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Descriptions of fictionfire courses; General Information; How to Book
ANNOUNCING MY SPRING 2012 DAY COURSES AND NEW FOCUS WORKSHOPS:
Next spring I'll be running a series of four day courses at Trinity College, Oxford. Booking is now open at an Early Bird discount price:
19th May: Write It!
20th May: Edit It!
26th May: Publish It!
27th May: Market It!
(Booking is also currently open for the winter series of my Focus Workshops: please cross to the Focus Workshops page to find out more. Topics are: Cracking Openings (21st January, booking closes 18th January), A Sense of Place (4th February, booking closes 1st February) and The Inner Lives of Characters (18th February, booking closes 15th February)
DAY COURSES IN MAY 2012
Day Course 9: Write It! (19th May)
'Any book I write starts with a flash but takes a long time to shape up.' Robert Penn Warren
'I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.' James A. Michener
Welcome to the first of four courses which will cover all the stages between first ideas to bringing your book to market. Write It! is all about getting the words onto the page, before you move on to editing and selling your book. During this day course you'll examine your motivation, sources of inspiration, how to keep momentum going. We'll look at the key components of story: characterisation, plot-structure, voice, dialogue, setting, pace. A range of practical exercises and published examples will demonstrate these crucial techniques. Whether you're a beginner or more advanced, whether you're writing a novel just now or are thinking of taking on that challenge, this course will guide, inform and inspire you.
Day Course 10: Edit It! (20th May)
'A first draft is a work of construction; the seventh is the work of an artist.' (Barbara Kingsolver)
Once you've written your story or novel, you need to step back from it and start to think like an editor. This course is designed to show you the essential techniques for editing your own work and to help you see these skills as integral to your creative life as a writer. Whether it goes through three, seven or thirty-seven drafts, you need to be sure that when you send your work out it's as polished as possible. With illustration, discussion and editing exercises, we'll look at the key stages of the revision process, consider the pitfalls, learn about structural editing and aspects of presentation, so that when you're ready to approach an agent or publisher you do so in a confident and professional way.
Day Course 11: Publish It! (26th May)
'For me, the bliss of writing is mixed up with the bliss of being in print.' (John Updike)
So, you've edited and refined your work: you're now ready to send it out. During this day course we'll examine the different routes to publication you can follow: the mainstream route, independent or self-publishing, electronic publishing. We'll start with traditional publishing: how to approach publishers and agents, how the publishing process works. Then we'll look at self-publishing and print on demand, and we'll also focus on the exciting possibilities of e-publishing - why you should consider it, with advice on how to produce an e-book which looks professional and eye-catching.
Day Course 12: Market It! (27th May)
'Any fool can write a novel, but it takes a real genius to sell it.' (J.G. Ballard)
You've written a wonderful book and you want the world to know about it! You want the world to buy it! Whether you're following the traditional route or are self-publishing, it's crucial these days to have an 'author platform'. This inspiring day course will show you all the ways you can create awareness and buzz around your work and make it stand out against all the 'white noise' of other people's books, all clamouring for attention. You'll learn not only how to write a book-marketing plan and use traditional methods of promoting your work, but the importance of creating an effective author site. You'll find out how to make the best use of social networking and explore blogging, getting reviews, using traditional media, setting up an online book tour, creating book trailers and videos, audio and podcasting. Guest tutors Joanna Penn and Ali Luke will inspire you with their experiences and show you just how easy it can be not just to market a particular book but to market yourself as an 'Authorpreneur'.
Course Facilitators:
Lorna Fergusson, Head of Fictionfire: Lorna is a published novelist and has taught both English Literature and Creative Writing for many years, including on behalf of the Writers' Conference at Winchester University and Oxford University's Department of Continuing Education. She set up Fictionfire in 2009, offering courses and workshops for writers, along with editing, critiquing, and mentoring services.
Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn: Joanna is a vibrant, inspiring blogger, business consultant and speaker. Not only does she have experience of publishing both fiction and non-fiction, but she has enormous enthusiasm for helping writers feel at ease with the world of self-publishing, print on demand, e-publishing and promotion, particularly on the internet. She has a wealth of practical advice and information to give you about effective book marketing. (Guesting on Publish It! and Market It! courses)
Ali Luke of Aliventures: Ali is a writer and writing coach with a post-graduate MA in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths College, London. She has several years' experience of blogging, both on her own site, www.aliventures.com and for other motivational blogs like Problogger and Men with Pens. Her e-courses and e-books are full of warm, lively, practical assistance drawing on her knowledge of the writing life and of the possibilities the internet offers to freelance writers. (Guesting on Publish It! and Market It! courses)
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Each course costs £85 and will run from 9.40 a.m. to 5.00 p.m,. to include two servings of tea, coffee and biscuits during the day and a useful course pack for you to take away. Note an Early Bird Booking Price is currently available: £75 per course.
