Make 2025 your year – get the tools and support you need to complete the first draft of your novel, in the express version of Queensland Writers Centre's flagship program for emerging writers.

Year of the Novel returns in 2025 so you can follow through with your New Years' resolution to get that book out of your head and onto the page. Attend five full-day workshops throughout the year, each detailing the steps you need to take when writing the first draft of your novel. Hosted by author Siang Lu, in this course you’ll receive practical advice and inspiration so you can maintain your writing pace and finally write 'the end'.

You’ll also receive written feedback on 10 pages (up to 3,000 words) of your work-in-progress at a scheduled time during this course.

Learning outcomes

You will hone writing skillset and work to draft a full-length novel through practical exercises, group discussions, critique sessions, and homework in the key areas listed below:

Develop your personal skills in the craft of narrative writing.
Learn techniques to pre-draft and generate ideas.
Structure your narrative on a macro and micro level.
Craft characters with goals and flaws.
Build your novel's world and setting.
Find your author voice and writing style.
Develop an appreciation for the business of writing and publishing.

Course dates

10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 23 February 2025
10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 30 March 2025
10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 18 May 2025
10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 15 June 2025
10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 6 July 2025

Please note that participants are expected to attend all five course dates. Supplementary materials for any missed sessions will be provided at QWC's discretion.

Format

This is an intensive and collaborative five-part course with a focus on craft; it will be held in-person at Queensland Writers Centre. It is a course designed for emerging writers but is suitable for dedicated writers of all levels and writing backgrounds to attend. Each session will combine explicit teaching of skills and techniques with interactive discussion and writing exercises and roundtable workshopping of works in progress.

Flexible payment plans are available for this course. Please contact Queensland Writers Centre at admin@qldwriters.org.au or call (07) 3842 9922.

About Siang

Siang Lu is the author of Ghost Cities and The Whitewash, and the co-creator of The Beige Index. The Whitewash won the ABIA Audiobook of the Year in 2023 for its audio adaptation, which starred a large and diverse cast of fourteen actors. It also won the Glendower Award for an emerging writer in the Queensland Literary Awards and was shortlisted for a NSW Premiers Literary Award. In 2023 Siang was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Asian-Australians at the Asian Australian Leadership Awards. He holds a Master of Letters from the University of Sydney and has written for film and television for Singapore's Beach House Pictures and Malaysia's Astro network. He is based in Brisbane, Australia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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