A 3-hour workshop with Linda Godfrey, to introduce the different elements of short fiction writing, such as plot and structure, dialogue, characterisation, setting, tense, viewpoint, and more. Linda will set exercises for you to write on the day as a beginning for your story, which can be workshopped and discussed on the day.

The class also aims to be an ideal starting point for writing a 2000–4000-word short story to enter into the Olga Masters Short Story Award which opens in July. The competition, run by South East Arts, encourages entries on the theme of life in rural Australia. Participants are encouraged to read stories by previous winners before they come to the workshop, to get an idea of the short story genre. See www.olgamastersshortstoryaward.com

This course is intended for those with an interest in writing a short story for competitions or improving their fiction writing and does not require any previous experience of studying this subject. Presented by South East Arts and Headland Writers Festival. Supported by the South Coast Writers Centre

Linda Godfrey is a writer, poet and editor and has a Masters of Professional Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney. She has a chapbook of poetry published , Count the Ways and in 2021 won the AAWP First Chapter award. She has published poetry and short stories in anthologies and online. Linda was the Program Manager of the Wollongong Writers Festival 2015 to 2018. She curated Rocket Readings, monthly readings of poetry, part of Sydney Writers Festival and Viva La Gong from 2007 to 2018. She was a fiction reader for Overland and was the online fiction editor for Overland Autumn 2018. She has been a recipient of a Varuna Residency and an Australian Society of Authors mentorship. She has edited three award winning books, including one Miles Franklin winner. She has taught writing, both short stories and poetry for many years. Linda loves a prose poem and is a ruins tragic. Will fulfil her ambition to live on the beach at Agia Triada in Crete where the Minoans built a summer palace.