This online workshop is part of our new, exciting range of digital masterclasses that we are offering. In this live online workshop, you will have the opportunity to engage in real time with our brilliant course tutors, as well as other participants – with additional pre and post-course support from our learning team. To celebrate the launch, we are offering a very limited supply of introductory early bird tickets for each event, discounted up to 40% – once they’re gone, they’re gone!
Sitting down to write your novel is the first hurdle: now faced with the blank page, your challenge is to fill it with your brilliant ideas. Getting psychologically and practically prepared for the marathon of writing a novel can be difficult, but all you really need is a beginning, a middle and an end.
In this masterclass with acclaimed novelist Tim Lott, you will focus on the all-important first 20,000 words, including research and getting started, laying down dramatic plot ‘mines’ that will explode later in the book, how to be expository without overloading your reader with information, and - importantly - how to launch yourself into the longer second part of your novel.
Aimed at all aspirational writers, the emphasis of this course is to face up to that blank sheet of paper and begin the gentle jog towards the first checkpoint, under the guidance of one of the best writers and coaches in the business.
Course content
Getting started: organising ideas, folders, space, research - and the inside of your head
Psychological barriers to writing: why starting to write scares some people
What has to happen in the first part of a novel: set up, character establishment, positing questions and choices, and the framing of dramatic dilemmas
Plot bombs: laying down dramatic ‘mines’ that will glue your reader to the narrative
Exposition: revealing information about your characters and the situations that begin your novel, without exhausting your reader
Point of view and the handling of time: who’s telling the story and from what viewpoint?
Keeping motivated for the longer second part
You will be sent a link to the online workshop 1hr before the start time of 6.30pm (BST).
Tutor profile
Tim Lott is the author of eight novels and Penguin Modern Classic memoir The Scent of Dried Roses. He is one of the most sought-after writing teachers in the country, particularly through his personal mentoring services. His writing has been highly praised by Hilary Mantel, Alan Bennett, Sebastian Faulks, Tony Parsons and Sarah Waters, among others. His students are equally enthusiastic – read their testimonials.
Tim’s help got me to a point where I was ready to write my next draft. That next draft got me an agent.”
Ben McPherson, A Line of Blood
No one else could have taught me what Tim did. Without him I can safely say I would still be flailing around in piles of rejection slips.”
Rebecca Thornton, The Exclusives
You will be sent a link to the online workshop 1hr before the start time of 6.30pm (BST).
Details
Date: Monday 10 August 2020
Times: 6.30pm-9pm (BST)
Price: Early bird price of £36 (plus £2.24 booking fee); standard ticket priced at £45 (plus 2.65 booking fee)
Event capacity: 80
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Information on Guardian Masterclasses
To contact us, click here. Terms and conditions can be found here.
All Guardian Masterclasses are fully accessible - but please contact us if you have any queries or concerns.
Returns policy
Once a purchase is complete we will not be able to refund you where you do not attend or if you cancel your event booking. Please see our terms and conditions for more information on our refund policy.
