Write the Perfect Crime with Jack Heath
Jack Heath is the #1 bestselling author of over 40 books, translated into 10 languages. His teen murder mystery If You Tell Anyone, You're Next was a Children's Book Council of Australia Notable Book, his Texas noir Hangmanseries was voted into the Better Reading Top 100, and his claustrophobic crime novel Kill Your Brother was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly award. The sequel, Kill Your Husbands, was one of the top 10 bestselling books of 2023 on Audible, and has since been optioned for the screen. Jack lives on Ngunnawal/Ngambri country in Canberra, Australia.
Calling all crime and thriller writers! Are you constantly thinking about ways to get away with murder? Are you frustrated, because if your scheme works, you'll never get the credit for it? Would you like a safe outlet for your evil genius?
Dates: Tuesdays 7 - 9pm AEST, 17 September - 22 October 2024
Fees: $995 or $900 for Varuna Alumni. Negotiable if you cannot pay upfront.
Applications close: 15 August 2024
Places: 8 participants will be selected.
Dive deep into the world of crime fiction with Jack Heath, the Ned Kelly-shortlisted and Number 1 bestselling author of Hangman, Kill Your Husbands and 40 other books.
Hayley Scrivenor is the author of Dirt Town, which was published internationally in 2022 and quickly became a #1 Australian bestseller. The novel has been shortlisted for multiple national and international awards and translated into several languages. In 2023, Dirt Town won the ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Mystery and the ABIA for General Fiction Book of the Year. Girl Falling, released in August of 2024, is her second novel. Hayley has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wollongong and lives on Dharawal country, on the east coast of Australia.
This 6-week course is designed to help you refine the elements of crime and thriller writing and finish your novel, with discussions of key writing techniques and feedback on your work, from your peers as well as Jack. Bestselling author Hayley Scrivenor will join the program for one author Q and A session.
You'll meet with like-minded writers and create:
- Flawed detectives and sinister perpetrators,
- Richly textured settings,
- Twists that leave readers gasping, and
- Stylish, economical prose.
By the end of the course, you'll have a collection of writing samples and all the skills to turn them into a novel, or finish your work-in-progress.
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Session 1: Modus Operandi
-Structure and language in crime and thriller genre fiction
-Never wasting a moment of your reader's attention
-Finding the right voice for your novel
Session 2: Planning the crime
-Creating a premise that will hook potential readers
-Writing a blurb with just enough left out
-Building an outline to avoid structural problems
Session 3: The police line-up
-Making a skilled, flawed and sympathetic detective
-Establishing a perpetrator who can seem both innocent and sinister
-Fleshing out decoy suspects, who can add flair and humour
Session 4: Casing the joint
-Keeping your locations varied and interesting
-Making sure everything happens on the same level of plausibility
-Connecting the scenery to the character's emotional state
Session 5: Crime scene cleanup
-Fixing your (inevitably flawed) ending
-Working out which characters should be combined or deleted
-Letting go of your original intentions, and looking out for narrative opportunities
Session 6: Out with good behaviour
-Finding an agent or a publisher
-Promoting your book, on and offline
-Living as a writer, short and long-term
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17 September
24 September
1 October
8 October
15 October
22 October
All sessions run on Tuesdays from 7 - 9pm Sydney/Melbourne/Canberra/Hobart time. Please note that daylight savings commences in NSW, VIC, TAS, SA on 6 October.
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 $995 or $995 for Varuna alumni or those who have previously completed a Varuna Masterclass. 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.
Testimonial
"From even the slightest conversation with Jack Heath, you can tell he lives and breathes story. Jack was able to immediately drill down and identify both a problem (‘this emotional beat isn’t landing like it should’) and its cause (‘because the character motivation back here isn’t clear enough’). Most importantly, everything he said was practical and actionable, balancing broader story mechanics with character-level emotionality. And all of this was delivered with his trademark warmth, consideration and humility. For anyone wanting to learn the ins and outs of the crime genre, Jack’s guidance would be a gift!"
- Mark Mupotsa-Russell, author of The Hitwoman's Guide to Reducing Household Debt (Affirm Press, 2024).