A new online masterclass series!

Elements of Fiction: Voice, Texture, Time, Tension, People

EDIT - SOLD OUT!

So sorry everyone but we have to pause enrolments on this course as we’ve been absolutely inundated with interest in & sign-ups to this course, which has blown both of our minds! We could go on taking enrolments but we want to make sure it’s a good experience for everyone. I’ll be back with an update if we decide to open enrolments again, or run it again at a later date. THANKS for your interest!!

I’ve been dying to make this announcement for ages and the day is finally here! Next year I’m delighted to be working with the utterly brilliant prizewinning novelist, screenwriter and renowned writing tutor Emily Perkins in presenting an online masterclass series.

Emily at the 2024 NZ Book Awards with her Best Book of Fiction winner, Lioness

ELEMENTS OF FICTION will start in March 2025 and cover some of the most stimulating and enjoyable aspects of writing in five stand-alone masterclasses: Voice, Texture, Time, Tension, and People.

At the 2024 Booker Prize ceremony with my shortlisted novel, Stone Yard Devotional

Emily and I decided to work together on this course after we had such a great time presenting at the Newcastle Writers’ Festival earlier in the year, with Kate Mildenhall and Christos Tsiolkas, in a session called Shitty First Drafts. It was such a joy to talk craft with that gang (and the session was incredibly well received - you can find the video here). But I have been a fan of Emily’s writing for much, much longer than that, having met her well over a decade ago when she published The Forrests, one of my favourite books of all time. She is the real deal (she won New Zealand’s most prestigious book prize with Lioness earlier this year), and this masterclass series may or may not be really just an excuse for me to learn from her about how to write absolutely outstanding fiction. You can read more about Emily at the end of this post.

The format

ELEMENTS OF FICTION is a monthly Zoom webinar-style class. Each hour-long session takes the form of a conversation around the theme, and will include tips for different approaches, discussion of effects, recommended reading, and what Emily and I have learned over the course of writing and editing 19 books between us.

The classes start on Wednesday March 5 and can be booked individually or all together, at this link. (Any of these classes would make an excellent gift for your writing mates for Christmas - just saying!)

Our Zoom classes are open to all - from established writers to those with the first germ of an idea - and while the conversations will centre on fiction, creative non-fiction writers will find useful material here too.

Participants are invited to send questions in advance, as well as to post questions on the day. If time zones or other commitments make it impossible to attend the live session, you can still enrol, ask your question in advance and receive a video recording of the class afterwards. A link to the recording will be sent to all enrollees the day after each session.

We really struggled with pricing, because we know many people are doing it very tough at the moment, writers more than most. So to allow as many as possible to take part, for this first run each class will be available for $45AUD. Believe me, this is a bargain and the course is likely to be priced much higher next time we run it (because we also believe writers should be fairly paid for their expertise!).

Enrol here now, or read on for more detail.

What’s in the course?

Here’s our full program outline for 2025.

5 March: VOICE

Finding the right voice is essential to getting a writing project off the ground. We’ll start our programme looking at how to work with point of view, vocabulary, sounds, rhythms, attitudes, mood and the senses.

2 April: TEXTURE

Following on from Voice, this session looks closely at paying attention, selecting details, creating an atmosphere, and the textural properties of language.

7 May: TIME

A vital and excitingly flexible element of narrative. We’ll discuss structure, pace, leaps, repetition and other aspects of time in writing.

4 June: TENSION

How do writers keep readers engaged? We’ll look at plot hooks, subtext, withholding, strangeness, pressure, containment, and creating enticement for your readers to keep turning the page.

2 July: PEOPLE

Our final session will focus on creating lifelike and convincing people in your fiction - we'll explore fascination with behaviours, contradictions and back stories, interior lives and exterior action, layers and surprises, and the unseen.

About Emily

Emily is an award-winning writer from Aotearoa New Zealand. Her novels have twice won Best Book of Fiction at the New Zealand Book Awards (including Lioness in 2024) as well as Best First Book of Fiction for her debut collection of stories. Other recognition includes the Believer Book of the Year (US), the Geoffrey Faber Prize (UK), and long-listing for the Women’s Prize UK. Her books include The Forrests, Novel About My Wife, The New Girl, Leave Before You Go and Not Her Real Name. Her screenwriting credits include co-writing the feature film adaptation of The Rehearsal and work on the smash hit TV series After the Party, currently screening to rave reviews in the UK.

Emily is an Arts Foundation Laureate and Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. You can learn more about her here.

About Charlotte

I am the author of seven novels and three books of non-fiction. My latest book Stone Yard Devotional was short-listed for the 2024 Booker Prize and five other awards, drawing praise from authors Anne Enright, Tim Winton, Karen Joy Fowler and others. Previous books include The Luminous Solution on the creative process; the international bestseller, The Weekend; and the Stella Prize-winning The Natural Way of Things. In 2023 Sydney’s Belvoir Theatre Company staged an adaptation of The Weekend, and The Natural Way of Things featured in ABC Television’s 2021 series ‘The Books That Made Us’. More about my work can be found here.

Enrol now

I’ll send out more reminders closer to the start date, but if you want to secure a spot in any of these classes now - or the whole series - enrolments are live here now! And you can start asking your questions via Slido as soon as you enrol, to help us make sure we tailor the content specially for you. Neither Emily nor I plan any other online teaching next year so do join us. It’s going to be great.

Cheers

Charlotte