Grab a coffee or bring a thermos and take part in a casual, themed writing session, with prompts, silent writing time and a chance to catch up and mingle with other local writers.

Open to all members with an interest in writing. The sessions are held at Bangalow Heritage House Museum (4 Ashton St, Bangalow NSW 2479) and participants are welcome to stay on after the session and make use of the space until midday.

NEXT SESSION – Friday 1 November

Check back soon for information about this session and your host.

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Learning to be deliberate about the pacing and tension is key to creating a strong, solid manuscript. Pace and tension are two of the most important ways we can create a sense of both momentum and cohesion in our writing.

Some stories ask us for a racing sense of speed and chapters that end on breathless cliffhangers, while others require a quieter, slower sense of discovery. Most novels require a bit of both.

Part of the alchemy of learning to work with pace and tension is that it will often guide you in your revision and rewriting, helping you to sharpen your work and avoid falling into the trap of over-writing.
In this workshop, Naima uses her many years of scriptwriting for news & current affairs to inform a rigorous sense of pace and tension in creative writing.

Detailed outline including structure and learning outcomes:

• How to identify strong pacing and tension as a reader
• Outlining and story-mapping for tension and pace
• Specific ways to use sentence and paragraph structure to create pace and tension

Workshop Details

When: Saturday 6 April, 10am – 4pm

Where:  In-person at the Byron Writers Festival office

Cost: $155 members/$200 non-members inc. GST

Group size: 10 participants max.

*Please note, if you are experiencing financial difficulties payment plans are available. Please contact our Project Manager, Amy Shaw on [email protected]

About Naima Brown

Naima Brown is the author of The Shot (fiction, Pan Macmillan, 2023), How To Age Against the Machine (non-fiction, Hardie Grant, 2023), and the upcoming novel Mother Tongue (Pan Macmillan, 2025). Her short fiction has appeared in Popshot Magazine and the Love On The Road anthology. Her essays have appeared in The Guardian Australia, Vogue Australia, and more. In addition to her writing, she is also a documentary (SBS, Channel 7) and podcast producer, having created five Audible Original series.

Join author and mentor Alan Close for three terms of workshops for writers working on a book-length memoir. The course will cover all aspects of memoir writing from first ideas to completed manuscript. The workshops are friendly and informal, based around constructive and supportive feedback and class participation.

Course notes, podcast lectures, links to sources and readings and other relevant material will be uploaded onto Dropbox each week.

Workshop Details

When: 12 x Wednesdays at 6pm – 8pm:

• Term 1: Wednesday 6, 13, 20 & 27 March 2024
• Term 2: Wednesday 8, 15, 22, 29 May 2024
• Term 3: Wednesday 3, 10, 17, 24 July 2024

Where: Hybrid format: In-person at the Byron Writers Festival office with remote attendance option available

Cost: $990 members / $1200 non-members inc. GST

Group size: 10 participants max.

Workshop Outline

Term One – Finding your story

How to turn the germ of an idea into a plan. How do you find the story you really want to tell – and then be sure that the story you want to tell is the story you really need to tell?

Term Two – Telling your story.

How to write your story. Finding structure. Using the strategies and techniques of fiction to bring life to your memoir.

Term Three – Getting your story right.

Welcome to the wonderful world of rewriting – let the real work begin!

Topics covered:

