WORKSHOP: Learn to write good with Dominic Hoey
A practical deep dive into the magic of the contemporary short story form.
Facilitated by Newcastle Short Story Award judge and editor - Catherine McNamara
Key Information
Join Catherine McNamara, judge and editor of the 2024 and 2025 Newcastle Short Story Award, for a practical workshop on the contemporary short story. You’ll explore ideas, openings, structure, voice, dialogue, revision and submissions, with examples from award-winning stories.
When: Saturday 29 November, 10 am – 4 pm
Venue: Joy Cummings Centre, 63 Scott St, Newcastle or Online via Zoom.
Cost:
Full Price: $150
Member: $120
Member concession / youth: $90
Non-member concession / youth: $120
* Hunter Writers Centre defines youth as someone aged 25 years or under.
There are limited Access & Equity places are available for people with financial barriers. If you would like to apply for one of these places, please email Katherine at contact@hunterwriterscentre.org
Workshop is now full
Workshop Overview
Join Catherine McNamara, 2024 and 2025 judge and editor of the Newcastle Short Story Award, for a practical deep dive into the magic of the contemporary short story form.
Why do we attempt this deliciously difficult form?
Across the day, we’ll discuss idea generation: how to fish ideas from the reservoir of your mind, and beyond; how observation is the key to creativity; and how to weed out weak ideas and trust your strong ones.
We’ll explore openings; do some writing prompts and first paragraphs; speak of openings, first sentences and hitting the right note fearlessly.
We’ll talk about how to structure a story… or not, about modulations of key, cadence, compression, impetus. We will do some exercises on dialogue. Also, on location. Voice. Clean text.
We will move onto endings, about readiness, about fine-tuning, revision, rewriting, common errors and pitfalls; and, importantly, how to understand your weaknesses—and your strengths.
Toward the end of the day, we will address submissions: when and where to send off, how to cope with rejection and stay buoyant in your belief, and we’ll cover strategies for submission resilience.
During the day, we will look at some of the winning and shortlisted entries of the Newcastle Short Story Award, and see what enticed the judges.
Accessibility
Hunter Writers’ Centre is committed to continuous improvement for equitable participation. The venue and session format aim to be accessible.
The Joy Cummings Centre has ramp access from the Pacific St entrance, an accessible toilet, and there is a disability car space outside of the venue on Pacific St.
The workshop will be hosted as hybrid workshop with online participation through zoom.
If you have access requirements, please tell us in the registration form.
There are limited Access & Equity places are available for people with financial barriers. If you would like to apply for one of these places, please email Katherine at contact@hunterwriterscentre.org
About Catherine McNamara
Catherine McNamara grew up in Sydney, ran away to Paris to write and ended up co-running a bar in Ghana, working in Mogadishu and Milan along the way.
She is the author of the short fiction collections The Carnal Fugues, The Cartography of Others, Love Stories for Hectic People and Pelt and Other Stories, and her stories have been published in Australia, England, France, USA, India and Nigeria.
The Carnal Fugues was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2024. The Cartography of Others was praised by Hilary Mantel (‘This is fiction that can stand up in any company’), Love Stories for Hectic People won the Best Short Story Collection in the Saboteur Awards (UK) and Pelt and Other Stories was semi-finalist in the Hudson Prize (USA).
Catherine lives in Italy.