From First Draft to Final Draft

From First Draft To Final Draft can be run as a weekend or day-long workshop. It is a touring workshop (check website for upcoming workshops) and can also be booked by writing groups.

A series of three workshops that will guide you through the process of writing fiction and poetry from first draft to final draft and show you how to prepare your finished work for submission to magazines, agents and publishers for the best chance of success.

Workshop 1: Fiction

This workshop will explore the importance of knowing your “story” and how it relates to plot, characterisation and the overall narrative structure (emphasising scene as the basic unit of fiction). It will provide a framework to allow you to complete a solid first daft and a structured method to revise and rewrite to reach a final draft suitable for submission.

Workshop 2: Poetry

This workshop will examine the overall structure of a poem and the relationship of its “intent” (purpose) to its formal qualities: imagery, rhythm, sound, density, and line (emphasising lineation as, perhaps, the defining characteristic of poetry).  It will provide a framework to allow you to complete a solid first daft and a structured method to revise and rewrite to reach a final draft suitable for submission.

Workshop 3: Publishing

This workshop will show you how to prepare your work for submission to magazines, agents and publishers to give you the best chance of success. It will advise you on the “dos and don’ts”, how to write cover letters and query letters, blurbs, synopses, and author bios. It will advise you on the role of the editor and how to develop a good writer/editor relationship.