Drawing on her edited essay collection, Reading like an Australian Writer, Belinda will explore lessons learned from brilliant contemporary writers of fiction and their favourite authors. Using these lessons and discussion of your own reading as a writer, we will generate writing ideas through exercises, do flash workshops of the material we generate in class, and set future directions for our practice as a reading-writer.

This reading and writing workshop is designed with the idea in mind that talking about reading with others who appreciate stories is an energising and practical way to fuel our own writing, and that the reading of stories is what can often help us to solve our own writing challenges. Expect to finish the workshop with a renewed appreciation for the stories you love, fresh energy and sharpened tools for your own writing, and story and character ideas generated by the writing activities.

Expected learning outcomes

Participants will:

Learn methods for reading fiction closely and the lessons imparted for writers
Discover new reading ideas from the class instructor and classmates that will sustain their writing practice
Generate writing through in-class activities, to develop into stories or incorporate into ongoing work after the course.