workshops

Curious Writers Book Club

Part book club, part writing class (minus the homework) for new and emerging writers who love words and want to dive deeper into the craft of writing.

Join me and Lu Sexton, two editors passionate about beautiful sentences and other writerly gems. We read and edit broadly, and our passions include literary fiction (Lu) and memoir (me). Lu is a writing coach and editor, and I am an editor and copyeditor. We are friends and associates and we love people who love writing and reading.

How it works

In a small group, we will bring you some of our favourite passages and look at why they’re so good and how they work. We will cover a different theme each session.

If you dabble in writing, are quietly sitting on your first manuscript or just love words, join us and other word nerds as we unpack the magic woven into compositions by some of our favourite writers, and consider how some of their tricks might boost your own writing.

Most sessions take place over Zoom, with some in-person sessions coming up in 2025 too.

We are planning to run new and repeat sessions in 2025. If you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive details when they are available, email me.

session topics

We are also available to run sessions online for your organisation, festival or writing group. Contact me if you would like to talk about sessions or if you have any questions.

We have developed a collection of workshops on the following topics, so you can choose what is best for you and your writers.

Show, don’t tell
'Show, don't tell' is a powerful writing device. We will look at passages where writers have used this masterfully and discuss the effect that has for the reader. There's so much more to this well-known writers’ maxim than meets the eye.

Character: first impressions
Readers often say that the characters are their favourite part of a story. We are going to look at bite size character descriptions that rock to inspire your own writing and excite your readers. 

Scene vs. summary
Understanding when (and how) to switch between these two storytelling lenses is a great addition to your writing toolkit. We will talk about the difference between scene and summary, when to use them, and what they both offer as storytelling tools. 

Narrative voice: intro
Narrative voice is the voice and perspective that a story is told from. We look at how the choices some of our favourite writers shaped their narratives and how our experience as readers is affected by those choices. We explore the power, potential and limits of different styles of narration, from the deeply immersive first-person present, to the more detached third-person past.

Narrative voice: Breaking the rules
Our first session on narrative voice was jam-packed but it barely scraped the surface, so this time we’re going to dig deeper. The focus for this session will be writers who break the ‘rules’ (whatever they are).

Symbolism and metaphor
There are plenty of clunky, cliche examples out there, but we are going to show you how symbolism and metaphor can be used to artfully convey vivid, deeper meaning in your writing and be used to elaborate on imagery, character and cultural context. 

Playing with book format
There is nothing wrong with a standard manuscript format, but sometimes stories benefit from being shared in different ways. We will look examples where authors have opted for things like interviews, illustrations and even more unconventional storytelling tools.