Category: Event Reviews - A. R. Levett

Workshop Review: Mapping Your Novel Concepts Coalescing

30/1/2018

28 January 2018 saw participants return to the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre for the fourth session of Mapping Your Novel, Creating Believable Characters. After the extended break, the group was eager to get back into learning about how to write their novel.

This fourth session focused on deepening participants’ understanding of their characters, especially the protagonist and antagonist.

‘I really enjoyed the writing exercises,’ said Odile Pouliquen-Young. ‘Going back to refine the exercises from Weaving a Strong Character Web deepened my understanding of character arc.’

Anne Forbes agreed. ‘The workshop really helped me to develop my story and refine my hero’s desire. It helped me identify a hole in my plot and the driving of the hero’s actions, so it has really helped me redefine what pushes my hero.’

Although protagonists receive most of the attention in a story, it was developing their opponents that participants found most enjoyable.

‘Villains are cool,’ said Alia Bath, ‘elaborating on their characters is fun and important.’

Four weeks into Mapping Your Novel, the group is beginning to see how the concepts introduced in the previous three session are beginning to build up their story a layer at a time.

‘The concepts are beginning to coalesce into a whole and more easily put into practice,’ said Odile. ‘I can see the value of following the workshop exercises as my writing evolves.’

Overall, participants are satisfied with both the content of the course and their evolving stories.

‘The discussions are enlightening,’ said Amy Parker.

Katika Harris agreed. ‘I really enjoyed talking about what makes a character interesting.’

‘The workshop was very informative,’ summarised Garry Winterton. ‘I’m learning more than I expected.’

A. R. Levett is running a new stream of this course, called Mapping Your Story, at the Fellowship of Australian Writers Western Australia from 4 March 2018 for the heavily discounted rate of $400 WAWU members/ $500 General Public. Places are limited. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to snag a bargain for what current participants are calling ‘an enjoyable and comprehensive course.’ (Amy). To book or enquire about the course, please email A. R. Levett.

Workshop: 'Creating Believable Characters' Rated Excellent

28/11/2017

A. R. Levett’s third Mapping Your Novel session, Creating Believable Characters, held at the KSP Writers’ Centre on 26 November 2017, attracted much praise from participants.

‘Excellent third week,’ said Odile Pouliquen-Young, ‘building on the previous conflict workshop.’

Garry Winterton agreed. ‘Another enjoyable workshop which has forced me to consider how to construct my character relationships.’

The workshop involved participants establishing a character web in their story by determining each major characters’ story function and archetype, then individualising each character by creating unique values that opposed the other characters’ beliefs. Participants relished the range and depth of material covered.

‘I most enjoyed thinking about different character archetypes and combinations and shadow sides of these archetypes,’ said Anne Forbes.

‘The discussion about character revelations was what I enjoyed most,’ said Garry, ‘and I found it has forced me to think about planning.’

‘It was very detailed and good to have the methods explained,’ said Odile.

Once more, the exercises were the highlight of the workshop.

‘I found the exercises to be particularly helpful for developing a character web,’ said Garry.

‘They made me think more about conflict between characters and particularly about multiple conflict and how characters can be more complex combinations of archetypes,’ said Anne.

Another successful session, then, for the ongoing Mapping Your Novel course.

‘As always, the session provided some interesting tools to help me think about my story,’ said Alia Bath.

‘The workshop met my expectations and I enjoyed A. R. Levett's teaching style,’ said Amy Parker. ‘The exercises provided me with the context to further develop my characters.’

The course participants have now established the basics of their stories and are well on their way to building upon it in the following sessions. During the fourth session, they will look at Extracting a Potent Theme from the material they have already established.

For more information on A. R. Levett’s Mapping Your Novel course and/or each workshop, please see the Mapping Your Novel course information or contact him.

News: Winners of Story Mentoring Raffle Announced

27/11/2017

As part of his residency at the Fellowship of Australian Writers Western Australia (FAWWA), A. R. Levett raffled off three vouchers for his Story Mentoring services. The raffle raised over $80, which A. R. Levett generously donated to FAWWA.

The raffle was drawn on 21 November 2017 during the Write Night session and the winners are:

1st Place (3,000 word Revision): Thomas Sunman
2nd Place (7,000 word Copy Edit): Lynne Deperas
3rd Place (10,000 word Review): Bruce Willett

Congratulations to all three winners. FAWWA and A. R. Levett will be in contact with you shortly to organise sending you your vouchers.

Thank you to everyone who purchased a ticket and thank you to Yeeda and Colin at FAWWA for helping organise the raffle. A. R. Levett hopes that the funds will help the centre.

