Learn how to use your experiences to enhance your creative writing, in both fiction and non-fiction genres.

Creative writers are often urged to 'write what you know', or use their experiences in order to populate and improve their writing. In this series of workshops, we examine in depth how personal experiences can form elements of fictional and nonfictional creative prose, as well as writing that is of a hybrid nature that combines imagined and autobiographical features. The program will teach the role of experiences in evoking setting and place, memory, characterisation, plot and structure, and voice.

The skills taught will be useful in most prose genres, from creative nonfiction forms such as memoir and travel writing through to literary fiction and genre fiction.

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

Learning Outcomes

Through this course, writers will engage in:

Understanding the role of personal experience in creative writing projects.
Brainstorming the selection of events to share, and what makes personal experiences interesting to others.
Improving the credibility and specificity of creative writing.
Applying personal experiences to the different aspects of creative writing commonly found in prose works.
Sharing past experiences with others through planning and writing in a way that shapes memory into story.

2023 Dates/Times

10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 18 June
10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 16 July
10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 20 August
10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 10 September
10:30am – 4:30pm, Sunday 8 October

Format/other notes

This is an intensive and collaborative 5-part course with a focus on craft; it will be held in-person at Queensland Writers Centre. It is a level 2 course for dedicated writers, especially those with a work-in-progress. Each session will combine explicit teaching of skills and techniques, interactive discussion, writing and planning exercises. Personal feedback on a short excerpt of each participant's work will be provided.

About Kári

Kári Gíslason is a writer and Professor of Creative Writing and Literary Studies at QUT. Kári was awarded a doctorate in 2003 for his thesis on medieval Icelandic literature. His first book, The Promise of Iceland (UQP, 2011), told the story of return journeys he’s made to his birthplace. His second book was the novel The Ash Burner (UQP, 2015). He is also the co-author, with Richard Fidler, of Saga Land: The island of stories at the edge of the world (HarperCollins, 2017), which won the Indie Book Award for Non-Fiction in 2018. His fourth book, The Sorrow Stone (UQP, 2022), is an historical novel that reimagines the life of one of the most famous women of the medieval Icelandic sagas.

Queensland Writers Centre membership

Consider becoming a member of Queensland Writers Centre (worth $79 / year) to save up to 30% across our Program of workshops, courses and events - including up to $150 savings on your ticket to Writing From Experience. Queensland Writers Centre membership includes a host of benefits:

Belong to a vibrant community of Queensland writers
Discounts of up to 30% across our Program, services, and competitions
Subscription to the quarterly WQ magazine
Priority access to writing advice from our experienced team
Recognition for your writing achievements in our Member Milestones
Access to Writer's Consults, the Writer's Surgery program and other members only services
Access to member benefits of other state writers' centres in the National Writers Centre Network

Find more information on our website or get in touch with the team today.

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