The Sunshine Coast Literary Association is bringing back its popular Authors’ Summer School in 2011, which will provide writing enthusiasts with the tips and tricks to become award-winning short story authors.
This short story bootcamp is suitable for writers of all levels from beginners to advanced and will be held across two evenings, Thursday 3rd February and Thursday 10th February at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Presidents of the SCLA, Bryan Ward said the summer school also aims to prepare writers for our annual writing competition, which will be open to entries from 7th February.
“The competition is open to aspiring writers in the Sunshine Coast and Gympie area, with six entry categories including junior short story, junior poem, young adult short story, young adult poem, open short story and open poem,” Bryan said.
The classes will be presented by two of the University of the Sunshine Coast’s creative writing educators, Nike Bourke (also co-director of the Olvar Wood Writers Retreat) and Naomi Stekelenburg, and will focus on all aspects of short story writing.
The first two-hour session will focus on the basics of short story writing including narrative construction, plot, character, setting and style, and will examine the origins of ideas and include a workshop-style brainstorming session with the opportunity for feedback.
During the second session, the evening will centre on the common pitfalls of short story writing including some strategies to overcome them and will also have a workshop where participants will have the opportunity to put pen to paper and share some of their own ideas.
Nike Bourke said she was really looking forward to working with a wide variety of writers at the Short Story Bootcamp.
“Workshops are a great way to meet other writers, find out the truth about how judging competitions work, and get on-the-spot feedback and answers to your questions,” Nike said.
“Naomi and I have both judged a lot of competitions, and over time it’s easy to see what kinds of stories really grab a judges’ attention and keep them reading,” she said.
“The bootcamp provides us with the opportunity to share those insights with a select group of writers, and give them lots of hints and tips about how to fine tune their short stories,” she said.
The classes will be held in Lecture Theatre 3 at USC and will begin at 6:15pm for a prompt 6:30pm start, concluding at 8.30pm each night. For SCLA members the classes are $25 for one session or $40 for both, and for guests one class is $30 or $50 for both. Positions are limited, so make sure you book your seat today.
For more information about the program, biographies of both our talented presenters or to book you seat for the summer school please visit the What’s On section of the SCLA website, www.scliterary.org or call 5450 2691.