Workshop: Charting the Hero's Journey Highly Recommended!

18/11/2017

Participants came away from A. R. Levett’s Charting the Hero’s Journey workshop at the Fellowship of Australian Writers Western Australia (FAWWA) on Saturday 18 November 2017 feeling inspired, informed, and encouraged.

‘The workshop exceeded my expectations,’ said participant and local WA poet Scott Patrick Mitchell. ‘I feel empowered and confident.’

During the workshop, participants examined their existing stories through the lens of the Hero’s Journey, allowing them to reengage with it in an enjoyable way and begin the process of restructuring it.

‘As a result of this Hero’s Journey workshop, I will be making significant changes to my current story,’ said Eva Cronstedt. ‘I think it will be so much more exciting in the process.’

‘I found it easy to use the headings provided to relate to my own storyline as they are generic to any journey,’ said Valentina Jewlachow.

Once again, the writing exercises proved a hit with attendees.

‘The exercises were very conducive to the development of my story,’ said Scott.

‘They were really helpful and helped give me ideas regarding plot and characterisation,’ added a participant who wished to remain anonymous.

Eva agreed. ‘The exercises were very conducive to the development of my story.’

Some even found the workshop useful not only for viewing their story differently, but also empowering our lives.

‘For me, the real life original purpose for this type of story is important for us all to better our own lives,’ said another anonymous participant.

By the end, participants felt inspired and encouraged to apply their new knowledge due to A. R. Levett’s considerate treatment of them and their questions, and were enthusiastic to recommend it to others.

‘A. R. Levett tackled the content in a concise and considerate manner and is very encouraging towards participants’ questions and insights,’ said Scott Mitchell Patrick. ‘Highly recommended.’

‘It was very informative and done in fun ways,’ added a third anonymous participant. ‘A. R. Levett respected our questions and was very encouraging. He gave me inspiration and motivation to keep writing. Highly recommended!’

For more information on, to book a place in, or testimonials for A. R. Levett's Charting the Hero's Journey workshop, please view the workshop page: http://arlevett.weebly.com/charting-the-heros-journey.html

Writing Advice: The Need for Dedicated Writing Time and Space: A. R. Levett's Two-Week KSP Fellowship

25/7/2017

It wasn’t until the third day of my two-week fellowship at the KSP Writers’ Centre that I began to fully appreciate what a wonderful opportunity this was. Magpies chortled in the background as the sun rose behind us, revealing the soaked cityscape in the distance. I sat in the comfy armchair of the Clarke cabin eating a bowl of steaming porridge and reading Julia Cameron’s The Vein of Gold. The external world, also known as “real life”™, had finally slipped away. As I read, a passage triggered a childhood memory. A moment later, I scrambled for my writing journal, inspired to write what became ‘Lunch on the Farm’, the first of two memoir vignettes I spontaneously wrote during my fellowship.

While my entire stay was wonderful, it’s these inspired moments that stand out. Katharine’s benevolent spirit, it seems, still lingers at the centre, inspiring residents to write what is important to them.

I had applied for my fellowship with the intention of rewriting Part II of my novel-in-progress, ‘The Rebels’, an epic fantasy-fiction story, which also forms part of my PhD in creative writing. During my stay, I revised a considerable chunk of these nine chapters. Part of me wishes I had completed the lot, but I didn’t. And this is a very good outcome. Let me explain why.

In Aesop’s The Tortoise and the Hare, the arrogant Hare rushes off without much thought and quickly becomes distracted by so many things that he forgets about the race until it’s too late. Meanwhile, the Tortoise takes a slow and measured approach and wins. Despite living thousands of years before us, Aesop understood modern life: we are always hurrying to get somewhere without stopping to enjoy the journey.

Caught in self- and university-imposed deadlines for the past three years, I have been the Hare, flitting from one end of my novel to the other without spending enough time in any chapter to fully inhabit each scene. I have been so preoccupied with finishing the project and writing to specific word counts, that I didn’t even acknowledge that several scenes were no longer what I had intended to write.

The infamous moral of Aesop’s tale is that “slow and steady wins the race.”

What writing ‘The Rebels’ needed was the Tortoise’s approach: to slow down, take in every sensory detail, then evoke them so that the reader could inhabit each scene as if they existed within it. And that, is the purpose of good storytelling. To paraphrase author and teacher Barbara Turner-Vesselago, if we hurry to get to the point of the novel, “that point won’t seem worth getting to if we haven’t really participated in the journey along the way” (Writing Without a Parachute: The Art of Freefall, 2014, pp. 42-43).

