NEW PROGRAM

Friday August 10th
2PM: Book into accommodation.
3PM TO 5PM: Evaluation meetings. Times to be advised.

Saturday August 11th

8.30am to 9.00am: Registrations and introductions.
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9.00 to 10.45: Developing Strong and Believable Characters.   Nothing turns off your reader like flat and unbelievable characters. We will examine the great characters in books and explore what makes them that way. 
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10.45 to 11.00: Morning tea

11 to 12.45: Elaine Ouston - Developing Strong and Believable Characters.   We examine the many personality types we meet and show you how to portray them effectively. 
For crime and mystery writers, the character workshop includes an examination of criminal types and what drives them to commit crimes.

12.45 to 1.45: Lunch
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​1.45 to 3.15: Dr Ron Day - Research - how to start, where to look and when to stop!​ World-building from that research- creating authentic worlds without turning your novel into an indigestible travel diary. How much do you need to know? Learn what to put in and what to leave out.


​3.15 to 4.45: Dr Ron Day - World-building from that research- creating authentic worlds without turning your novel into an indigestible travel diary. How much do you need to know? Learn what to put in and what to leave out.
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Sunday August 12th

8.30 to 10.00pm: Elaine Ouston - Publishing alternatives.
We examine all your publishing options.
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10.00 to 10.15: Morning tea

10.15 to 11.30: Dr Ron Day - Historic Fiction and Memoir. The best, the strangest, the most riveting, heart-breaking, laugh-out-loud stories aren’t fiction. They’re real. They come from history. This workshop covers how to take an incredible historical or family story and develop it into a gripping historical novel or memoir.

11.30 to 12.45: Dr Ron Day - Conflict and Narrative Structure. What is conflict and why is it necessary? How do you portray that conflict to build page-turning tension? What will make your reader stayed glued to the pages until their eyes can’t stay open anymore? We examine the six key things that will help you achieve that, including narrative structure. 

12.45 to 1.45: Lunch

​​1.45 to 3.00: Elaine Ouston - Plotting your story: This workshop will cover the importance of plot. It doesn’t matter if you are a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’ this workshop will help make sure your story flows and doesn’t go off track.

3.00 to 4.15: Elaine Ouston - Creating the perfect setting: When we read a novel with a graphic description of the setting, we are transported to that place. If the description is too brief, then we have no idea what physical situation our characters are in and we lose interest. But setting can also create mood and tension. The use of our 5 senses is very important to create a sense of place. In this workshop, you will be given examples of how that is done and exercises on creating a setting that transports us to the place.
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4.15 to 5pm: Wrap up and departure.

Presenters' Profiles

ELAINE OUSTON has a Master of Letters in Creative Writing. She teaches writing to adults, edits for other writers, and has several published books and short stories for children and young adults.
She conducts workshops at Gondor Writers’ Centre in Landsborough on the Sunshine Coast and visits schools, libraries, and writers’ groups to help inspire the next generation of writers. http://www.elainejouston.com
RON DAY holds a PhD from Central Queensland University, and is a published author of text books for use in primary, secondary, and tertiary schools and colleges. He has had more than 30 years' experience in teaching and writing as a school teacher and University lecturer.
He has researched and is working on his family history, writing it as historic fiction, and writing a crime novel.