Finish Your Novel with Conor Kostick
Conor Kostick (IRELAND) is a commissioning editor and the author of a number of successful books. In 2009, he was presented with a Special Merit Award by the Reading Association of Ireland; in 2010 he was the Farmleigh Writer-in-Residence. Conor is often asked to judge literary competitions and in 2016 and 2019 was the president of the Irish jury for the EU Prize for Literature.
Do you need that extra push to finish your novel? Would you benefit from discussions about writing technique and close analysis of your work-in-progress?
For over twenty years, Conor Kostick has been teaching his popular Finish Your Novel course at the Irish Writers Centre, and Varuna are delighted to offer it in Australia and New Zealand for the first time. The course is designed to help you maintain the momentum to finish your novel, via discussions of key novel-writing techniques and group-based feedback on your work. Conor will be leading the program from his home in Ireland.
All participants will receive a 45 minute one-on-one session with Conor towards the end of the program.
You will spend the first hour of each of the ten group sessions looking at how a masterful writer deals with challenges in novel-writing, exploring narrative voice; characterisation; writing good dialogue; prose; writing dramatic scenes; romance; themes; world building; and writing the antagonist. The second hour will be spent giving feedback on your work and the work of fellow participants.
While the course will benefit writers at all experience levels, from those working on their first novel to established, published authors, you are expected to commence the course with a particular work-in-progress that you intend to finish as a result of the motivation that the course provides.
There will be up to 15 participants in the program.
“I highly recommend this course. I should know – I did it twice! And it paid huge dividends.” Patricia Gibney, the million-copy bestselling author of the DI Lottie Parker series.
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 peers and the balance in the group.
Course fees are $1195 or $1095 for Varuna alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront.
Feel free to call 02 4782 5674 or email amy@varuna.com.au to discuss your application.
IMPORTANT DATES
Start date: Wednesday 26 June
End date: Wednesday 28 August
Zoom duration: 2 hour blocks from 6:30pm to 8:30pm (AEST) on Wednesdays
Applications close: Thursday 23 May
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by 10 June
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The main goal of this course is for participants to obtain the momentum to finish their novels. The course offers the opportunity to strengthen a range of writing techniques via discussions of excerpts from masterful novels, including:
• Creating an immersive narrative voice so that your readers forget where they are and lose themselves in your story.
• Writing great dialogue that avoids the pitfall of simply serving the plot and deepens the reader’s enjoyment of the characters.
• Addressing a theme to raise the impact of the story, so that the reader puts the book down and reflects upon it.
• Create engaging characters whose journey the reader is absorbed by.
• Raising the quality of the prose so that when necessary you can turn on your inner Virginia Woolf or Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
• Develop world building that allows the reader to understand your story, without alienating them with clumsy exposition.
Participants will meet and get to know other novelists, who will become supportive colleagues, well informed about your writing goals and capable of giving valuable feedback.
You will also become better informed about the current state of global publishing and the options for publishing your novel.
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Week 1: The importance of an immersive narrative voice
Week 2: Writing with dramatic intensity
Week 3: Raising the bar – the art of prose writing
Week 4: Creating engaging characters
Week 5: Love - writing persuasive romantic scenes
Week 6: The art of writing dialogue
Week 7: Theme – lifting the novel up a level
Week 8: World building without choking the novel
Week 9: The believable antagonist
Week 10: Publishing today