The time and space of my fellowship allowed me to take this approach, returning to what I had intended to write and, with flashes of inspiration, produce much more vivid material.

Any writer who is genuine about their craft knows how beneficial long periods of uninterrupted time are for producing evocative work. Whether it’s the idea for a new project or a fresh perspective on an existing one, you need that dedicated time and space to allow the story to evolve organically.

So, if, like me, you have become trapped in the Hare routine that is modern life, I recommend applying for a KSP fellowship. You might just find yourself curled up in the armchair with a steaming bowl of porridge and a good book on a cold morning. And, as the external world slips away, you might have that magic moment of inspiration that changes your story for the better.

A. R. Levett
23 July 2017

Workshop: Mastering the Art of Critiquing: "An Enjoyable Workshop"

21/6/2017

On Tuesday 20 June 2017, emerging WA author A. R. Levett presented the workshop Mastering the Art of Critiquing as a private session for KSP’s Tuesday Writers’ Circle.

'I really enjoyed the presentation,' said participant Lisa Holt. 'It was upbeat and easy to follow.'

Laden with copious handouts and a comprehensive slideshow, A. R. Levett taught the group about the difference between a review and a critique, outlaid the three stages of critiquing, and detailed the specifics about critiquing a story its craft.

'Andrew covered the basics in a very practical way,' said Lisa.

'The detailed presentation was thorough and helpful,’ agreed Francess Day.

'It was very informative,' said Stephan Baroni. 'Awesome handouts.'

Alex Holt also delighted in the handouts she took home, appreciating A. R. Levett’s thorough and cordial methods. 'I liked the in-depth approach,' she said, 'and how Andrew worked with us so he knew we were understanding what he was saying.'

During the second half of the session, A. R. Levett presented some examples of good and bad critiquing, which the group easily dissected. Afterwards, he led participants through a comprehensive critiquing exercise. The group performed admirably.

By the end, participants were confident they could perform a constructive critique. And they left with a smile on their faces, eager to learn more.

'It was an excellent, well presented workshop,' said Angela, 'which held my interest and provided me with many new facts to implement in the future.'

'I feel I could walk right out and start critiquing using his notes,' agreed Lisa. 'And it whetted my appetite for more.'

Stephan concurred. 'I would love to learn more from Andrew.'

A. R. Levett will be running the 10-week course, Mapping Your Novel from 2 September 2017. You can learn more about A. R. Levett's workshops and courses here and here.

Loaded with Insightful Information about Writing for Games

19/4/2015

Dr Glen Spoors’ workshop Writing for Games at the KSP Writers’ Centre on 18 April 2015 was very inspiring. After a comedic video about the realities of the videogame industry (posted below), Glen gave participants an overview of the lengthy process of constructing a games document and then delved into the concept, narrative, and player agency components.

One of the many very interesting aspects, which applies to all types of storytelling (and most of the concepts did), was the story structures he presented, from the traditional three act story structure, to the twelve step monomyth, and even some interesting takes on nonlinear narratives, such as branching storylines and narrative nodes. Another interesting aspect he introduced us to was the “trinity of interest”, which specifies the three components that engage a player’s, or reader’s, interest: curiosity, surprise, and suspense.

For writing exercises, we brainstormed a list of game concepts and created some great, and even a few hilarious, ideas. We then developed these further to determine the type of gameplay, player role, setting, structure, genre, perspective, and other features the game would use. Finally, we developed a story for the game and outlined whether it would be a linear or non-linear narrative.

Glen was enthusiastic and related his personal experience writing for and creating games. He had some wild, creative, and inspirational ideas. Most of all, he was full of insightful and in depth information so that all workshop participants went home loaded with information about writing for games, and writing in general.

Writing Emotion Workshop review

30/3/2015

On Saturday I attended an excellent workshop at the KSP Writers’ Centre called Writing Emotion with award-winning young-adult novelist Kate McCaffrey, author of Destroying Avalon, In Ecstasy, Beautiful Monster, and the recent Crashing Down. During the workshop, Kate shared her writing and publishing experiences, from a chance viewing of Dr Phil inspiring Destroying Avalon, to the tribulations of translating In Ecstasy for an American audience. Kate’s story was full of inspiration, wisdom, and emotion.

