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Creative Writing Classes

39-Week Course

outine
What is a
Manuscript Assessment?

A Manuscript Assessment is an informed review of your story. It allows The Story Mentor to bring his storytelling experience and fresh eyes to your manuscript to determine whether the concept and story works as a whole.

 

During a Manuscript Assessment, The Story Mentor:

  • Reviews your story with experienced eyes;

  • Assesses the story as a whole;

  • Offers suggestions on how to improve it;

  • Identifies any sections that need clarification;

  • Recommends what to add or remove;

  • Pinpoints plot holes and errors in logic; and

  • Advises your next best course of action.

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When Should I Get a
Manuscript Assessment?

A Manuscript Assessment is recommended for writers with a completed early draft of their story.

 

Often writers become too close to their stories and struggle to recognise its quality components from its obvious flaws. If this has happened to you, then you need a Manuscript Assessment.

 

The Story Mentor approaches your manuscript with fresh eyes, allowing him to see clearly what works and what needs improvement.

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Course Outline

Write that novel you always wanted to.

 

Have you always wanted to write a novel but struggled to represent what you see in your mind on the page? This 38-week course helps writers of all levels develop the techniques and skills need to do just that and more.

During each writing exercise-led session, award-winning author A. R. Levett guides you through developing  different aspects of your story, such as the drama, characters, theme, setting, symbols, plot, scenes, and writing skills. By the end of the course, you will have thoroughly developed your novel and be well on your way to completing it.


Course Outcome: Understand and implement key storytelling concepts to help you shape, structure, and write your story.

 

Term outlines are below.

 

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Details

When

Full Course: 4 February - 9 December 2021
Term 1: 4 Feb - 1 Apr 2021
Term 2: 22 Apr - 1 Jul 2021

Term 3: 22 Jul - 23 Sept 2021
Term 4: 14 Oct - 9 Dec 2021

Where

Online via Zoom.
Details provided upon booking.

Length

39x 3-hour classes (full course only)

Your Receive:

Several writing exercises per class

Theory handouts & exercise worksheets per class

In-class feedback on your progressing story

Cost

Single classes: $30 each
Terms 1 & 4 (9 classes each): $252 each (save $18!)
Term 2 (11 classes): $308 (save $22!)

Term 3 (10 classes): $280 (Save $20!)

Full Course (all 39 classes): $1,070 (Save $100!)
+ booking fees

Bookings & Enquiries

andrew@thestorymentor.com.au
Limited places. Booking essential.

Download Flyer

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details
Term 1
Premise, Conflict, Characters

MODULE 1: THE PREMISE

 

Week 1: 4 Feb 2021

Receive an introduction to the course in which you learn about the story premise & figure out what you want to write.

Week 2: 11 Feb 2021

Explore your story's possibilities & challenges.

Week 3: 18 Feb 2021

Locate your story's theme, its most interesting character & main opponent.

Week 4: 25 Feb 2021

Develop the story's central conflict & the protagonist's basic action.

Week 5: 4 Mar 2021

Create the protagonist's character growth, final moral choice & develop the premise.

MODULE 2: THE CONFLICT

 

Week 6: 11 Mar 2021

Map out your story's main events, inciting incident & climax.

Week 7: 18 Mar 2021

Determine your protagonist's self-revelation, inner weakness & central goal.

Week 8: 25 Mar 2021

Develop the strategies & obstacles the protagonist must face & the story's new equilibrium.

MODULE 3: THE CHARACTERS

Week 9: 1 Apr 2021

Give each character a story function, create a web of characters & individualise them from the others.

​​

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Term 2
Characters, Theme, Symbolism, Setting

MODULE 3: THE CHARACTERS (continued)

 

Week 10: 22 Apr 2021

Work out to develop the balance of power & how each opponent opposes the protagonist.

Week 11: 29 Apr 2021

Learn about archetypes, archetypal journeys, and discover which archetypes are the most and least dominant in your characters.

Week 12: 6 May 2021

Chart your protagonist's ego archetypal development.

Week 13: 13 May 2021

Determine your protagonist's soul archetypal journey.

Week 14: 20 May 2021

Create your protagonist's self archetypal journey.

Week 15: 27 May 2021

Learn about character change and how to chart your character's growth across your story.

MODULE 4: THE THEME

Week 16: 3 Jun 2021

​Discover the theme of your story & how to create it through character oppositions.

Week 17: 10 Jun 2021

Further develop your story's theme through the way you utilise the first seven structural steps.

Week 18: 17 Jun 2021

Finalise the story's theme by developing it via the last seven structural steps.

MODULE 5: THE SETTING

Week 19: 24 Jun 2021

Develop symbols for your story and discover how settings are forms of symbolism in storytelling.

Week 20: 1 Jul 2021

Discover the purpose of setting in story and the meanings of multiple human-made settings.

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session 1
session2
session3
session 4
What is a
Manuscript Assessment?
When Should I Get a
Manuscript Assessment?

A Manuscript Assessment is recommended for writers with a completed early draft of their story.

 

Often writers become too close to their stories and struggle to recognise its quality components from its obvious flaws. If this has happened to you, then you need a Manuscript Assessment.

 

The Story Mentor approaches your manuscript with fresh eyes, allowing him to see clearly what works and what needs improvement.

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Term 3
Setting & Plotting

MODULE 5 : THE SETTING (continued)

Week 21: 22 Jul 2021

​Discover the meanings behind multiple natural settings & weather & how to use them in your story.

Week 22: 29 Jul 2021

Determine the symbolic value of the tools and technology in your story.

Week 23: 5 Aug 2021

Uncover how using setting can help convey the protagonist's development during the story.

 

MODULE 6 : THE HERO'S JOURNEY

Week 24: 12 Aug 2021

Map out the first five steps of the hero's journey in your story.

Week 25: 19 Aug 2021

Develop the middle four steps of the hero's journey for your story.

Week 26: 26 Aug 2021

Work through the last three steps of the hero's journey in your story.

MODULE 7 : THE PLOT

Week 27: 2 Sept 2021

Discover how to create an organic plot & how to plot the story's opening and backstory.

Week 28: 9 Sept 2021

Learn how to implement the setting, problem, inner weakness, inciting incident and central goal in your story's plot.

Week 29: 16 Sept 2021

Develop your story's allies, sub-plot character/s, main opponent & fake-ally opponent in relation to plot.

Week 30: 23 Sept 2021

Implement a reveals sequence, first major reveal & decision, and the protagonist's training.

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Term 4
Plotting, Scenes, Writing, Revision

MODULE 7 : THE PLOT (continued)

 

Week 31: 14 Oct 2021

Discover the opponent's plan & the protagonist's counter-plans.

Week 32: 21 Oct 2021

Determine the attack by an ally, apparent defeat & the second major reveal & decision.  

Week 33: 28 Oct 2021

Develop the third major reveal & gate, gantlet, & visit to death.

Week 34: 4 Nov 2021

Implement the climax, self-revelation, moral decision, thematic revelation, & new equilibrium into the story's plot.

MODULE 8 : THE SCENES

Week 35: 11 Nov 2021

Create a scene breakdown for your story.

Week 36: 18 Nov 2021

Discover the most powerful way to write scenes for your novel.

MODULE 9 : THE WRITING

Week 37: 25 Nov 2021
Discover how to use showing to make your story so much more powerful than telling.

Week 38: 2 Dec 2021

Examine the different types of point-of-view, how to use them in a story, & which one works best for your story.

Week 39: 9 Dec 2021

Develop strong dialogue for your scenes & create dialogue tracks to give it more depth.

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