very informative. I’m learning more than I expected. I really enjoyed the identification, character needs, and desires concepts, for both villains and heroes and the exercises are very helpful. I’m finding the course very informative and helpful." - Garry Winterton
"Villains are cool – elaborating on their characters is fun and important.” - Alia Bath
“It really helped me to develop my story, plot points, develop new ideas, and refine my hero’s desire. This workshop helped to identify a hole in my plot and the driving of the hero’s actions, so it has really helped me define /redefine what pushes the hero.” - Anne Forbes
"I most enjoyed refining the exercises from Weaving a Strong Character Web because it deepened my understanding of character arc. The exercises gave me a better understanding of character and simplified the concept of needs. The concepts are beginning to coalesce into a whole and more easily put into practice. I can see the value of following the workshop exercises as my writing evolves.” - Odile Pouliquen-Young
“The workshop pointed out the flaws in my story and gave me ideas about how to improve them. The atmosphere feels friendly and the discussions enlightening. There’s so much fascinating stuff to cover. The exercises helped me to create and clarify really great moments from my story. Mr Levett creating such an enjoyable and comprehensive course is a testament to his talent as a writer and teacher.” - Amy Parker
"I really enjoyed talking about how to create interesting characters. The workshop cleared up a lot of concepts." - Katika Harris
back to top | Course Overview | Course Outline | Bookings and Enquiries
"Great opportunity to flesh out (and focus in on) a story idea. "Developing" was the key word here, and I feel it was my skills as well as my premise that were developed." - Garry Winterton
"I found the "Developing a Potent Premise" workshop helped clarify my ideas for my novel. It has given me an idea of how to structure my planning." - Anne Forbes
"The workshop has helped me turn my rough character and idea into a more fully formed plot. In particular developing a theme, conflict, and thinking about the climax (moral choice)." - Alia Bath
"Logical and straightforward develop of a story from basic principles." - Odile Pouliquen-Young
Week 2: Generating Compelling Conflict
"I found this workshop really useful for making me think in more detail about the drivers of my story - the main character and his motivations, the conflicts he has and how they are key to the story, and even helped me fix in some plot points and give me better direction (I had a couple of characters and some vague ideas, but nothing properly fixed as a plan yet!). In general, like the last workshop, it really helped me order my thinking about what a story needs and where my story is going." - Anne Forbes
"The workshop was engaging, easy to understand, and Mr Levett is a kind teacher. It was everything my English class wasn’t: genuinely fun!" - Amy Parker
"The workshop has made me think about my character goals and potential themes to be included in the narrative. I feel I have a deeper insight into the writing process." - Garry Winterton
"I really enjoyed the writing exercises and practical story development." - Alia Bath
Week 3: Weaving a Strong Character Web
"Excellent third week, building on previous conflict workshop. The workshop was very detailed. The theories were explained by the examples and the exercises gave me enough practice applying the basic ideas, linking them with previous week’s learnings." - Odile Pouliquen-Young
"The workshop was really helpful thinking about different character archetypes and combinations and shadow sides of these archetypes. It made me think more about conflict between characters and particularly about multiple conflict and how characters can be more complex combinations of archetypes." - Anne Forbes
"As always, the session provided some interesting tools to help me think about my story. It helped me develop my plot as well as round out my characters" - Alia Bath
"Another enjoyable workshop which has forced me to consider how to construct my character relationships. I most enjoyed the discussion about character revelations and I found it has forced me to think about planning." - Garry Winterton
"The workshop met my expectations and I most enjoyed A. R. Levett's teaching style. The exercises provided me with the context to further develop my characters." - Amy Parker
Week 4: Creating Believable Characters
"The workshop was very informative. I’m learning more than I expected. I really enjoyed the identification, character needs, and desires concepts, for both villains and heroes and the exercises are very helpful. I’m finding the course very informative and helpful." - Garry Winterton
"Villains are cool – elaborating on their characters is fun and important.” - Alia Bath
“It really helped me to develop my story, plot points, develop new ideas, and refine my hero’s desire. This workshop helped to identify a hole in my plot and the driving of the hero’s actions, so it has really helped me define /redefine what pushes the hero.” - Anne Forbes
"I most enjoyed refining the exercises from Weaving a Strong Character Web because it deepened my understanding of character arc. The exercises gave me a better understanding of character and simplified the concept of needs. The concepts are beginning to coalesce into a whole and more easily put into practice. I can see the value of following the workshop exercises as my writing evolves.” - Odile Pouliquen-Young
“The workshop pointed out the flaws in my story and gave me ideas about how to improve them. The atmosphere feels friendly and the discussions enlightening. There’s so much fascinating stuff to cover. The exercises helped me to create and clarify really great moments from my story. Mr Levett creating such an enjoyable and comprehensive course is a testament to his talent as a writer and teacher.” - Amy Parker
"I really enjoyed talking about how to create interesting characters. The workshop cleared up a lot of concepts." - Katika Harris
back to top | Course Overview | Course Outline | Bookings and Enquiries