1. Who are you writing for? Family and friends or a wider readership? You might simply want to tell an interesting yarn, or you might have a deep need to honour your untold truth, to heal and, for you, set the story straight.
2. Reading memoir: How to inform your own project as you read other memoirs.
3. The Questions: Every memoir grows from one or more questions the writer is trying to answer. Usually these evolve as the writing continues – and often they can never be truly answered, merely acknowledged and perhaps understood. Locating these questions is fundamental to understanding what you are trying to write.
4. Plot map: Get a big sheet of cardboard and literally draw a map of the big events in your story. Make a plotline between these points. Explore how to connect the dots. This can be the start of finding a structure for your story.
5. Setting the bookends: Where to start and where to finish. Searching for the best beginning and working out where to end. This can take several drafts to get right.
6. The first draft: Getting everything out. No self-censoring. Follow the first thought. See where it goes. Stay with it. Don’t stop till there’s nothing left to say. This might take months. Or longer.
7. The workbook: Your companion. What you think and feel as you do the writing. Ideas, found quotes, lost memories, things to add later.
8. The Who, the Where, the What: Character, Place, What happened.
9. The Limits of Memory: Reconstructing events and conversations from long, long ago.
10. Action, Summary, Reflection: The building blocks of writing.
11. Truth and Believability. In essence, memoir is about earning trust. Fiction is about constructing believability. But it is important to understand the strategies and techniques of fiction and use them to bring life to your memoir.
12. Ethical concerns. Honesty. Authenticity. How do we write honestly about our lives without hurting those closest to us? Will I be sued? (No.) Will the sky fall in? (No.) Will my friends still talk to me? (The ones that matter, yes.)
13. Taking the manuscript to the next stage. What works, what doesn’t – and why? What can I leave out, what should I leave in and what have I forgotten? Searching for the hidden gems and asking the really, really important question: Is there a better way to tell this story?
14. The second draft…and the third and the fourth and the fifth…
15. And a word on publishing. Writing a book is not publishing a book. Yes, that’s another mountain to climb. Where to start, what to wear and which route is best.

*Please note, if you are experiencing financial difficulties payment plans are available. Please contact our Project Manager, Amy Shaw on [email protected]

About Alan Close

Alan Close is a writer, editor and writing teacher and mentor, focusing on memoir. Over a long career he has published fiction, poetry, essays and creative non-fiction. He has written widely about men and relationships, including his memoir Before You Met Me: A Memoir Of One Man’s Troubled Search For Love. Alan lives in Mullumbimby with his partner, Sarah Armstrong and their teenage daughter.

About Alan Close

Alan has a great way of connecting on all levels; very strong physical presence, emotionally open and warm, mentally sharp and spiritually aware. – Year of the Memoir participant 2023

Join author Alan Close for three terms of writing classes spread over the year. During each term, the small group will meet for 4 x 2 hour workshops, with podcast lectures emailed between sessions. The aim of the course is to support writers working on a book-length memoir, from first ideas to finished manuscripts.

Workshop Details

When: 12 x Wednesdays at 6pm – 8pm:

• Term 1: Wed 8, 15, 22, 29 March 2023
• Term 2: Wed 7, 14, 21, 28 June 2023
• Term 3: Wed 6, 13, 20, 27 September 2023

Where: Hybrid format: in-person at the Byron Writers Festival office with remote attendance option available
Cost: $950 members/$1050 non-members – payment plans are available.

Group size: 10 particpants max. Please note all BWF workshops require a minimum 80% enrolment to cover costs.

Workshop Outline

Term One – Finding your story

How to turn the germ of an idea into a plan. How do you find the story you really want to tell – and then be sure that the story you want to tell is the story you really need to tell?

Term Two – Telling your story.

How to write your story. Finding structure. Using the strategies and techniques of fiction to bring life to your memoir.

Term Three – Getting your story right.

Welcome to the wonderful world of rewriting – let the real work begin!

Topics covered:

