Write Your First Draft

Masterclass

with

SEPTEMBER 2018

Workbook

with

Great things are done by a series of small things

brought together.

– Vincent Van Gogh

''

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that because

what the world needs is people who come alive.

''

– Howard Thurman

Syllabus

joannefedler.com WYFD Masterclass

This is a 12 module Masterclass broken down into 4 semesters spread out over 12 months.

Semester 1 consists of 10 weeks (Modules 1-4) from 3 September - 11 November 2018

Semester 2 consists of 6 weeks (Modules 5-7) from 21 January 2019 - 3 March 2019

Semester 3 consists of 6 weeks (Modules 8 -10) from 6 May 2019 - 16 June 2019

Semester 4 consists of 6 weeks (Modules 11 - 12) from 5 August 2019 - 15 September

2019

Each module builds on the next and works with both consciousness and craft.

Between each semester, we will take breaks (uitwaaien). I encourage you to step away from the writing and to honour the spaces between the semesters. Your writing will not go ‘off’ or go ‘bad’ if you leave it to air for a while. In fact, you will return to it with new eyes and energy. The spaces between each semester are an important part of the creative process. I would like you to use these fruitfully.

3 September 2018 - 15 September 2019

This Masterclass is limited to 24 writers who have all completed the Author Awakening Adventure.

Eligibility

Each semester has its own seasonality and energetic focus.

Semester 1 is about exploration, experimentation and expansion.

Semester 2 is about making decisions and choices and narrowing your focus.

Semester 3 is about developing technique and structure.

Semester 4 is about working more deeply into your unique writing voice, taking risks in

your writing and editing.

Syllabus

joannefedler.com WYFD Masterclass

In each module (depending on the number of weeks of the module) you will receive:

Two training videos (one on craft, one on consciousness)

A workbook

A selection of readings

1 Facebook live session in which I will answer all your questions and deliver extra

inspiration and motivation

Intermittent interviews with people in the publishing industry and inside information

on how to become an author.

A total of 8 Live Zoom Webinars over the course of the Masterclass where you can

get coaching with me in real time.

3 September 2018 - 15 September 2019

Writing Pods and the Gift of Accountability

Over the course of the Masterclass, you will be put into writing pods with other writers. This connection is an essential part of creating community and accountability and will hold you during your times of struggle and self-doubt as well as during the breaks.

Writing Pods and the Gift of Accountability

As a member of this Masterclass, you will be invited to attend an optional 5-day live event in Sydney in late 2019 on Rewriting and The Business of Being an Author. This is an ADDITIONAL, OPTIONAL extra cost to anyone who would like to participate and will focus on the REWRITING process and preparation for becoming an author. More information will be provided about this in mid-2019.

Semester 1

A focus on questions, curiosity, mulling, delving, habit, experimentation, awareness, developing a writer’s ear and eye.

By the end of this semester, I want you to have an answer to the questions: Why am I writing this? Who am I writing about? From which self am I writing? What world am I writing from and about?

1 3 - 30 Sep 2018 (4 weeks)

joannefedler.com WYFD Masterclass

3 September - 11 November 2018 (10 weeks)

Exploration and Expansion - The Internal Landscape

Module Dates

Consciousness and Craft Components

With a focus on...

Consciousness: Abundance

Craft: Word Count

Developing the habit and muscle of writing - no matter what you write about. Observe what is gathering on the page, what is calling for your attention, what wants to be written.

2 1 - 14 Oct (2 weeks)

Consciousness: Self- compassion

Craft: Character

Exploring self-compassion and then the character that calls you, including your characters' memories.

3 15 -28 Oct

(2 weeks)

Consciousness: Listening Deeply

Craft: Dialogue

Develop the habit of quieting inwards - listen to who you are becoming, and listen to the voices around you of real people.

4 29 Oct - 11 Nov

(2 weeks)

Consciousness: Embodiment

Craft: Observation/Description

Location - Writing about Place, Setting, Context, World, Bodies

What geographic or internal world are you writing from? What places appear in your story? Whose body is holding the story? How do you write about bodies in your work? In what context does your story arise? A focus on contextuality, subjectivity, the way place and time and bodies insinuate themselves in our writing - sometimes invisibly. This module is about making time, place, location explicit.

Uitwaaien - TAKE A BREAK (12 November 2018 - 20 January 2019)

Semester 2

‘I am not a product of my circumstances, I am a product of my decisions.’ - Steven Covey

5 21 Jan - 3 Feb 2019

(2 weeks)

joannefedler.com WYFD Masterclass

21 January -3 March (6 weeks)

Selection and Contraction - The External Landscape/ The Journey/Elements of Story

Module Dates

Consciousness and Craft Components

With a focus on...