Throughout the workshop, Kate insisted that writers should write what they know. This, she says, is the key to writing emotion because if a writer has had a similar emotional experience, then it will probably come through in their writing. Kate also pointed out that writers must leave room for their readers to bring their own emotions. This can be achieved by giving the reader enough information of the situation and leaving gaps for them to fill with their own emotions. Another piece of advice Kate offered was that if writers, want to get published, they need to stop writing for themselves and write for an audience.

Kate led the group through two writing exercises. In the first exercises, we presented a scene from one of our current stories, which Kate used to identify how we could more strongly inject emotion into it. In the second exercise, we described a character on the train through the eyes of another character, which, surprisingly, told us more about the describing character. In what was a synchronistic experience, many of the workshop participants described a similar character.

Kate’s lively, down-to-earth personality, personal experience, and relatable tales made for an engaging workshop that enriched all participants.

Inspiring Imagination

10/3/2015

I attended a fantastic workshop with inspirational Horst Kornberger on Sunday at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre called Overcoming Writer’s Block.

After an enthralling recital of the myth of Taliesin, Horst spoke of the difference between imagination and intellect in creative writing – the former evokes inspiration and emotion, while the latter dulls, if not neuters, creativity.

During the workshop, Horst led us through four creative writing exercises, each developing on the last. We imagined every being and thing we have inhabited throughout history and wrote of this experience, and then focused on bringing one of these experiences to life in our writing. We wrote from the perspective of an animal, inhabiting the creature and relaying its experience, and then, using short phrases, inspired each other to write about another’s experience.

Throughout it all, Horst was adamant that we do not write our stories. Rather, like the bards and druids of Celtic culture, we enter portals into other times and other beings, inhabiting these characters and situations, who guide our telling of their story. Only by fully inhabiting these beings can we tell authentic stories.

The way to write affective stories, Horst says, is to find an image that prompts a strong feeling and use this as a guide, following the images it prompts. Bad writing, he says, comes from not following the feeling, and instead following the intellect, which tries to control and distort the story that wishes to be told through you. If at any time you lose the feeling, Horst suggests going back to the original inspirational image and write until the feeling returns. The feeling, he says, is the key to knowing you’re on the right path. And the best way to maintain this connection with the feeling is to write through the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. This way, the writing comes alive for both the writer and the reader.

Horst was a fount of inspirational writing wisdom. While so much of what he said was inspiring, the one piece of advice that resonated the most for me is that anyone who wants to succeed in creative writing shouldn’t insert their writing around their regular life practices. Rather, you should insert your life around your regular writing practice.

Horst’s enthusiasm for inspiration and storytelling left a positive impression all that attended the workshop and we were all enriched by his presence and wisdom.

If the above interests you, please check out Horst’s other workshops and his books, The Writer's Passage and The Power of Stories, which I highly recommend.

The Importance of Storytelling for our Society and the WA State Government's Blow to our Community's Well-Being

9/3/2015

The arts are often maligned in favour of science, which provides us with hard, cold facts and material results. While these have their place in our life, when was the last time discovering a fact brought meaning into your life? That’s what the arts are for – they allow us to find meaning in life, to feel and know what it’s like to be human by connecting with others through artwork. Writing and reading stories does this. It’s what our fast-paced, fact-focused world needs more of.

So what was the last story you read or watched that made you feel something or that resonated with you?

For me, it was watching the acclaimed animation Frozen last night. While I’m not fond of musicals (Sweeny Todd is an exception), Frozen, through it’s portrayal of Elsa, who needed to stop repressing her ice powers to prevent her from hurting others, revealed the importance of needing to let myself out of the emotional prison I trap myself in and just be myself. In a society that encourages people to repress our emotions, this is an important message for people of all ages. While the film is targeted at children, it illustrates my point: stories have something important to teach us about ourselves.

This role of art in our society is an important one. Expand this theory to more mature, literary fiction, and it demonstrates that supporting literature in our community supports the community’s wellbeing. Not only does supporting local artists help local artists, but it promotes local stories that will resonate more deeply with small community such as Western Australia, that it stemmed from.

So, the state government’s recent announcement of making the WA Premiere’s Book Awards a bi-annual event instead of an annual one is a disservice, not only to the writers who it promotes, but also to the community’s readers and indeed the community itself. A community that is unwell and not self-aware is not a productive one. Take note, WA state government; withdrawing funds from one area to support another only creates more problems. So please, restore the literary award to a annual event.

For more information on the debate about the government’s recent decision and some great reads, please check out the wonderful blogs of WA Authors Meg Caddy, Amanda Curtin, and Emily Paull.

And, I’m genuinely interested to hear your comments about the most recent story that moved you, resonated with you, or taught you something important about yourself or life in the comments section.