1. Who are you writing for? Family and friends or a wider readership? You might simply want to tell an interesting yarn, or you might have a deep need to honour your untold truth, to heal and, for you, set the story straight.
2. Reading memoir: How to inform your own project as you read other memoirs.
3. The Questions: Every memoir grows from one or more questions the writer is trying to answer. Usually these evolve as the writing continues – and often they can never be truly answered, merely acknowledged and perhaps understood. Locating these questions is fundamental to understanding what you are trying to write.
4. Plot map: Get a big sheet of cardboard and literally draw a map of the big events in your story. Make a plotline between these points. Explore how to connect the dots. This can be the start of finding a structure for your story.
5. Setting the bookends: Where to start and where to finish. Searching for the best beginning and working out where to end. This can take several drafts to get right.
6. The first draft: Getting everything out. No self-censoring. Follow the first thought. See where it goes. Stay with it. Don’t stop till there’s nothing left to say. This might take months. Or longer.
7. The workbook: Your companion. What you think and feel as you do the writing. Ideas, found quotes, lost memories, things to add later.
8. The Who, the Where, the What: Character, Place, What happened.
9. The Limits of Memory: Reconstructing events and conversations from long, long ago.
10. Action, Summary, Reflection: The building blocks of writing.
11. Truth and Believability. In essence, memoir is about earning trust. Fiction is about constructing believability. But it is important to understand the strategies and techniques of fiction and use them to bring life to your memoir.
12. Ethical concerns. Honesty. Authenticity. How do we write honestly about our lives without hurting those closest to us? Will I be sued? (No.) Will the sky fall in? (No.) Will my friends still talk to me? (The ones that matter, yes.)
13. Taking the manuscript to the next stage. What works, what doesn’t – and why? What can I leave out, what should I leave in and what have I forgotten? Searching for the hidden gems and asking the really, really important question: Is there a better way to tell this story?
14. The second draft…and the third and the fourth and the fifth…
15. And a word on publishing. Writing a book is not publishing a book. Yes, that’s another mountain to climb. Where to start, what to wear and which route is best.

About Alan Close

Alan Close is a writer, editor and writing teacher and mentor, focusing on memoir. Over a long career he has published fiction, poetry, essays and creative non-fiction. He has written widely about men and relationships, including his memoir Before You Met Me: A Memoir Of One Man’s Troubled Search For Love. Alan lives in Mullumbimby with his partner, Sarah Armstrong and their teenage daughter.

Make 2024 the year you write your novel.

Join Sarah Armstrong for three terms of workshops for writers who are working on a novel. The small group (maximum of ten participants) will meet once a week in four-week blocks, at the Byron Writers Festival office, with access via Zoom available.
The course includes weekly video lectures from Sarah on writing craft with writing exercises, as well as handouts and links to useful resources. The weekly two-hour classes include opportunities for feedback and discussion. At the end of the course, each writer will receive individual written feedback from Sarah on 4000 words.
All writers welcome – those with a work in progress or those with an idea for a novel.

Workshop Details

When: 12 x Mondays at 6pm – 8pm:

• Term 1: Monday 4, 11, 18 & 25 March 2024
• Term 2: Monday 6, 13, 20, 27 May 2024
• Term 3: Monday 1, 8, 15, 22 July 2024

Where: Hybrid format: In-person at the Byron Writers Festival office with remote attendance option available

Cost: $990 members / $1200 non-members inc. GST

Group size: 10 participants max.

Workshop Outline

First term will explore how to come up with ideas, planning, how to build a first draft, and some fundamentals of fiction: character, plot, point of view, scene and summary. Sarah will also talk about how to tackle procrastination and writer’s block.

Second term will drill down into narrative tension, character development, how character drives plot, secondary characters and structure. This is the term were you’ll get individual, written feedback from Sarah on 3000 words of your first draft.

Third term is all about how to tackle rewriting and editing: beginnings and endings, structure and themes, and a discussion about where to go from here. Come to this course with a story in progress or an idea.

*Please note, if you are experiencing financial difficulties payment plans are available. Please contact our Project Manager, Amy Shaw on [email protected]

About Sarah Armstrong

Sarah Armstrong has written three adult novels, including Salt Rain which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Big Magic was her first novel for readers aged 9+ and is a CBCA 2023 Notable book. Its sequel, Magic Awry, was published in 2023. Sarah is an experienced writing teacher, mentor and manuscript assessor.

Testimonial

I couldn’t recommend this workshop highly enough. Sarah is one of the best teachers (of anything) I know. Her capacity to give very specific, targetted, positive and encouraging feedback makes it possible for all who attend her workshops to understand what strengths they have and how they can improve, without ever feeling despondent about their capacity to do this hard thing we call writing. She has an experienced writerly eye, combined with genuine care for her students. I mean, what more could you ask for? – 2020 Year of the Novel participant