Writers need to know how to build believable worlds without drowning in detail, develop interesting characters, highlight key themes, find their narrative arc, and challenge preconceptions. History is an incredibly rich source of material for the creative writer. How do we harness that? How do we use the past to speak to the present and what is it that we’re trying to say?

Tuesdays 14, 21, 28 November and 5 December, 5.30-8.30pm each day

You will learn

• to utilise research skills
• how to use historical timelines to develop plot and structure
• how to use character, dialogue and setting to convey the historical moment
• how to develop an understanding of making historical writing relevant to a modern
day audience
• how to employ the techniques of world building.

About Sophie Cunningham

Sophie Cunningham is a former publisher and editor. She is the author of two
novels, 'Geography' (2004) and 'Bird' (2008) and two books of non-fiction: 'Melbourne' (2011)
and 'Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy' (2014) which was shortlisted for several major
literary prizes. Her third novel, 'This Devastating Fever’ is based on Leonard Woolf’s time
in Ceylon and later marriage to Virginia Woolf. She is also working on a book of linked
essays called 'Diary from the End of Days'. She is an Adjunct Professor of RMIT University
(non/fiction Lab), in the School Media and Communication in the College of Design and
Social Context.