To book, please visit my online shop if you wish to pay by Paypal. You can choose either course or scroll down to select the combined course price. Alternatively, print off the course booking form and send a cheque: see the fuller details about payment at the foot of this page. It's a good idea to notify me at info@fictionfire.co.uk that you've sent your payment so that I can register your place on the course. When I receive your payment I will get in touch with you and confirm your place.
Courses are held at Trinity College, Oxford: further details on my Course venue and directions page.
Thank you, all of you who have attended my previous courses. I really enjoyed meeting you and wish you all the very best of luck as you pursue your writing projects. Here are the listings of my previous courses, so that you can get some idea of what a Fictionfire course involves. If you are interested in these courses being run at a future date, or if you're part of a writing group and would like me to run a course for you, please let me know by contacting me at info@fictionfire.co.uk and I can register your interest.
PREVIOUS COURSES
fictionfire Day Course 7: 7th May 2011
WRITING YOUR NOVEL: ESSENTIAL STORY CONSTRUCTION
COURSE SUMMARY:
As a writer, you're a fabricator: you make things up but you also have to put your invented elements together in a way that will not only make sense to your readers but which will grip their attention. This day course will examine the components you need to build your story - with particular emphasis on plot.
COURSE STRUCTURE:
9.40-10.00 Registration and welcome. Tea, coffee and biscuits served.
10.00-12.00 Morning Session:Foundation Work
How do you get your story under way? In this opening session we'll look at how you can judge the potential of that exciting idea you've just had. We'll consider possible markets and how to optimise conditions for writing. We'll look at the most effective techniques for opening and developing your story.
12.00-1.10 Lunch-break.
1.10-3.00 Afternoon Session 1:Action and Architecture
In this section of the course we'll evaluate typical story-structures and debate whether you should plan in detail or risk a more instinctive, less rigid mode of composition. You'll learn how to balance and structure the elements of your plot and the pace of your story, how to troubleshoot it when the momentum falters, how to keep the focus on what truly matters, how to keep your reader interested right through to the resolution.
3.00-3.15 Break-time: tea, coffee and biscuits.
3.15-4.45 Afternoon Session 2:Quality Building Materials
A story is of course far more than a plot-line. In this final session we'll review other crucial components, including creating convincing and compelling characters, and evoking place and atmosphere.
4.45-5.00 Summing-up and final questions.
These intensive sessions will involve discussion, writing exercisesand analysis of a range of illustrative material. Please bring a pen and paper!
fictionfire Day Course 8: 21st May 2011
CREATING NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE AND VOICE
COURSE SUMMARY:
One of the crucial choices you make as a storyteller is to choose who's telling the story. The effective creation of point of view will add colour and draw your reader into the world of your characters. In this course we'll use published examples and practical exercises to explore the options available to you when choosing narrative perspective, how to convey attitude and voice and the importance of controlling just how much information the reader is given and how it is pitched. You're aiming to use your skills to intrigue your readers and keep them engaged.
COURSE STRUCTURE:
9.40-10.00 Registration and welcome. Tea, coffee and biscuits served.
10.00-12.00 Morning Session: It's all Me, Me, Me
During the day we'll be examining the possible points of view, their advantages and disadvantages, starting in this morning session with the various forms of first person narrative.
12.00-1.10 Lunch-break.
1.10-3.00 Afternoon Session 1: Moving to the Outside
We'll move on to start to consider more detached viewpoints with varying degrees of distance from the protagonist's inner experience. Once again, there is a range of options available: we'll be writing exercises to test their potential.
3.00-3.15 Break-time: tea, coffee and biscuits.
3.15-4.45 Afternoon Session 2: You Gotta HaveVoice
Our final session of the day will involve exploring how to create the voice of your characters - how this enriches the reader's sense of who they are and how they are likely to act. We'll also tackle the scary notion ofyourvoice as a writer - what does that mean? How do you find your voice?
4.45-5.00 Summing-up and final questions.
These intensive sessions will involve discussion, writing exercises and analysis of illustrative material. Remember to bring pen and paper!
