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Open Right

Workshop 1: A sharp pin and a fat dog’s bum

Session Info:

Ideas for story are all around us, however the writer requires a keen set of eyes and ears to recognise them. In this session I deconstruct my illustrated YA story Dog 37, focusing on the story’s real life origins and demonstrate the simple techniques used to develop a basic premise (a sharp pin and a fat dog’s bum) into a more complex narrative.

Using locally observed stimuli or randomly selected story-seeds, workshop students will participate in a story slam culminating in a framework, which can later become the basis of a future narrative.

Topics:

  • Where story ideas come from.
  • Seeing the world through writer’s eyes.
  • The questions a writer asks.
  • Working outside the linear structure — mind maps and imagination dumps.
  • Rolling in it! Encouraging imperfection and mistakes.
  • Playing editor.