In this session with Graeme Simsion, you’ll learn how to better approach your novel concept or idea as a project that can be broken down into steps to see a more structured process from conception to a final manuscript.

A novel, unlike that story in a bar or a two-thousand-word essay, is a substantial and daunting project which can seem like an impossible feat. Whether you’re figuring out where to start or you’re 30,000 words in, seemingly with nowhere to go, bestselling author Graeme Simsion has demystified the secrets behind his beloved Rosie trilogy and poured the answer into his newest offering for writers, The Novel Project. He breaks up the novel-writing process into no-nonsense, practical steps that you can actually do.

Participants will:

• Develop a step-by-step plan and schedule for completing their novel, memoir or biography.
• Establish work practices that make best use of limited time to work on one or more projects.
• Approach each day’s work with a clear idea of what needs to be done, the confidence and tools to do it, and a sense of clear progress towards a complete manuscript.
• Apply a range of specialised techniques—some established, some new—to each stage of the writing process, in particular concept creation, plot and character development.
• Improve creativity, solve problems and overcome ‘blocks’.
• Get it done!

Suitable for all writers of novel length works, but especially those looking for a better process for reaching 'the end' on your manuscript/s.

About Graeme Simsion

Graeme Simsion is the internationally bestselling author of The Rosie Project (sixty-five weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list), The Rosie Effect and The Rosie Result.

The Rosie Project was Australian Book Industry Association Book of the Year for 2014. He was a latecomer to fiction after a career in technology, management, research and teaching in which he was a regular presenter at international conferences and ran masterclasses around the world, and even then took a detour via screenwriting. His PhD looked at creativity in the context of technical work, but he draws on what he learned there every day. His latest offering is The Novel Project, released with Text Publishing in 2022

He lives in Melbourne with his wife, Anne Buist, an author in her own right, and they have written two novels together.

The workshop fee has reverted to workshop only, no book. If you would like to pick up a copy of the Novel Project, we suggest Dymocks or Booktopia (you will need to express ship it if you want it in time for the workshop)

WSA Member $88 / Non-member $140

Venue: TBA - Jervois Room, Mortlock Wing, State Library SA, North Terrace, Adelaide

—All staff, speakers, and attendees of in-person events must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or hold a current medical exemption, in order to attend; and must comply with any precautionary measures Writers SA puts in place. We may request proof of your vaccination status or medical exemption upon entry. See our full policy here.

—Writers SA members must be logged in to receive the member discount. If you would like to use a workshop credit to book in, please contact [email protected] at least five working days before the workshop commencement date. Our staff don’t work full time and we don’t want you to miss out!