COURSE 5: MAKING MEMORABLE SCENES (Autumn 2010)
If you are interested in aspects of plot and story-structure, this day course will guide you towards making the scenes you write work as powerfully as possible to engage and hold your reader's attention. We'll look at published examples, deconstructing them to see how their internal dynamics made them effective - and we'll practise writing our own scenes. We'll cover areas such as pace, tension, mood, location, using dialogue and placing scenes in your story's overall structure. Getting the individual scenes right will help you grow in confidence as a writer.
COURSE 6: SHAPE UP AND MAKE YOUR PITCH (Autumn 2010)
You've completed your writing project - congratulations! Now you want to get it 'out there' to a readership. This day course is designed to help you meet the challenge of making your pitch. So that your submission is as polished as possible, practical exercises will guide you through crucial self-editing techniques and show you how best to present your manuscript. We'll explore how to write an effective query letter and synopsis which will make the agent or editor hungry to see more. The marketplace is crowded: here's how to make yourself stand out.
COURSE 3: CHARACTER BUILDING (Spring 2010)
'Without character there is no story.' (Julia Bell)
This day course is designed to help you create and develop characters for your fiction-writing. However clever your plotting, however powerful your theme, however beautiful your style, your story will not work if your characters fail to engage your readers' attention and emotions. We'll examine how to bring characters to convincing life, exploring the variety of techniques available to you. We'll look at how published writers have achieved their effects and engage in exercises to imagine new characters - and their stories.
COURSE 4: ESSENTIAL EDITING (Spring 2010)
'A first draft is a work of construction; the seventh is the work of an artist.' (Barbara Kingsolver)
This day course is designed to show you the essential techniques of editing your own work and to help you see revision as integral to the creative process. Whether your work needs to go through three, seven or thirty-seven drafts, you need to be sure when you send it out that it's as polished as you can make it. The course will also arm you with a knowledge of how the publishing industry works so that you can pitch your story effectively. And you thought just writing the thing was enough ...!
COURSE 2: BLINDFOLD INTO THE MAZE - PLOTTING YOUR NOVEL (Autumn 2009)
COURSE 1: GET THAT NOVEL UP AND RUNNING (Autumn 2009)
LOCATION: (Fuller details available on Venue and Directions)
The courses will be held in the elegant, wood-panelled Sutro Room (which has excellent disabled access) at Trinity College, Oxford. Trinity, which was founded in the 16th century, is situated on Broad Street at the heart of the city, close to the Bodleian Library, the Sheldonian Theatre, Balliol, Exeter and Jesus Colleges. At lunchtime, you can choose from a wide variety o
f cafes, pubs and restaurants in the immediate vicinity. During the lunch-break or after your course ends, you may wish to explore Trinity's beautiful gardens, browse in the world-famous Blackwell's Bookshop, visit the newly re-opened Ashmolean Museum, or simply stroll around BroadStreet, Radcliffe Square and St Giles, soaking up the atmosphere and appreciating the architectural glories of this historic city.
DIRECTIONS: (Fuller details are on Venue and Directions)
Trinity College is centrally placed, with excellent access on foot from the Bus Station at Gloucester Green and from the Railway Station. If you are coming by car, there is parking available on St Giles and at Gloucester Green. However, parking is limited and expensive so I would strongly recommend you make use of the Park and Ride system: http://www.oxford.gov.uk/transport/park-and-ride.cfm
See also http://www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/contact/getting/ and http://www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/maps for further detailed guidance.
HOW TO BOOK:
Postal Bookings:
Please print off the fictionfire Course Booking Form and send with your cheque to L Fergusson, fictionfire, 110 Oxford Road, Old Marston, Oxford, OX3 0RD. Remember to read the Terms and Conditions regarding these courses.
Online Bookings:
You can also make a course booking using Paypal - just go to the Online Shop page. Choose either course or scroll down to opt for the combined special price package. Remember to read the Terms and Conditions. IMPORTANT - If you choose to book this way, please notify me of your booking via the Contact Form: let me know which course(s) you are booking, if it is for one person or more, your contact details (name, address, phone number, email) and the fee you have paid through Paypal. On receipt of this notification I will email you to acknowledge that you have registered for your chosen course(s). If you have not heard from me, please check your junk/spam folder in case my message has ended up there and add info@fictionfire.co.uk and mail@fictionfire.co.uk to your safe list. You can also ring or text me on 07827 455723.
(fictionfire is an organisation which contracts with the College for the use of facilities, but which has no formal connection with The University of Oxford.)