So You Want to Write a Novel (CRWR2009)
School of Humanities - University of Adelaide
Semester 1 / 2015

Texts

Redemption in Indigo

The Rainbow Troops

The Yellow Birds

Mother's Milk

y separately published work icon Animal People Charlotte Wood , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2011 Z1799698 2011 single work novel (taught in 2 units) '"He could not find one single more word to say. I just want to be free. He could not say those words. They had already withered in his mind, turned to dust. He did not even know, he marvelled now, what the hell those words had meant."

'Acclaimed novelist Charlotte Wood takes a character from her bestselling book The Children and turns her unflinching gaze on him and his world in her extraordinary novel, Animal People. Set in Sydney over a single day, Animal People traces a watershed day in the life of Stephen, aimless, unhappy, unfulfilled - and without a clue as to how to make his life better.

'His dead-end job, his demanding family, his oppressive feelings for Fiona and the pitiless city itself ... the great weight of it all threatens to come crashing down on him. The day will bring untold surprises and disasters, but will also show him - perhaps too late - that only love can set him free.

'Sharply observed, hilarious, tender and heartbreaking, Animal People is a portrait of urban life, a meditation on the conflicted nature of human-animal relationships, and a masterpiece of storytelling. Filled with shocks of recognition and revelation, it shows a writer of great depth and compassion at work. (From the publisher's website.)

Description

The course introduces approaches to writing a novel against a background of the form's historical development and the range of its contemporary possibilities. Students are asked to investigate the novel in its contemporary and literary form in order to define and situate the work they wish to write. They will read and analyse four recent works of fiction, two examples of literary fiction (one Australian, one international) and two examples of genre fiction (crime, speculative, fantasy, romance or historical fiction). They will engage with the work and presentations of authors visiting for Adelaide Writers Week, where attendance is required. Concepts of genre, audience, style, voice, the relationship between fiction and non-fiction, including memoir, plot (beginning, middle, end), expectation and experiment, and aspects of writing technique (person, tense, detail, elaboration and editing) will be explored. Students will learn how to prepare a submission (a workshopped proposal for a novel), including an outline, a chapter or sequence of chapters to final draft stage, and a 'pitch' to present their work to an academic or industry gatekeeper.

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