Writing with Heart and Humour with Rick Morton


This eight-session intensive is for writers at all career stages. Delivered by one of Australia’s leading journalists and non-fiction writers, this masterclass will help you develop new skills in bringing carefully observed levity to balance the darker matters in your writing projects.

Applications close 18 June

Dates: 6pm - 8pm AEST, Tuesdays 22 July - 9 September 2025.
See Program Outline below for the dates of all sessions in this program.
Fees: $1295 or $1200 for Varuna Alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront.
Applications close: 5pm AEST, Wednesday 18 June 2025
Places: 8 participants will be selected



When award-winning writer and journalist Rick Morton was four years old, his mother told him he was an alien sent here from ‘that big night sky by beings unknown to report back on what he sees.’

Rick took this mission to heart with the creation of his debut memoir, One Hundred Years of Dirt, which scooped up awards and short-listings, and was compared to George Orwell for its gritty portrayal of working-class deprivation and inequality. Rick’s voice is that enviable mix of abrasive yet compassionate, ironic yet tender, flinty yet humourous.

In this intimate online masterclass with Rick Morton, you will learn how to position yourself as an alien observer, and to bring nuance and humour to the story you would most like to tell. Each class will consist of discussion of the set texts (to be posted on our WetInk platform) and workshopping exercises, set in response to the group’s interests and questions.

This is a small group program for 8 participants.


PROGRAM OUTLINE

Week 1: You Do Not Have to Be a Comedian (or Even Funny) - Tuesday 22 July

  • how humour works, and why it is central to storytelling

  • defining a framework for your writing project

  • finding humour in the everyday, and applying it to your writing

Week 2: Finding Your Voice - Tuesday 29 July

  • tone, style, and uncovering your natural voice

  • writing as yourself, and writing as someone else

  • understanding the role of structure in creating voice

Week 3: Simile and Metaphor - Tuesday 5 August

  • avoiding cliche and mastering simile and metaphor to find the perfect words

  • applying consistent logic within your writing

Week 4: Humour as Observation (and Keeping a Journal) - Tuesday 12 August

  • introducing a practical focus on paying attention

  • sharpening your senses to an inherently discordant world

  • set writing project for end of course

Week 5: Change Perspective with Poetry - Tuesday 19 August

  • why poetry can change your writing

  • writing the details and writing with a sense of wonder, and why this matters

Week 6: Love Your Characters - Tuesday 26 August

  • exploring the emotional hinterland of your characters

  • letting your characters be truly human

  • the human brain

Week 7: The Necessity of Doubt - Tuesday 2 September

  • certainty is boring, use doubt to awaken a piece

  • all good writing is about the search for answers, not announcing them

Week 8: Who Did It Best? - Tuesday 9 September

  • hands-on finale where we analyse the greatest at work

  • as a group, open for feedback on our week 4 writing projects


ABOUT RICK MORTON

Rick Morton is the author of four non-fiction books, including the critically-acclaimed bestseller One Hundred Years of Dirt which was long listed for the Walkley Book of the Year 2018 and shortlisted for the National Biography Award (NBA) 2019. Rick is the senior reporter with The Saturday Paper and 2 x Walkley Award winner for his coverage of the Robodebt Royal Commission. His latest Mean Streak is about this illegal debt trap set by the Australian government and the fight to put people back into policy. He lives in Queensland.


HOW TO APPLY

Entry to this course is by application. Writers will be selected based on the creative potential of their work, commitment to craft, openness to collaborating with your peers, and the balance in the group.

Course fees are $1295 or $1200 for Varuna alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront.

Applications close at 5pm (AEST) on Wednesday 18 June 2025. All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their submission by 30 June.

Please refer to Varuna’s general submission guidelines for any questions on formatting your work.

Feel free to call 02 4782 5674 or email amy@varuna.com.au to discuss your application.


TESTIMONIALS

Rick Morton’s Light and Shade Masterclass was perfect. Rick’s ability to convey his important, and unique, insights into crafting meaningful and engaging prose is brilliant. The small cohort in the course, including both published and yet-to-be-published writers, created a supportive forum and a wonderful place to share ideas, concerns and thoughts. I will miss attending this course each week.
— Program participant, 2022
The Rick Morton Masterclass was a small cohesive group of writers who mutually supported one another, encouraging each of us to excel in our writing endeavours. We each learned so much from Rick. His lessons were academically challenging, interactive and motivating.
— Program participant, 2022

 

UPCOMING COURSES, FELLOWSHIPS AND EVENTS

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The Writer’s Space Writing Group - Katoomba