First seed to first draft: Turning ideas into stories

This course, First seed to first draft: Turning ideas into stories with Anna Downes, will be held at Writing NSW.

Every story starts with an idea, but it's often hard to tell which ones are worth pursuing. Sometimes we hit the creative jackpot, other times we'll tussle with a concept for months before running out of steam. And that’s normal - not all that glitters is gold, and often the only way to tell the difference is to give it a go. But wouldn't it be nice to save time? What if we could be sure that an idea has enough gas in the tank before we start?

In this one-day workshop with internationally bestselling author Anna Downes, we'll look at the difference between a story and a situation. Working both individually and as a group, we’ll put our ideas to the test by building storytelling frameworks, interrogating the needs of our protagonists and uniquely tailoring our stories accordingly. We’ll chart a rough course from beginning to end to identify how much mileage the idea really has, stretching its potential while also keeping it tethered to certain crucial foundations. And by the end of the course, we’ll have a structurally solid starting point from which we can confidently take that idea from first seed to first draft.