Consciousness: Resistance

Craft: Problem/Obstacle/Conflict The Why and What of the Plot

Conflict and Obstacle/Problem Challenge/Character Arc - building the matrix

Every story/book has a dramatic structure and takes the reader on an emotional journey. Create a plot outline for your book showing us where the key moments are. Create character transformation journeys/arcs to show us the important turning points for your character. In a self-help book, you will focus on the problem you are solving for your reader and the way in which you are exploring this problem/conflict/obstacle.

6 4 - 17 Feb 2019

2 weeks

Consciousness: Beliefs and Values

Craft: What - Theme/ Emotion/Values/ Connection, Big Picture

What are the beliefs that underpin your story/book? What is your book about? What are the themes? What do you believe about life, relationships, death, parenthood, friendship, nature, God - and how are these expressed in your writing? What vision of life is your story in service to? How to use the personal to speak into the universal and how to find your unique bridge

7 18 Feb - 3 Mar 2019

(2 weeks)

Consciousness: Boundaries

Craft: Creating a Frame - Outlining and Planning

You will read through everything you have written in Semester 1 and 2 so far, and create a provisional map or outline of your story. You will make decisions and choices about your story/book. You will flag where there are gaps. You will create a table of contents (non-fiction/self-help) or in the case of fiction, a list of chapters with chapter summaries. This is just a preliminary draft of the initial architecture of your story - it can and will change over time. What are the structural components of your book/story? Use bullet lists, excel spreadsheets, index cards, post-it notes, lists.

Uitwaaien - TAKE A BREAK (4 March - 5 May)

A focus on Sorting, Mapping, Making Choices and Decisions (but keep asking questions), deepening into Time, Space, Landscape, History.

By the end of this semester, I want you to have an answer to the questions: What story am I telling? What book am I writing? What are the elements of this story? What is the architecture of this story/book? What are the pieces?

Semester 3

A focus on techniques, honing, shaping, structuring.

By the end of this semester, I want you to have an answer to the question: How am I telling this story?

8 6 - 19 May 2019

(2 weeks)

joannefedler.com WYFD Masterclass

6 May - 16 June 2019 (6 weeks)

Breadth within Contraction

Module Dates

Consciousness and Craft Components

With a focus on...

Consciousness: Developing Trust

Craft: Show Don’t Tell and Scene Challenge

Breaking down your story into key scenes or moments Using these to show, not tell and to structure suspense How showing requires us to trust our readers to make the right connections When to use summary or narration to create bridges

9 20 May - 2 June 2019

(2 weeks)

Consciousness: Taking Responsibility

Craft: The Structure of Emotion

The Beginning, Middle and End Write your first paragraph… your first chapter The soggy middle - how to keep going Write the ending

10 3 - 16 June

(2 weeks)

Consciousness: Humility - Beginning Again

Craft: A Writer’s Toolbox

There are many techniques we need to bring to our writing, now with a writer’s eye. Here, we will look at some of the essential tools in writing: Entering late and leaving early

Crowding and leaping Throughlines Symbolism Subtext Style Pace Adverbs and adjectives Modifiers Deeper questions about character, plot, place What to leave in and what to leave out The magic of backstory Cliffhangers The magic of the ‘gap’ or ‘making space’

Uitwaaien - TAKE A BREAK (17 June - 4 August)

Semester 4

A focus on deepening into voice, expressing the emotional truth of the story we are telling, taking narrative risks, and letting go of the static or clutter in our writing.

By the end of this semester, I want you to have an answer to the question: what is original or unique about the way I am telling this story?

11 5 - 25 Aug 2019

(3 weeks)

joannefedler.com WYFD Masterclass

5 August - 15 September (6 weeks)

Sifting through Shadows, Deepening into Voice

Module Dates

Consciousness and Craft Components

With a focus on...

Consciousness: Shadow Work

Craft: Holding Paradox, Killing Cliche, Finding the Emotional Truth in Our Story

Here we explore the emotional truth your story is working into and the paradoxes and shadows in your writing. What is the emotional truth your story is exploring? What is the paradox at the heart of your story/book? What are you telling your readers through your story? What part of you is in your characters? How do your characters express this emotional truth?

12 26 Aug - 5 Sep

(3 weeks)

Consciousness: Letting Go

Craft: Deleting, Editing, Compression, Blurbs and Synopses

How can you compress, refine, edit your writing so that its deep and rich complexity shines? How can you clear the clutter and static from your language to clean the text so that the narrative is seamless? Write your blurb and synopsis.

In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.’

- Abraham Maslow