Thank you to those who booked early and made suggestions to change it to a more manageable monthly venture. A. R. Levett looks forward to meeting you and helping you work towards completing your novel.
Please be advised that bookings for A. R. Levett's Mapping Your Novel course are now closed since all the places have been filled. If you wanted to attend but haven't booked yet, you can still reserve a place on the waiting list in case someone pulls out of the course at the last minute. To do so, please email A. R. Levett. Please be advised that the course is now being run monthly from September instead of weekly. Full details via email.
Thank you to those who booked early and made suggestions to change it to a more manageable monthly venture. A. R. Levett looks forward to meeting you and helping you work towards completing your novel.
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Did you know that A. R. Levett’s writing course, Mapping Your Novel, contains 30 hours of content? Did you also know that the course usually costs $900 per person? For a limited time, Western Australian Writers’ United (WAWU) members (that’s KSP, FAWWA, PCWC, and OOTA members) can attend the workshop for only $400. That’s right, for less than half price! And the general public can attend for only $500. Most other authors charge more than that for a single workshop! With Mapping Your Novel, you get ten workshops! Don’t miss this rare opportunity to learn the skills you need push your novel towards competition and pay next to nothing for it.
Split into ten weeks’ worth of three hour workshops, the Mapping Your Novel course helps writers take their existing stories and ideas through the process of redeveloping the premise, intensifying the conflict, expanding the characters, finding a potent theme, enriching the story world, implementing rich symbols, strengthening the plot, applying the hero’s journey, and improving your ability to write engaging scenes and dialogue. Each workshop contains detailed slides and handouts as well as multiple writing exercises to help you develop your novel further. At such a low price, you would be crazy to pass up this great opportunity. For full course details, please see the Mapping Your Novel webpage and the flyer below. To book, please visit the bookings page. Please note, bookings close 18 August 2017. If you have any enqueries, please email A. R. Levett. Conflict is at the root of all good storytelling. From Homer’s epics and ancient myths, to classic literature and modern tales, all stories contain this essential element of a protagonist’s struggle to overcome an obstacle on their path to reaching a goal, demonstrate their capabilities, prove an important point, and grow in some way. Whether it’s an epic battle scene, a lover’s tiff, or a difference of values, conflict drives every story forward from beginning to end. Without compelling struggles that hurt or push your protagonist in some way, your story will fall flat. To ensure that your conflict is compelling and that it drives your character’s growth in a believable way, we must look at what the protagonist wants, how that puts them into conflict with other characters, and how this can change them and their world.
During Generating Compelling Conflict, the second workshop of the Mapping Your Novel course, we learn how to create struggles that will not only keep readers hooked, but also lay the foundation for the protagonist’s growth. We create compelling conflict in your story by developing the protagonist’s weaknesses, needs, and ultimate desire, fleshing out the struggle between the protagonist and an opponent, building this conflict towards a final struggle, determining the protagonist’s final self-revelation, and producing a new equilibrium at the story’s end. Doing so allows us to expand our understanding of our novel and begin to see it emerge from a concept into a story. This workshop, Creating Compelling Conflict, is key to helping us give our stories the narrative drive it needs to not only keep readers hooked, but also accommodate and understand the characters, theme, world, symbols, and plot we develop in the following weeks of the course. For full course details, please see the Mapping Your Novel webpage and the attached flyer. To book, please visit the bookings page. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Please note, bookings close 18 August 2017. Break out the champagne! In a stroke of double fortune, A. R. Levett has been awarded not only a fellowship at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre (KSP), but also a residency at the Fellowship of Australian Writers Western Australia (FAWWA)!
A. R. Levett's KSP fellowship runs from 10 July until 23 July 2017. During his fellowship, A. R. Levett will be working on his novel-in-progress, 'The Rebels', and attending regular writing groups. He will also be attending fellow resident Lee Batterby's workshop, World Building 101, from 1pm-4pm on Saturday 22 July 2017, and facilitating Lee's author talk to the Fantasy, Science-Fiction, and Horror group on 23 July 2017 from 10am-12pm. The latter is $5 for members, $12 for general public. All are welcome In addition to this, A. R. Levett will be the FAWWA Writer-in-Residence from 12 November until 25 November 2017. During his stay the centre, he will redraft his novel-in-progress, 'The Rebels', and run two, yet to be determined, workshops for the FAWWA membership. Stay tuned for more information. Unsure whether you want to commit to the full 10 weeks of the Mapping Your Novel course? Then book for just the first workshop, Developing a Potent Premise, for just $40 WAWU members / $50 General Public. Once you have sampled the workshop and seen how beneficial it is for developing your novel, you can then book in for the remaining 9 workshops and pay only $360 WAWU members / $450 General Public. That’s great value!
Offer ends 28 July 2017. To book, please visit the bookings page. For full course details, please see the Mapping Your Novel web page. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Every story stems from a core idea, like a plant stems from a seed. As a plant continues to grow, it sprouts new shoots, some enriching to its growth, while others become burdens. The same is true of stories. Often as we write our novel, it takes directions we don’t anticipate. Some improve the story, while others take it in flat or tangential directions. The latter happens because the path taken is not true to the story’s core idea. In order to avoid this, authors need to return to their original idea to determine the challenges inherent in it and re-establish its key concepts.
In our first workshop together, Developing a Potent Premise, we take your existing story back to its origins and examine the core concept’s inherent problems, locate the idea’s most interesting character, define the central conflict, develop a path for character growth, and determine the protagonist’s final moral choice. We do this to ensure that we more fully understand the novel we are about to write and anticipate some of the challenges we may face as we do so. Along the way, we practice some brainstorming techniques to help us flesh out our ideas. This workshop, Developing a Potent Premise, is key to understanding the concepts we will explore in the remaining weeks of the Mapping Your Novel course and will aid you in fleshing out your existing or new ideas. For full course details, please see the Mapping Your Novel webpage. To book, please visit the bookings page. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Please note, bookings close 18 August 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. Is your novel 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 10 weeks you will create believable conflict and characters, inject powerful symbols and themes, plot an organic narrative, and more. By the end, you’ll rediscover the love that drove you to write it in the first place and have developed a concrete outline that will get you to the last page. Are you ready to complete your novel? Limited places, book today.
From 2 September 2017 until 18 November 2017, A. R. Levett will run his 10-week course, Mapping Your Novel, at the KSP Writers' Centre. Book early to reserve your place. Full details in the flyer below. Please contact A. R. Levett if you have any queries.
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