Make 2024 your year – get the tools and support you need to complete the first draft of your novel, with Queensland Writers Centre's flagship program for emerging writers.

Year of the Novel returns in 2024 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 award-winning author, researcher, and tutor Melissa Ashley, in this course you’ll receive practical advice and inspiration so you can maintain your writing pace and finish the year writing '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, Saturday 6 April 2024
10:30am – 4:30pm, Saturday 8 June 2024
10:30am – 4:30pm, Saturday 17 August 2024
10:30am – 4:30pm, Saturday 19 October 2024
10:30am – 4:30pm, Saturday 7 December 2024

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 Melissa

Melissa Ashley is the author of the historical fiction novels The Bee and the Orange Tree and The Birdman's Wife, which won the Queensland Literary Awards Fiction prize and the ABA Booksellers Choice Award. She has published a collection of poetry, The Hospital for Dolls, as well as short stories, essays and academic articles. Melissa is passionate about historical women's forgotten lives, particularly in science. Melissa's most recent novel is The Naturalist of Amsterdam, which explores the life of entomologist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian's daughter Dorothea Graff. She lives in Brisbane with her family.

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