*We will be following government Covid19 regulations and keeping ‘abstand’ throughout this workshop. Places have been reduced to 10 participants. More details on request.*
Do you have lots of ideas for stories but struggle to find a shape for them? Do you get lost or bogged down when you’re writing and end up with lots of fragments? In this practical two-day workshop, we will investigate structure, taking a close look at the way a variety of short stories and novels have been built. Participants will leave with a variety of models they can adapt and employ to structure their fiction or non-fiction, as well as a deeper understanding of some of the elements of storytelling.
The prose belongs to the artist, but the skill of structuring a story has more in common with the tailoring or house-building. And you wouldn’t try and make a pair of trousers or build a house without having a really close look at a few good examples… We’ll be deconstructing texts to see how they’ve been put together, analysing elements from the hero’s journey (initiating incident, climax, resolution) to see where and how they fall, creating book and story maps, and considering dynamics – the premise that makes the reader want to read on.
Featuring group analysis, writing prompts, pair-work and longer writing exercises, the workshop will also ask participants to do some pre-class reading and analysis. Victoria has created the course materials based on the question: ‘What have I learnt as a writer that has been most helpful to me in my own practice?’. Suitable for beginners as well as more experienced writers, the course will allow you to see favourite texts from a fresh perspective and give you new tools to unlock your stories’ potential.
Email hello@thereaderberlin.com to book.
VICTORIA GOSLING is the founder of The Reader Berlin and The Berlin Writing Prize. Her debut novel BEFORE THE RUINS is forthcoming from Serpent’s Tail in July 2020 (UK) and Henry Holt in September 2020 (USA). She is represented by Judith Murray of literary agency Greene & Heaton. Alongside directing The Reader’s day-to-day activities, Victoria works as a freelance editor, writer and consultant and is a former contributing editor of Berlin Stories for NPR. Offering manuscript assessments, mentoring, expert feedback and guidance, she has worked with hundreds of writers and consulted on a wide range of publications currently available in print and online.
