The process of making your characters live and breathe in worlds that aren’t our own.

Trent Jamieson walks you through crafting character arcs in strange new worlds, with consideration for how your characters are shaped by the speculative elements of their world. Treating theme as the engine, you will learn to use genre to explore real-world questions. Master the art of plot without exposition by conveying worldbuilding through character choices and consequences. Trent will also cover genre-blending and subversion, teaching you how to avoid cliches by merging tropes and genres.

Learning outcomes

In this workshop, you will learn to:

Create more engaging characters.
Explore how characters are different in Speculative Fiction.
Convey worldbuilding through characterisation.

Format

This is an in-person workshop with a focus on craft; it will be held at State Library of Queensland. This workshop is suitable for writers of all levels and writing backgrounds.

About Trent

Trent Jamieson is the award-winning author of the novels The Stone Road and Day Boy, as well as the Death Works trilogy, and Roil duology. His children’s book The Giant and the Sea (ill. Rovina Cai) won the 2021 Environment Award for Children’s Literature Picture Fiction. His latest book is Frog,Log, and Dave Almost Save the Day (with Brent Wilson). He is currently writing a novel with a Creative Australia grant.

For more information about Queensland Writers Centre’s Program of Events and answers to FAQs, please visit: www.queenslandwriters.org.au/program-info

Contact the host of Crafting Human Stories in Speculative Fiction with Trent Jamieson